The purpose of government is to protect rights. In this course, three lawyers–members of the Board of Directors of The Association for Objective Law–analyze several categories of rights in the context of Objectivist political theory, and compare their conclusions with those reached by our courts. Bowden (one class): Natural law vs. positive law as a method of identifying fundamental rights. Why the importance of Roe v. Wade extends far beyond the issue of abortion. Mann (one class): The method by which concepts of rights are developed, case-by-case, in the legal system. (Texts of court opinions will be examined.) Plafker (two classes): How the criminal law secures rights substantively (by convicting criminals) and procedurally (by protecting the rights of the accused).