Course Section | Columbia Law School

Section Description Provided by Instructor

This offering meets 2 hours per week, but is worth 3 points of credit. The additional point of credit reflects the instructor's certification that the course assignments require student engagement and responsibilities beyond that found in a two hour lecture course.

The seminar examines the increasingly common situation in which to follow a rule means in practice to re-write the rule in the light of (joint) efforts to implement it. How, if at all, can such rule-making and revision provide the various forms of accountability we associate with the rule of law? By what institutional means is such revisionary rule making accomplished? What are its implications for our understanding of administrative and constitutional law as well as contractual agreements? These general themes will first be explored generally, with attention to relevant texts in philosophy, law and economics, and organization theory. The general ideas will then be put to use in detailed discussion of contracts to jointly develope innovative products and processes, accountability mechanisms to assure provision of customized public services including education and child welfare, and regulation of food safety in the EU.