Whitt, Reginald
Fr. Reginald Whitt
Professor
1000 LaSalle Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Office Location: MSL 424
J.C.L. and J.C.D., The Catholic University of America
J.D., Duke University
S.T.B. Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception
B.A., Loyola College
Father Reginald Whitt returned to the faculty at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in the fall of 2007 after taking a leave to serve as President of the pontifical faculty at the Dominican House of Studies in 2003. Whitt has taught on the law school faculties of Villanova University, the University of Kentucky, Duke University and the University of Notre Dame. Known for his research in African-American Catholic concerns, his 1990 article, "Not Rite Now: An African American Church?", won first prize among original works from the Catholic Press Association. His other research interests embrace the ministry of the bishops, liturgical law, Catholic colleges and universities, and ecclesiastical structures, property and governance.
Father Whitt was a founding member of the St. Thomas School of Law faculty.
Courses Taught
| Number | Title | Credits | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 635 | Torts | 4 | ||
| Description of course 635 : | This course will examine the legal principles that determine whether civil liability will attach to conduct that results in injuries to persons or property. Students will explore in depth, the issues and principles related to the law of neg- ligence and its elements of duty, breach, causation and damages. The course will also address principles of liability for intentional torts. Throughout the course, students will explore the social and economic policies underlying tort law principles. | |||
| 782 | Canon Law of Marriage | 3 | ||
| Description of course 782 : | This course will explore the principle canons on matrimony in their historical and doctrinal context. Students will examine the canonical definition of marriage and its ends and properties, canonical preparation for marriage, the impediments to canonically valid marriage, the laws concerning matrimonial consent, the canonical form, mixed marriage, dissolution of the bond, separation, convalidation and sanation. Students will subject some disputed questions concerning marriage to critical analysis from a theological and canonical point of view, e.g., the meaning of covenant, the requirement of faith, the nature of consent, indissolubility, the privilege of the faith and other grounds for dissolution of the marriage bond. Students will examine the nature of the Church's matrimonial jurisprudence and of selected capita nullitatis of particular relevance to practitioners in both the Roman Rota and American church courts: the so-called traditional capita as well as various psychological bases for nullity. Each Student will write a relatio (memorandum) and a sentence concerning the validity of a hypothetical marriage. ( 3 credits. Offered Alternate years.) | |||
| 802 | Administrative Law | 3 | ||
| Description of course 802 : | This course will examine the legal limits on administrative agencies under the Constitution, the Administrative Procedure Act and other statutes. Students will explore constitutional limits on Congress' power to delegate law- making and judicial power to agencies, procedural limits on agency rulemaking and decision making and limits on the availability and scope of judicial review of agency actions. | |||
| 803 | Advanced Torts | 3 | ||
| Description of course 803 : | This course will explore in greater depth than is possible inthe first year Torts course the theories of liability that govern civil damage actions for injuries caused by negligence. Students will also examine theories and rules governing strict liability, products liability, defamation, invasion of privacy, and infliction of emotional distress. | |||
| 810 | Canon Law:Basic Principles | 3 | ||
| Description of course 810 : | This course will examine the nature, history and function of law in the Catholic Church by presenting an overview of the 1983 Code of Canon Law and other ecclesiastical laws and regulations concerning general norms (Book I), the rights and obligations of the Christian faithful and ecclesiastical structures (Book II), the teaching office of the Church (Book III) and temporal goods (Book V). The course will provide students with an understanding of the structures, processes and discipline directed to harmony and order for the Christian faithful. It will seek to engender a knowledge and respect for ecclesiastical law as a pastoral instrument and practical science that translates the Church's teachings into reasonable norms for members' everyday lives. Students will learn about the basic structures in the Church at the universal, national, diocesan and parochial levels and about resources helpful to their effective participation and ministries in the Church. The course will introduce students to a significantly different juridical system and body of law and will enhance their abilities to deal with legal issues arising in a distinctly different juridical context. | |||
| 950 | Supervised Resrch & Writing | .5 | ||
| Description of course 950 : | Under the supervision of a faculty member, a student may receive up to two hours of course credit for researching and writing a substantial paper on a topic of the student's own choosing. The student must receive the instructor's per- mission to enroll in this course and must meet periodically with the instructor for discussion, review and evaluation. Each faculty member may supervise the research of no more than five students each semester. | |||
Areas of Academic Expertise:
African-American Catholic Concerns
From the article "Grand Ideas: Faculty members describe the best ideas from their scholarship" St. Thomas Lawyer Magazine Fall 2011
The most important idea for my research in the past 10 years has been in the area of canon law (i.e., the law of the Catholic Church), to empirically survey the methods employed by the several Catholic colleges and universities in the United States in order to identify and assess the variety of methods these institutions have used (e.g., modifications in institutional governance, or in hiring standards and procedures; new offices for identity and mission, and the programs they have undertaken; etc.) to comply with the 1990 apostolic constitution, Ex Corde Ecclesiae and the American bishops’ “Norms of Application” for that special law, both of which are designed to promote the Catholic ecclesial identity and mission of those schools.
Upcoming: Examining the recent Vatican laws toward establishing special “ordinariates” for Anglican Christians who enter full communion with the Catholic Church.
Contributions and mentions in the media
Los Angeles Times - "Moral Compass Guides New Law School" View Publication
USA Today - "Bishops must balance civil, canon law in sex cases" View Publication
Articles
D.R. Whitt, “With Righteousness in His Suitcase”: Reflections on the Ministry of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 54 Vill. L. Rev. 421 (2009).
D.R. Whitt, “With Righteousness in His Suitcase”: Reflections on the Ministry of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 54 Vill. L. Rev. 421 (2009).
D. R. Whitt, “What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate”: The Mind of the Legislator in Ex Corde Ecclesiae, 25 J. C. & U. L. 769 (1999).
D. R. Whitt, “What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate”: The Mind of the Legislator in Ex Corde Ecclesiae, 25 J. C. & U. L. 769 (1999).
Faculty & Staff
- Deans
- Faculty
- Bateson, Ann
- Berg, Thomas
- Blanchard, Lindsey
- Bowser, Rene
- Carpenter, Benjamin
- Collett, Teresa
- Delahunty, Robert
- Gordon, Mitchell
- Griffith, Daniel
- Hamilton, Neil
- Hernandez-Crespo, Mariana
- Holloran, Thomas
- Johnson, Lyman
- Joyce, Thomas
- Kaal, Wulf
- Kahn, Robert
- Levy-Pounds, Nekima
- Nichols, Joel
- Organ, Jerry
- Orr, Laura
- Oseid, Julie
- Osler, Mark
- Paulsen, Michael
- Reid, Charles
- Schiltz, Elizabeth
- Shea, Hank
- Sisk, Gregory
- Stabile, Susan
- Taylor, Scott
- Tyner, Artika
- Vischer, Robert
- Whitt, Reginald
- Wiebe, Virgil
- Wright, Jennifer
- Adjunct Faculty
- Staff by Department
- Faculty in the News
- Scholarship by Faculty