LAU22601 Law and Happiness

Module Learning Outcomes with embedded Graduate Attributes  

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Understand and explain the relationship between law and happiness;
• Understand and explain the evolution from traditional economic analysis of law to a behavioural approach to law;
• Critically analyse how law can measure happiness;
• Critically analyse current and emerging issues relating to nudges and state paternalism;
• Communicate effectively insights gained in the module, both orally and via a written assessment.

Module Content

Should law promote happiness? Should it prioritize it over other values such as fairness, justice, or rights? In some legal systems, happiness is a constitutional value. Similarly, some regulatory interventions seek to improve individuals’ well-being, understood as a proxy of their happiness.
In this bespoke open module, students from law and other disciplines will have the opportunity to explore the relationship between law, choice, and happiness.

Amongst some of the questions that will be addressed are (1) whether law should override an individual’s choice when that choice is not conducive to her happiness; (2) whether the legal pursuit of happiness embodies a political goal; and, (3) whether law can actually measure happiness. The module will trace the lineage of these normative questions to better understand contemporary legal issues associated with law and happiness. In particular, it will begin by reviewing how legal scholarship has traditionally used standard economics for assessing the effects of law on individual behaviour, before analysing recent developments in behavioural economics and the influence that behavioural insights have had on the design of laws and public policies. As such, the module will draw from other disciplines, including economics, psychology, and philosophy, to name but a few. It will be accessible and engaging for students from many disciplines and will broaden the perspective of law students.