Sociology-Anthropology 363/2
Law and Society
Mid-Term Exam
3 October 2023
This is the mid-term exam in “Law and Society”. It is worth 35% of your final
mark in the course. The exam is
open book
. Dictionaries are permitted. You may write
in English or French. You are asked to answer
four (4)
of the following six questions
in from 250-350 words each (1,400 words maximum). Each answer is worth 10 marks
for a total of 40 marks.
Please demonstrate your familiarity with the course materials (readings, films)
and our in-class discussions in your answers. Answer all parts of each question. This
exam was posted at around 8:15 pm on Tuesday, October 3. It is due by 10:00 am on
Thursday, October 5.
QUESTIONS
Please answer four of the following six questions:
1
a) How does a gift economy, as among the Gabra, differ from a market
economy where, instead of people exchanging things (e.g. camels) they enter
into contracts of sale or of work? b) What is wrong with riba (interest),
according to Islamic law?
2
a) What does Sir Henry Maine mean when he says “the movement of the
progressive societies has been a movement from Status to Contract”? b) What is
missing from Maine’s picture of social order and integration being exclusively
tied to kinship and descent in so-called archaic societies, like the Gabra. c) Is
the move Maine describes invariably a “progressive” one?
2
a) Compare and contrast the segmentary lineage system as found among the Nuer
of the Sudan and the centralized penal system of contemporary North American
society. b) Which system do you think is the more effective one in terms of
keeping people in line (ie. acting responsibly)? Give reasons
3
Consider the documentary film
Witchcraft among the Azande
. First, as regards
witchcraft: a) What are two respects in which the Azande belief in witchcraft
might be regarded as dysfunctional? b) What are two respects in which the web
of beliefs and practices surrounding witchcraft can be seen as contributing to
social order? c) In the civilian system, any person capable of discerning right
from wrong is responsible for the damage caused by their fault:
how does the
Azande regime of civil responsibility (or accountability) differ?
4
A judge of the Supreme Court of Canada recently proclaimed: “The advantage
of the rule of precedent, or
stare decisis
, is that it ensures the neutrality,
rationality, objectivity and predictability of judicial decision-making. It’s a
science really. Nothing arbitrary about it. The rule of law and not of men, I
say.” In his essay on “Legal Reasoning,” David Kairys disagrees. a) What is
Kairys' argument and what evidence does he give for his claims? b) What is
your position on this issue - that is, do you think legal reasoning can be as
rigorous, objective and above politics as the Supreme Court justice suggests
?
Discuss giving examples.
