Legal Studies Courses at BGSU

The Political Science Department offers a range of law-related undergraduate courses that provide a solid foundation for those students who participate in the pre-professional program in law or who are interested learning more about the fascinating politics of law and courts.
 
NONE OF THE LEGAL STUDIES COURSES HAVE THE FORMAL PREREQUISITE OF A 1000-LEVEL POLITICAL SCIENCE COURSE.
 
In your freshman or sophomore year, you are strongly encouraged to enroll in POLS 3470 – Introduction to Law and Judicial Process prior to enrolling in more advanced courses.
 
As a junior or senior, you will likely want to consider enrolling in the series of introductory constitutional law courses: POLS 4160 (Powers and Relationships) and POLS 4170 (Civil Liberties). These courses follow a similar format and they may be taken as a series or alone. They are targeted towards juniors and seniors but are appropriate for sophomores with strong writing and reading comprehension skills, especially those who have taken at least one legal studies course.
   
Students interested in international studies will want to consider enrolling in POLS 4730 – International Law. This course traces classical debates about the extent to which law should govern international relations and the extent to which it actually does so. It also introduces students to the history and contemporary operations of international legal institutions. It is targeted towards juniors and seniors but is appropriate for sophomores with strong writing and reading comprehension skills, especially those who have taken at least one legal studies course.
 
If you are interested in questions of race, class, and gender you will want to consider enrolling in the seminar in Law and Society (POLS 4260). This course turns away from the traditional public law focus on appellate courts and their jurisprudence and instead considers how liberal legality, as an ideological framework of governance, is experienced by ordinary citizens in their routine interactions with local trial courts, law enforcement officials, and legal professionals. This is a writing intensive seminar, and substantive discussions of the assigned material are complemented by class discussions focusing on the writing process itself. It is targeted towards juniors and seniors but is appropriate for sophomores with strong writing and reading comprehension skills.

PHIL 2180 Philosophy of Law
This course asks questions such as: What is the law? Do we have an obligation to obey it? How should people interpret the law? Is the law a device for protecting rights? For making people better off? For binding communities together? For enforcing morality? How should judges interpret the law? Over the semester, we will examine these and other questions, with particular focus on the relation between morality and law. This course is appropriate for sophomores, juniors, and seniors.

LEGS 3010 Legal Environment of Business
Fall, Spring, Summer. Fundamentals of the structure of the American legal system, contracts, torts, ethics and social responsibility of business, property, and selected topics related to the legal environment in which businesses operate. Credit not allowed for both LEGS 3010 and LEGS 4010. Prerequisite: junior standing. Approved for distance education during the summer.
 
LEGS 4250 Health Care Law
Fall. Survey of the law governing health care administration. Topics include: medical malpractice, licensing and certification standards, profit and nonprofit corporations, director and officer liability, regulation of health care financing. Prerequisite: junior standing.
 
LEGS 4060 International Business Transactions
Spring alternate years. Legal problems faced by individual and corporate business persons when operating within international framework. Methods of control of multinational corporate entities, effect of doing business as national or foreign firm and act of state doctrine relating to expropriation of assets of foreign firm. Prerequisite: junior standing.
 
LEGS 4290 Employment Law
Discussion of laws focusing on the prohibition of discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age and disability, and veterans; and on wage and salary discrimination using equal pay and comparable worth analysis. Prerequisite: Junior standing. Approved for distance education.
 
LEGS 4310 Environmental Law
Spring. History and development of modern concepts in environmental law; air, water, land, toxic waste; legal solutions to environmental problems. Prerequisite: junior standing.
 
LEGS 4500 Hospitality Law
 Spring. Legal regulations, duties, liability and relationships of persons and businesses engaged in the food service, restaurant, hotel/motel and hospitality industries. Prerequisite: junior standing.
 
LEGS 4900 Legal Research and Writing
Legal research and writing that requires use of primary and secondary legal resources. Series of projects to develop competencies in legal research and writing culminates in a major legal research and writing project that is presented and defended. Prerequisite: junior standing. Offered every other spring.