THE HERBERT AND ELINOR NOOTBAAR INSTITUTE ON LAW RELIGION AND ETHICS AND PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW PRESENT
Is there a Higher Law? Does it Matter?
February 21st - 22nd, 2008
| Speakers | Schedule | Fee | Register |
During the decade before the American Civil War, the question of whether there is a higher law was one of the most controversial facing the United States. Opponents of slavery challenged the pro-slavery positive law on the basis of a higher law, while others argued that the higher law supported slavery.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes ridiculed the notion of a higher law as "that brooding omnipresence in the sky." In general, American legal theorists followed Holmes, with the Critical Legal Studies movement's claim that all law is merely power and the Law and Economics claim that all good law is merely a matter of efficiency. But there were 20th century movements grounded on the notion of a higher law, notably the Nuremberg trails and the American Civil Rights movement.
Join us as we bring together a group of law professors, judges, theologians, economists, historians, and philosophers to address whether there is a higher law, whether it matters, and the numerous questions that arise from this debate.
Speakers
ALBERT W. ALSCHULER, joined the Northwestern Law Faculty after serving as the Jack M. Pritzker Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law in the spring of 2005. He specializes in criminal justice and has written on many of the various topics inherent in that area of study, including his book Law Without Values about the work of Justice Oliver Windell Holmes. Prior to his position at Northwestern, he served as the Julius Kreeger Professor of Law and Criminology as well as the Wilson-Dixon Professor of Law at the University of Chicago.
RABBI YITZCHOK ALDERSTEIN, the Sydney M. Irmas Chair in Jewish Law and Ethics at Loyola Law School directs the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Project Next Step, an educational outreach in Los Angeles.
PATRICK MCKINLEY BRENNAN, the John F. Scarpa Chair in Catholic Legal Studies, Villanova University School of Law. The author of more than 25 articles and book chapters, he is also coauthor of By Nature Equal (Princeton, 1999) and the editor of After Authority (forthcoming).
WILLIAM S. BREWBAKER II, professor of law, University of Alabama School of Law, served previously as a visiting faculty member at the University of Cambridge and St. Edmund's College, and as a member of Tyndale House. His areas of interest include health care law and jurisprudence.
ROBERT F. COCHRAN, Jr., is the Louis D. Brandeis Professor and the founder and director of the Herbert and Elinor Nootbaar Institute on Law, Religion, and Ethics, Pepperdine University School of Law. His books include Christian Perspectives on Legal Thought (with Michael McConnell and Angela Carmella) (Yale, 2001), and Lawyers, Clients, and Moral Responsibility (with Thomas L. Shaffer) (West, 1994).
KENNETH G. ELZINGA, the Robert C. Taylor Professor of Economics, University of Virginia, is the recipient of numerous teaching awards and teaches economics to a class of over a thousand at U.Va. each fall. His specialty is antitrust economics and he has published articles in the Harvard Law Review.
PETER GABEL taught previously at the law schools at UC Berkeley and the University of Minnesota before founding the New College Law School of California in 1975. He was a member of the organizing committee of the Conference on Critical Legal Studies and is associate editor of Tikkun magazine, a progressive Jewish quarterly.
DOUGLAS W. KMIEC, the Caruso Family Chair in Constitutional Law, Pepperdine University, previously served as head of the Office of Legal Counsel, dean of the law school at Catholic University, and professor of law at the University of Notre Dame, where he founded the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics, and Public Policy.
HONORABLE STEPHEN LARSON, Judge, United States District Court, Central District of California. Former U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Central District of California (2000-2006). From 1991-2000, Judge Larson worked as an assistant U.S. Attorney, serving as Chief of the office's Organized Crime Strike Force and as coordinator of its Russian Organized Crime Unit, and he has also been in private practice. In addition, Judge Larson has taught constitutional law and federal court at Glendale College of Law, California Southern Law School and the University of LaVerne College of Law.
V. BRADLEY LEWIS, Associate Professor, School of Philosophy, at the Catholic University of America, and Associate Editor, The American Journal of Jurisprudence. He previously taught at Notre Dame and Valparaiso. He specializes in political and legal philosophy, Plato, and natural law theory.
ALLEN MARTIN LINDEN, Supernumerary Judge, Federal Court of Appeal, Canada, served as professor of law, Osgoode Hall Law School, 1961-78, before going on the bench. He is coauthor of Canadian Tort Law (Butterworth, 2004, 8th ed.) and Canadian Tort Law: Cases, Notes, and Materials (Butterworth, 2004, 12th ed.).
ELIZABETH B. MENSCH, the SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, University at Buffalo Law School, The State University of New York, coauthored the books Property Law, Vols. 1 and 2, (with Alan Frespanan) (NYU, 1993) and The Politics of Virtue: Is Abortion Debatable? (Duke, 1993) and many articles and book chapters.
DAVID NOVAK, the J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair of Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto, is the author of 11 books, including Covenantal Rights (Princeton, 2000), which won the American Academy of Religion Award for "best book in constructive religious thought in 2000." He received his Ph.D. from Georgetown University.
MARRY ELLEN O'CONNELL, the Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law at Notre Dame, focuses on international law and international dispute resolution. She is the author of numerous publications including International Law and the Use of Force, Cases and Materials (Foundation, 2005), International Dispute Resolution, Cases and Materials (Carolina, 2005), and the forthcoming, Enforcing International Law.
JOAN LOCKWOOD O'DONOVAN, Honorary Fellow, School of Divinity, New College, University of Edinburgh, received her Ph.D. in theology from the University of St. Michael's College in the University of Toronto. She is the coauthor, with Oliver O'Donovan, of From Irenaeus to Grotius: A Sourcebook in Christian Political Thought 100-1625 (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1999) and Bonds of Imperfection: Christian Politics Past and Present (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2004).
OLIVER O'DONOVAN, professor of Christian ethics and practical theology, School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh, was Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology and canon of Christ Church at the University of Oxford from 1982 until 2006. His books include The Desire of the Nations (Cambridge, 1996).
CONNIE S. ROSATI, associate professor, philosophy, University of Arizona, is currently a visiting professor at the University of Maryland. Her areas of specialty are ethics and legal and political philosophy. She holds her J.D. from Harvard and her Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Michigan.
STEVEN D. SMITH, the Warren Distinguished Professor of Law, University of San Diego, previously taught at the University of Virginia, Notre Dame, and the University of Colorado School of Law. He is the author of The Constitution and the Pride of Reason (Oxford, 1998), Foreordained Failure: The Quest for a Constitutional Principle of Religious Freedom (Oxford, 1995), and Law's Quandary (Harvard, 2007).
MARK V. TUSHNET, the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Harvard previously taught at Georgetown. His books include The New Constitutional Order (Princeton, 2003) and The Oxford Handbook of Legal Studies (ed. with Cane) (Oxford, 2003).
DALLAS WILLARD, professor, School of Philosophy, University of Southern California previously taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His philosophical publications are mainly in the areas of epistemology, the philosophy of mind and of logic, and on the philosophy of Edmund Husserl. His religious publications include The Divine Conspiracy (HarperCollins, 1998).
Location, Schedule and Registration Fee
Pepperdine University School of Law
24255 Pacific Coast Highway
Malibu, CA 90263
The conference will begin at 4 p.m. on Thursday, February 21, 2008, and conclude at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, February 22. The optional conference dinner will be held on Thursday evening at Beau Rivage, a four-star restaurant in Malibu.
Schedule
Thursday, February 21
| 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. | The Higher Law and its Critics - Part I featuring: Steven Smith, Patrick Brennan, Albert Alschuler, Mark Tushnet |
|---|---|
| 7:30 p.m. | Optional Dinner at the Beau Rivage |
Friday, February 22
| 8:15 a.m. | Continental Breakfast |
|---|---|
| 9:00 a.m. | The Higher Law and its Critics - Part II featuring: Kenneth Elzinga, Peter Gabel, Elizabeth Mensch |
| 10:30 a.m. | Break |
| 11:00 a.m. | Theology and the Higher Law featuring: Yitzchock Adlerstein, Joan Lockwood O’Donovan, Oliver O’Donovan, William Brewbaker |
| 12:30 p.m. | Lunch |
| 2:00 p.m. | Philosophy and the Higher Law featuring: David Novak, V. Bradley Lewis, Dallas Willard, Connie Rosatiw |
| 3:30 p.m. | Break |
| 4:00 p.m. | Practical Applications of the Higher Law featuring: Allen Martin Linden, Douglas Kmiec, Mary Ellen O’Connell |
The conference will be held at Pepperdine University School of Law, Malibu, California. The weather in February is typically sunny and pleasant, in the mid-70s during the day and the 50s at night. The campus is along the coast, 45 minutes north of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). For links to hotels in the area, visit our visitor information page.
A note to our Jewish colleagues - The School of Law is located one-and-a-half miles from an Orthodox worship center and hotel accommodations (Casa Malibu). Kosher meals will be available at all conference events. To request Kosher meals or raise additional questions, contact Rabbi and Pepperdine law professor Sam Levine at (310) 506-6892 or
Conference Fees
Students: $25
Non-Students: $100
Optional Thursday Dinner at Beau Rivage: $75
Conference Fee includes Breakfast, Snacks, and Lunch. Vegetarian and Kosher meals are available.
MCLE Credit
This conference has been approved by the State Bar of California for Minimal Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) credit for 1.5 credit hours on Thursday and 4.5 hours on Friday. Pepperdine University School of Law certifies that this activity conforms to the standards for approved education activities prescribed by the rules and regulations of the State Bar of California governing minimum continuing legal education.
Questions and Registration
For questions or to register in person please call or write to:
Christopher Retts, Program Administrator
Herbert and Elinor Nootbaar Institute on Law, Religion, and Ethics
Pepperdine University School of Law
24255 Pacific Coast Hwy
Malibu, CA 90263
FAX: (310) 506-7729
Telephone: (310) 506-4292
E-mail:
Payment Method:
If you are paying by credit card, please register by clicking the following link:
Credit Card Registration
All others may register online using the form below.