On Wednesday, February 23, our Florida State University Law Review hosted Dr. Jules Coleman for a special presentation, “What the Law and Morality Can Learn from Race Horses and Trolley Cars.” During his lecture, Coleman suggested that many issues the law addresses arise in other forms as problems people face in their everyday lives. He argued that the law can learn a good deal by examining the practices developed to deal with those ordinary issues. Coleman also discussed how we should address a wide range of moral issues by looking at the ways in which the law has addressed similar problems. Coleman used the 2019 Kentucky Derby to shed light on a range of legal issues including standing and the nature of wrongs, and he illustrated how principles of tort law and criminal law can illuminate various issues that arise in the famous trolley problem.

Coleman is one of the world’s leading legal theorists. He most recently was a senior administrator at New York University and spent decades teaching at Yale Law School. Coleman has given endowed lectures across the world, including previously at FSU Law. He also has taught at FSU Law, including this semester, where he is teaching Justice, Efficiency & the Law. We are very grateful to be able to give our students opportunities to learn from one of the most important legal minds in modern times.

Published on February 25, 2022