:Certainly you can use the left-right template for any period.  Confucius and Lao Tse, the optimates and populares in Rome.  But it would be better to have sources that do that rather than introduce them ourselves.  While France in 1789 introduced the seating arrangement that would lead to the current terminology, it was never used throughout the 19th century.  I do not think that James was using in in its modern sense.