Cottrol Examination of the history of U.S. law from the seventeenth century to the present. Topics include Anglo-American constitutionalism, the reception and transformation of the common law, slavery and the law, race and gender in U.S. law, corporations, labor and the rise of the regulatory state, and legal education and the legal profession in U.S. history. Enrollment is limited. Intensive study of questions of lawyer responsibility and ethics raised by professional codes and moral philosophy.
Enrollment is limited.
The degree to which these concepts have been reflected in decisions of the Supreme Court, with primary focus on the Marshall Court but consideration also of more recent decisions. The use of law by legislatures and judges, both to enforce and to remedy racism in selected contexts, possibly including criminal justice, voting rights, public accommodations, education, employment, housing, free speech, and family law. The course will also consider the utility of critical race theory as a method of legal analysis. The interrelationship between law and social and economic development in U.S. history. Topics vary and will be announced at the time of registration.