A selective study of the Jewish legal system. The sources and structure of Jewish law, its development and modern-day status will be analyzed from a jurisprudential perspective. The underlying assumptions of the system and its social policy objectives will be carefully examined with particular emphasis on their relationship to the decision-making process. You do not need any background in Jewish studies. (A substantial number of students in past years have been non-Jewish.) A final examination will be given. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar, or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, will be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.