31st Nathaniel L. Nathanson Memorial Lecture: Is Law a Technical Language?

31st Nathaniel L. Nathanson Memorial Lecture: Is Law a Technical Language?

Date and Time

Thursday, February 19, 2015

This event occurred in the past

  • Thursday, February 19, 2015 at 6:00 p.m.

Location

Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, Theatre

5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110

Cost

Free

Details

Schedule

  • 5:30 p.m. — Doors open
  • 6 p.m. — Presentation
  • 7 p.m. — Reception

How much of a legal language is ordinary language, and how much of it is technical language? The topic is important and pervasive, because it forces us to confront the question of how much, if at all, an interpreter of legal language should take account of the goals of particular laws and the goals of the legal system generally in deciding just what a law means.

Watch the Lecture

About the Speaker

Frederick Schauer is the David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Virginia. He is also Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment, Emeritus, at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, where he taught from 1990 to 2008, served as academic dean and acting dean, and also taught courses on evidence and freedom of speech at the Harvard Law School. Previously, Schauer was professor of law at the University of Michigan, and has also been visiting professor of law at the Columbia Law School, Fischel-Neil Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, Morton Distinguished Visiting Professor of the Humanities at Dartmouth College, distinguished visiting professor at the University of Toronto, distinguished visitor at New York University, and James Goold Cutler Professor of Law at the College of William and Mary. In 2007-2008, he was the Eastman Professor at Oxford University and a fellow of Balliol College.

A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and former holder of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Schauer is the author of The Law of Obscenity (BNA, 1976), Free Speech: A Philosophical Enquiry (Cambridge, 1982), Playing By the Rules: A Philosophical Examination of Rule-Based Decision-Making in Law and in Life (Oxford, 1991), Profiles, Probabilities, and Stereotypes (Harvard, 2003), and Thinking Like a Lawyer: A New Introduction to Legal Reasoning (Harvard, 2009). He is also the editor of Karl Llewellyn, The Theory of Rules (Chicago, 2011), and co-editor of The Philosophy of Law (Oxford, 1996) and The First Amendment (West, 1995). Schauer was founding co-editor of the journal Legal Theory, has served as chair of the Section on Constitutional Law of the Association of American Law Schools and of the Committee on Philosophy and Law of the American Philosophical Association. He has served on the board of governors of the MacArthur Foundation Law and Neuroscience Project, and on the board of visitors of the Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth College. In 2006, Schauer was author of the foreword to the Harvard Law Review’s Supreme Court issue, and has written numerous articles on freedom of speech and press, constitutional law and theory, evidence, legal reasoning and the philosophy of law. His books have been translated into Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and Turkish, and his scholarship was the subject of a book (Rules and Reasoning: Essays in Honour of Fred Schauer, Linda Meyer, ed., Hart Publishing, 1999) and special issues of the Notre Dame, Connecticut, and Quinnipiac law reviews; Politeia and the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. In 2005 he was a recipient of a university-wide Outstanding Teacher award at Harvard University.

MCLE

The University of San Diego School of Law is a State Board of California-approved MCLE provider and certifies that this program is approved for 0.75 hours of general credit.

Driving Directions and Parking Information

Campus map

From the North (Los Angeles, La Jolla)
Use I-5 (South), exit at Sea World Drive and Tecolote RoadTurn Left on Tecolote Road.Right on Morena Blvd.Left on Napa Street to Linda Vista Road.Make a left at the 1st stoplight on Linda Vista Road onto Marian Way, USD's West Entrance.Stop at the entry kiosk to obtain a parking permit.Take first left after security booth and enter the West Parking Structure.Visitors may take the event tram to the venue, or walk up the hill.If you prefer to walk, the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice is a five-minute walk up the hill and is the first building on your right.

From the South (Downtown, Convention Center)
Use I-5 (North) to I-8 (East) and exit at the first exit, Morena Blvd.Follow Morena Blvd, and bear right onto Linda Vista Road.Make a left at the 1st stoplight on Linda Vista Road onto Marian Way, USD's West Entrance.Stop at the entry kiosk to obtain a parking permit.Take first left after security booth and enter the West Parking Structure.Visitors may take the event tram to the venue, or walk up the hill.If you prefer to walk, the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice is a five-minute walk up the hill and is the first building on your right.

From the East
Use I-8 (West), exit at Morena Blvd.Bear right onto Linda Vista Road.Make a left at the 2nd stoplight on Linda Vista Road onto Marian Way, USD's West Entrance.Stop at the entry kiosk to obtain a parking permit.Take first left after security booth and enter the West Parking Structure.Visitors may take the event tram to the venue, or walk up the hill.If you prefer to walk, the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice is a five-minute walk up the hill and is the first building on your right.

About the Nathaniel L. Nathanson Memorial Lecture Series

This lecture series was established in 1984 to honor Nathaniel L. Nathanson, an esteemed law professor who devoted his life to the law and legal education. The series brings distinguished speakers to the University of San Diego to discuss issues of national significance.

Nathanson, a graduate of Yale University, Yale Law School and Harvard Law School, served as law clerk to the Honorable Julian Mack of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, as well as to the Honorable Louis D. Brandeis of the Supreme Court of the United States. He taught law at Northwestern University School of Law from 1936 to 1977, where he was named professor emeritus. That same year, he was named a distinguished professor of law at the University of San Diego. He spent alternate semesters at the two law schools until his death in 1983. Also receiving the benefit of his wisdom were Stanford University, Rutgers University, the University of Washington, Arizona State University and the University of Tokyo.

Nathanson was best known for his work in the areas of administrative law, constitutional law, civil liberties, international law and human rights. In these and other areas, he authored or served as editor of seven books and published almost 100 major articles, reviews and papers. He continued to pursue these interests through service to government, the American Society of Legal Studies, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Constitutional Convention of Palau, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith.

The University of San Diego greatly benefited from the presence of this eminent professor and is pleased to present this lecture series in his memory.