BA (120 credit hour) Major in Law, Justice and Society

As an interdisciplinary program, LJSO recommends students consider combined degree programs. Students are therefore encouraged to enter the combined honours, double major or minor programs, which provide opportunities that further integrate their LJSO studies with those of an approved arts or science field, e.g. LJSO and History or LJSO and Political Science. Double majors and combined honours degrees provide additional opportunities for students, in keeping open the possibility that they may pursue graduate studies in more than one area.

To complete the 120 hour Major in LJSO, students are required to take a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 54 credit hours in the major subject. This requirement includes 18 credit hours of LJSO core courses, and a minimum of 12 credit hours of elective courses, 6 of which should be at or beyond the 3000 level, and 3 must be 4000 level. The list of LJSO-approved electives can be found here or on the LJSO Website at dal.ca/ljso under “Programs”.

First year students are encouraged to select from existing introductory courses across the arts and social sciences such as ASSC 1300.03 or ASSC 1400.03. It is recommended that selections include the prerequisites for the LJSO courses that are required at the 2000 and 3000 levels in the contributing disciplines of Political Science, Sociology and/or Anthropology, Philosophy, and History (see below). Students should also make sure that 6 credit hours are taken in courses that satisfy the Writing Requirement (WR). Examples of recommended courses include:

• PHIL 1500.03 and PHIL 1501.03 or PHIL 1810.03 and PHIL 1820.03 (WR)
• POLI 1050.03 and POLI 1055.03 or POLI 1060.03 and POLI 1065.03 or POLI 1001.03 and POLI 1002.03 (WR)
• SOSA 1002.03 and SOSA 1003.03 or POLI 1500/SOSA 1500.06
• HIST 1020.03 and HIST 1021.03; HIST 1022.03 and HIST 1023.03 (WR); HIST 1510.06 (WR); or HIST 1910.03 and HIST 1911.03

King’s Foundation Year Program and the DalCAP combination of courses also provide suitable entry points.

Second year there are 9 required credit hours at the 2000-level:

• LAWS 2510.03 Introduction to Law I
• LAWS 2520.03 Introduction to Law II
• PHIL 2020.03 Legal Thinking

Third year there are 9 required credit hours at the 3000-level:

• POLI 3505.03 Human Rights: Foundations
• HIST 3226.03 Law & Justice in Canadian Society to 1890, OR HIST 3227.03 Criminal Law, Crime and Punishment, 1890 to the Present
• LJSO 3000.03 Processes of Justice

Fourth year  there are no required core courses at the 4000-level. Students choose an approved elective course at the 4000-level.

Other requirements:

• A minimum of 12 and a maximum of 33 credit hours must be from the list of Approved Electives, 6 of which should be at or beyond the 3000-level, and 3 of which must be a 4000-level seminar. (This requirement can not be fulfilled by POLI 4390.03)