CJL 2000Law and Legal Process

CJL 2000Law and Legal Process

Section 19G2Fall 2016

Website: (Canvas Login)

Instructor: Lonn Lanza-Kaduce . Course matters should be conducted through Canvas mail.

Course Description:

This survey course promotes an understanding of law as it relates to an individual’s everyday encounters with the U.S.legal system. It serves as an introduction to basic constitutional law and substantive and procedural civil law. Readings and cases are used to analyze (1) how disputes are resolved by application of legal principles to factual situations, (2) the implications of legal decisions on future cases, (3) and how justice is served by law.This is an online course and may be done remotely.

Requirements:

The text is: Feinman, J. (2014). Law 101. 4th ed. New York: Oxford. The questions posed in theTable of Contents for each chapter provide a useful study guide and outline.There will also be web-based reading materials—some of which students may have to locate and others of which will be posted in Canvas in the respective modules for the course. Included in these materials will be court cases. The course will be divided into 4 units containing one or more of the modules found in the Canvass e-learning platform on the class website. The lectures are on video.

Graded Work and Grading:

The online format has some benefits for students. One of them is flexibility, but there are limits. Modern technology makes it easier to cheat, so we will have to be fairly rigid about scheduling assessments.The success or failure of an online offering (and the value of it for your degree) will depend on academic integrity: both in terms of content of the courses and in terms of the grades you earn. We need to structure grading in ways that make cheating harder—that includes more writing assignments that will be scheduled and timed to make the sharing of answers or information harder to do so some won’t get an unfair advantage.

We will use the quizzes and exams only as assessment tools—we will not release the correct answers to help with relearning. The only exception will be the syllabus quiz. Because of past problems that students have had with Proctor-U, we will not use it in this class. The quizzes will be open book and open note but the time limit will mean you will have to prepare like you would for a closed-book exam. Because of the timed format for graded quizzes and assignments, we generally will only offer two options for them and you must arrange your schedule to take it during one of those options. A make-up will be allowed only if unusual circumstances are documented, and at a later date because it takes time to devise a comparable make-up form.

One form of the timed quiz/exams, timed brief, and timed hypothetical will be offered at 7:30 p.m. on aWednesday evening. Another form will be givenearly on a Sunday morning (7:30 a.m.) when few people have work conflicts and before people attend religious services. You may choose either scheduled option and do not have to notify us about which time you choose. See the Tentative Schedule below for the exact dates. If you cannot make either of the scheduled times for these graded exercises, you may want to drop the course. Canvas times are set to the local Eastern Time Zone. If you are in another time zone, you need to adjust to Gainesville, FL time.

Grammar, punctuation, and syntax matter in all written assignments. You are expected to submit your own independent work. Please be careful about plagiarism; it is easy to “cut and paste” from others’ work. CITE, CITE, CITE! If you take someone else’s ideas, cite it; if you take someone’s words verbatim, use quotation marks and cite it. If you are referring to our course text, posted readings, or lecture material, you may just indicate that.

Should something go wrong during any of the online graded exercises, DON’T PANIC. Email me immediately (first through Canvas but if that’s down at ) and indicate went happened so we can determine a fair resolution. If you think there may have been a problem with the submission process for a graded assignment (e.g., the brief or hypothetical), send it as an attachment in an email to me. Please submit as Word documents to be sure they open.

Syllabus Quiz

There will be an online quiz at the beginning of the course over the syllabus. It will open under Quizzes when the course starts and will be worth 5 points. CHECK THE DUE DATE BELOW.

Unit 1 Quiz

There will be a short quiz (multiple choice and true-false questions) that covers Unit I of the course. It will be open book and open note. It is designed to help acquaint students with the way in which questions will be posed when there are fewer points at stake. It will be timed so you will need to have prepared to do well because you will not have time to look up answers from anything but your notes—so prepare good notes. The quiz will give you 17 questions to get 15 correct—so it builds in a little cushion. The quiz will open in Quizzes and there will be two forms scheduled at two times; you must take it at one of those two times. We will count the score of the first quiz you open. You will have 25 minutes to take the quiz once it opens (not once you enter Canvas). Because of the cushion points, calculate your own percentage; the computer-generated one will be wrong. CHECK THE DATES AND TIMES OF THE OPTIONS BELOW.

Exams

There will be an exam after each of the other units (Units 2-4 respectively). These exams will be mostly multiple choice and true-false questions. For each, you will have 44 questions to get 40 correct (so a cushion is built in that makes the computer-generated point totals too high and that makes computer-generated percentages misleading). You may use your book and notes to take the exams but you will not have enough time to look everything up. So prepare. If you pull together good notes (you may want to pull down the lecture notes and add your own notes from the videos and readings to that structure), the exams will be easier. Two different forms of each exam will be offered; one will open under Quizzes on a Wednesday evening and the other on a Sunday morning. Each form will open at 7:30 and you will have 70 minutes from then to complete the exam. You may decide which offering of the unit exam you wish to take, but you may only take one form and we will only count the score on the first one you open.CHECK THE DATES AND TIMES OF THE OPTIONS BELOW.

The Timed Case Brief

Figuring out court cases is a good critical reasoning exercise. You will be dealing with court cases in many of the modules, starting with the first one. In an early module you will have the opportunity first to “brief” a case as practice using a format designed for this class (not graded). There will be a template so you can assess yourself on the practice. You will have cases to read throughout the course, so this briefing practice will help you understand the posted cases. That practice will be followed by a graded timed briefing exercise. You will be given a court opinion excerpt and you will have to write a brief and submit it for grading. The timed, graded brief will be worth 25 points. You will have 70 minutes from the time it opens under Quizzes to complete and submit your brief. You may not use outside materials or go online during the exercise but you may use your notes and materials from class. DO NOT FOLLOW ANY EMBEDDED LINKS TO OUTSIDE SOURCES. Two forms will be offered; you may decide which one you want to do but we will grade the first one you open. I ask students to do the assignment in Word and to save it on their own computers so that they have a backup in case something goes wrong during its submission (and every term someone has a submission problem so the backup helps them). CHECK THE DATES AND TIMES OF THE OPTIONS BELOW.

The Law School Hypothetical

This is a variation of an essay exam. Fitting law with facts and spotting legal issues areimportant critical reasoning exercises. You will be given a hypothetical scenario regarding tort law. You will be asked to write up how you would apply the law to the set of facts. It will be worth 25 points. You may use your notes and class materialsfor this exercise. You will have 75 minutes from the time it opens under Quizzes to complete it. I ask students to do the assignment in Word and to save it on their own computers so that they have a backup in case something goes wrong during its submission (and every term someone has a submission problem so the backup helps them). Two forms will be offered; you may decide which one you want to do but we will grade the first one you open. CHECK THE DATES AND TIMES OF THE OPTIONS BELOW.

Short Paper

The short paperwill be worth 10 points. It is not timed and can be completed as soon as you want after you cover the relevant material. It is posted under Assignments. SEE BELOW FOR DUE DATE.

Grade Scale

Grading will be on a pointsystem; we expect a total of 200 points (subject to midcourse adjustments). I will not use minuses. The grading scale will be: A=90% or more of the total points; B+=87-89%; B=80-86%; C+=77-79%; C=70-76%; D+=67-69%; D=60-66%; E< 60%. Because of “cushion” points, the percentages computed by Canvas will be too low; calculate your own percentages.

Communications:

Sent messages are not completed communicationsuntil they are received. If you leave an important message and get no response, follow up to make sure it has been received. The best way to contact me is through email. Avoid phone messages; my old ears don’t always pick up voice mail and messages too often get garbled. To be sure I respond, EMAIL through UF services and not a private provider like gmail. For confidentiality reasons, UF supported mail and messaging services should be used. I am not supposed to conduct business through other email providers. Please emailthrough the e-learning Canvas website so that I can keep class matters organized and separate from the many other emails that come in every day.

Student Rights and Responsibilities:

Please inform yourself about your rights and responsibilities, including academic honesty guidelines, formal and informal procedures for hearing academic dishonesty cases, the grievance procedure, and confidentiality of student records. See generally: See also: According to university rules, on all work submitted for credit by students at the university, the following pledge is either required or implied: "On my honor, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid in doing this assignment." You are expected to do your own independent work.

Student records are confidential. Only information designated “UF directory information” (see University Regulation 6C1-4.007) may be released without your written consent. UF views each student as the primary contact for all communication. If your parent or anyone else contacts me about your grade or performance or for any information that is not “UF directory information,” I will ask him or her to contact you.

Students requesting classroom accommodation for disabilities must first register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the instructor when requesting accommodation. Its Disability Resource Center’s website is: Remote online courses can complicate matters so please get information about accommodations to me during the first week class and before the first graded assignment is due so we have time to work out arrangements.

You may raise matters or concerns you have about the course with your instructor, the department chair (Dr. Zsembik) or the university ombudsman (

Schedule of Video Lectures, Readings, and Graded Work

UNITVIDEO MODULEREADINGSGRADED ASSESSMENTS

UNIT I1. INTROch. 1Syllabus Quiz: Due by 8/31 at 11:59 pm

8/22-9/9Law & Legal Systems postShort Paper: Due by 9/2 at 11:59 pm

Marbury v. Madison postQuiz 1 A: Wed. 9/7 7:30 pm -7:55 pm

Quiz 1 B: Sun. 9/11 7:30 am -7:55 am

UNIT II2. CON. LAWch. 2; Hurtado v. Cal.

9/12-10/14 Rasul et. al. v. Bush

3 CIV. LIBERTIESch. 3; Texas v. Johnson

NY Times v. Sullivan

Boddie v. Conn.

Goss v. LopezTimed Brief A: Wed. 10/5 7:30 pm-8:40 pm

Loving v. Va. Timed Brief B: Sun. 10/9 7:30 am -8:40 am

Craig v. Boren Exam 1A: Thurs. 10/12 7:30 pm -8:40 pm

4 CIVIL PROC.Ch. 4Exam 1B: Sun. 10/16 7:30 am -8:40 am

UNIT III

10/17-11/105 TORTSCh. 5

NY Times v. Sullivan(reread from Unit II)

Westbrook v. Cobb

Thompson v. Hill

Egede-Nissen v. Crystal Mtn.

Knight v. Jewett

Taiwo v. Vu

Powers v. Palacios

Higgins v. E.I.DuPontHypo. A: Wed. 11/2 7:30 pm – 8:45 pm

Munger v. City of GlasgowHypo. B: Sun. 11/6 7:30 am – 8:45 am

Lovelace Med. v. MendezExam 2A: Wed. 11/97:30 pm -8:40 pm

6 CONTRACTS Ch. 6Exam 2B: Sun. 11/13 7:30 am -8:40 am

UNIT IV

11/14-12/77. PROPERTYCh. 7

8. EMPLOYMENTEmployment & the LawExam 3A: Sun. 12/4 7:30-8:40 am 9. FAMILY Family Law Exam 3B: Wed. 12/7 7:30-8:40 pm