Legal History Commons^™

Matthew Hale (1609-1676): Four-Hundredth Anniversary, Joel Fishman

Law Faculty Publications

Matthew Hale stands along with Edward Coke and John Selden as one of the major lawyers of seventeenth-century England. Holdsworth said of Hale: "His character and talents made him easily the greatest lawyer of his day [and] the most scientific jurist that England had yet seen." Holdsworth also recognized him as the greatest common lawyer since Coke and as a lawyer superior to Coke.' The purpose of this short article is to acknowledge the four-hundredth anniversary of his birth and provide a short summary of the major events in his life along with a bibliography of books written by him …

Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., James Wilson, And The Pursuit Of Equality And Liberty, Deborah A. Roy

Cleveland State Law Review

This Article analyzes the jurisprudence of one of the most transformative Supreme Court Justices, William J. Brennan, Jr., from the perspective of his vision that the United States Constitution is founded on Human Dignity. Justice Brennan expressed this principle in his opinions that advanced the realization of individual rights for each and every American. The principle of human dignity invokes the values of equality and liberty. The article shows that Justice Brennan traced the principle of human dignity back to the Founding Fathers and the constitutional government that they established. Rather than being unhinged from the Constitution as his critics …

Invisible Histories & The Failure Of Protected Classes, Jill M. Fraley

Scholarly Articles

Our legal history suggests that the evolution of our discrimination law has been and likely should be the continuing enumeration of protected classes. There is, however, a counter-intuitive problem: protecting specific groups suggests to the public that everyone else is fair game, providing implicit legitimacy to other harmful stereotypes. To illustrate this problem this article constructs the legal history of stereotypes and prejudicial acts against Appalachians, a marginalized group that does not fit neatly in the protected categories. Considering then how our courts have treated the relationship between stereotypes and discrimination, along with recent sociological evidence, this article suggests that …

Review Of "Confucian Constitutional Order: How China’S Ancient Past Can Shape Its Political Future" By Jiang Qing, Carl F. Minzner

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Loeb And Leopold Trial, Daniel Hanson

A with Honors Projects

In 1924, Nathan Leopold, Jr., and Richard Loeb, two privileged and intelligent students from the University of Chicago, initiated a plan to kidnap and hold for ransom a boy from a wealthy neighboring family, all the while intending to kill him. The sensational trial that followed, in which Clarence Darrow delivered a 12-hour closing argument for life imprisonment rather than the death penalty, would have implications far broader than the crime itself. This trial became the focus of the nascent culture war brewing in the 1920’s, a culture war that pitted radically different philosophies against each other in a battle …

Untoward Consequences: The Ironic Legacy Of Keyes V. School District No. 1, Rachel F. Moran

Faculty Scholarship

The Keyes case began with high hopes that desegregation would lead to educational equity for black and Latino students in the Denver Public Schools. The lawsuit made history by successfully using circumstantial evidence to establish intentional discrimination and bring court-ordered busing to a school system outside the South. In the intervening years, that initial success became laden with irony. Because Denver was a tri-ethnic community of whites, blacks, and Latinos, the litigation revealed the complexities of pursuing reform in a school district not defined by a history of black-white relations.

The courts had to decide whether Latinos would count as …

A Story Of Marguerite: A Tale About Panis, Case Comment, And Social History, Signa A. Daum Shanks

Articles & Book Chapters

Those interested in social history contend that social norms deserve attention due to how they impact and are affected by historical events. This subfield has contributed significantly to how larger historical mosaics are understood, and how themes specific to marginalized groups are appreciated today. By presenting the story of enslaved Indigenous woman in New France who was the first Indigenous civil litigant in Canadian history, and focusing on her representation in the colonial legal system, a number of themes emerge. Canada’s history of slavery becomes better understood, and in so doing, a challenge to social historians is presented. By examining …

Founding Legal Education In America, Paul D. Carrington

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Review, From Industrial To Legal Standardization, 1871-1914: Transnational Insurance Law And The Great San Francisco Earthquake, Sachin Pandya

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

The United States Constitutional History Through The Barristers And Political Theories Of The Middle Temple Inn Of Court, Allen E. Shoenberger

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

Reforming Affirmative Action For The Future: A Constitutional And Consequentialist Approach, Quinn Chasan

CMC Senior Theses

In my analysis of affirmative action policy, I began the search without having formed any opinion whatsoever. The topic was interesting to me, and after reading a mass of news editorials and their op-eds, I decided to take up the argument for myself. Other than the fact that I am a student, I have no stake in affirmative action policy. This paper relies primarily on the foremost half-dozen or so notable mismatch theory scholars, a close reading of an innumerable number of Supreme Court opinions, affirmative action related studies from higher education academics and policy institutes, and how historical executive …

Blacks And Voting Rights In Nevada, Rachel J. Anderson

Scholarly Works

This article is a brief foray into black suffrage and equal rights in Nevada legal history. It is part of "A Special Series on African Americans in Nevada Politics - Past and Present" on pages 16-21 of the issue. Sources are on page 21 of the issue.

Blacks In The Nevada Legal Profession, Rachel J. Anderson

Scholarly Works

This article discusses the history of African-Americans in the Nevada legal profession. It is part of "A Special Series on African Americans in Nevada Politics - Past and Present" on pages 16-21 of the issue. Sources are on page 21 of the issue.

Introduction Of Chief Justice Roberts, At The Robert H. Jackson Center, May 17, 2013, John Q. Barrett

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

A backdrop to this event is an ongoing, if entirely friendly, War Between the States … or at least between two States.

As a boy, Robert H. Jackson and family moved from the state of his birth to a second state, where he completed grade school and high school and then embarked on life. Our honored guest, John G. Roberts, Jr., did the same thing in his boyhood. In Jackson’s case, following his birth and early boyhood on the family farm in Spring Creek Township, Warren County, Pennsylvania, the move was to Frewsburg, New York, and then to Jamestown—Pennsylvania …

Remarks At The Naming Ceremony, Robert H. Jackson United States Courthouse, Buffalo, New York, John Q. Barrett

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Thank you, Chief Judge Skretny, for that generous introduction. Thank you and congratulations, for vision and dedicated efforts, to Senators Schumer and Gillibrand; Representative Higgins; Chief Judge Skretny and Judge Arcara; Chief Judge Katzmann; Chief Judge Preska; all of their judicial and court colleagues; Administrator Pease; Mayor Brown and city officials; Buffalo law, business and civic leaders; and the people—all of the lucky “Jacksonland” people—of the Western District of New York.

As has been noted, young Robert H. Jackson’s life path ran right through this site. Born in Spring Creek, Pennsylvania, Jackson grew up there and then in Chautauqua …

The Inner Morality Of Private Law, Benjamin C. Zipursky

Faculty Scholarship

Lon Fuller's classic The Morality of Law is an exploration of the basic principles of a legal system: the law should be publicly promulgated, prospective, clear, and general. So deep are these principles, he argued, that too great a deviation from them would not simply create a bad legal system and bad law, but would render the products of such a system undeserving of the name "law" at all. In this essay, I argue that Fuller's basic principles are not in fact desiderata for all of law, observing that much of private law plainly flouts them; it is unwritten, retroactive, …

Commandeering And Constitutional Change, Jud Campbell

Law Faculty Publications

Coming in the midst of the Rehnquist Court’s federalism revolution, Printz v. United States held that federal commandeering of state executive officers is “fundamentally incompatible with our constitutional system of dual sovereignty.” The Printz majority’s discussion of historical evidence, however, inverted Founding-era perspectives. When Federalists such as Alexander Hamilton endorsed commandeering during the ratification debates, they were not seeking to expand federal power. Quite the opposite. The Federalists capitulated to states’ rights advocates who had recently rejected a continental impost tax because Hamilton, among others, insisted on hiring federal collectors rather than commandeering state collectors. The commandeering power, it turns …

Forensic Bibliography: Reconstructing The Library Of George Wythe, Linda K. Tesar

Library Staff Publications

The Wolf Law Library at the College of William and Mary initiated a project to re-create the library of George Wythe, the founding father of American legal education. A relatively small number of Wythe’s books are still extant today; for some volumes, there is strong documentary evidence to prove conclusively he owned specific editions of particular titles. Additionally, four bibliographies with varying levels of substantiating information provide insight into the contents of Wythe’s library. Examination of these sources launched an excursion into bibliographic history and rare book collecting that illuminates the difficulties in attempting to establish the exact editions contained …

Devising Law: On The Philosophy Of Legal Emblems, Peter Goodrich

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Two Great Leaders, L.A. Powe Jr.

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.