JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2006
TAKE HOME EXAM
INSTRUCTIONS
This is a check-out examination which you are allowed twenty-four hours to complete. Remember that clarity of analysis counts for more than amount written. There is an aggregate limit of ten pages for your entire examination answer (and if you type your answer, please double-space it and use a 12 point font). In any case, you must hand your examination in to Student Services (JoAnne Heiting, Room 131-K) no later than 2:00 p.m. on Friday, April 28, 2006. This is an open-book examination, and you may consult any sources you desire (in the library, online, etc.) However, you should not consult with other persons about the substance of this examination before 2:00 p.m. on Friday, April 28, 2006. Thereafter, it is in the public domain.
Answers can be either typed or written in examination booklets, but in either case should bear only your student identification number (AEGS) but not your name. Your student number (AEGS) on those answer materials constitutes your certification under the Honor Code that you are eligible to take the examination under the Law School class attendance rule and that you have read and complied with these instructions and the instructions on the cover page of the examination fact patterns. Graduating seniors should mark "graduating senior" on the outside of their answer materials.
There are three pages to this check-out examination, including this cover page.
QUESTION ONE
(thirty percent of examination)
1.1 What is sharia?
1.2 How do you understand the proper relationship between the three segments covered in our course, namely (secular) human rights law, women's rights, and Islam (or Islamic law)?
1.3 In our February 23, 2006 class we went over what we referred to as hidden issues, namely distributive justice (rich folks & poor folks), modernization debates and theories, and globalization pressures. How do you relate those hidden issues to the three segments under 1.2 above?
QUESTION TWO
(thirty percent of examination)
2.1 What is your understanding of the chief aspects of what is typically referred to as fundamentalist Islam? What about progressive Islam? Do they arise out of the same or different social circumstances from what is referred to typically as fundamentalist versus progressive Christianity (or conservative versus reform Judaism for that matter)? Why talk about religion anyway, in terms of whether differences expressed represent social positions or conservatism versus religious values?
2.2 Think about secular human rights as discussed by Harkristuti Harkrisnowo in class. Why not just ignore the religious aspects in favor of what would ordinarily be recognized as international human rights law? After all, if we are dealing in the international context shouldn't we just go straight to international law? Why or why not?
2.3 You have all been through a constitutional law course and so are presumed to be familiar with the bill of rights including the first amendment. How would you analyze 2.1 and 2.2 in terms of religious liberty (meaning looking at this under domestic constitutional law as opposed to international human rights law)?
QUESTION THREE
(forty percent of examination)
Look at the sources accessible on the LAWS 718 course materials webpage for Anisa Buckley's unit 14 entitled Islamic Family Law in the West, see
http://www.lfip.org/laws718/cm718.htm
How do you understand the relationship between what they call multi-culturalism in the readings (what is that?), and equal protection under the US constitution? Would the introduction in the US of Islamic family law principles as discussed for Canada and the UK be permissible? Why would anyone want to do that? How do you understand the balance between special recognition for the minority group versus individuals within the group (namely women)?