UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

Teaching Legal Theory in a Crowded (and Uncrowded) Curriculum

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.53300/001c.167513

Authors

Justine Rogers

Reported year

2026

Reported language

en

Source type

article

First detected

2026-11-09T19:15:44.501772+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:15:44.501772+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

UNSW Sydney

Documentary abstract — original language

This article examines the challenges and opportunities of teaching legal theory, focusing on the dual dynamics of a curriculum that can feel both crowded and uncrowded. Here, ‘crowding’ refers not only to excess content and competing demands within the classroom, but also to the broader institutional and disciplinary pressures that shape how legal theory is positioned and experienced within the law degree. Conversely, an ‘uncrowded’ curriculum may not always feel spacious or generative, but can instead appear marginal, thin, or disconnected from the core of legal education. Legal theory exemplifies this tension. It occupies a distinctive place in the law curriculum, inviting students to interrogate foundational questions about the concepts and institutions of law, justice, and power, and the nature of those questions themselves, while also tending to occupy an isolated position within the degree, with ongoing questions about its identity and rationale. Drawing on existing scholarship and the author’s own teaching experience, this paper identifies the central sources of crowding and uncrowding, including the inherited canon, changing patterns of student engagement associated with Gen Z cohorts, pressures for inclusivity, and the risks generative artificial intelligence poses to traditional assessment. It presents strategies to create conceptual and practical spaciousness, emphasising approaches that position students as active participants in theorising, critique, and ‘worldmaking’. It also seeks to ground the discipline, not through its content or a fixed set of methods, but through its overarching purpose and approach to inquiry. In doing so, it explores how legal theory can remain intellectually rigorous and professionally formative, while also pedagogically creative in response to changing conditions.

Identifiers

OPENALEX

W7204269789

DOI

10.53300/001c.167513

Documentary context

Documentary family

Scholarship

Source-reported types

article

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.53300/001c.167513
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W7204269789

Documentary status

Detected scholarly publication

Library

This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.