HIST 167 Foundations of Law
Taught as schedule allows (consult the Course Directory)
PRE-1800
This course surveys the development of common law and constitution from the earliest Roman and Anglo-Saxon beginnings to the era of the American Revolution. Our focus will be on the social, political and intellectual contexts within which Anglo-American law emerged, and the often surprising foundations of cherished legal and constitutional principles. Topics to be discussed will include the origins of courts and the judiciary; the evolution of jury trial and the early history of the law of evidence; conflicts and compromises between secular and ecclesiastical law; rights and limits to property ownership at common law; imperial law and its jurisdictions; and problems regarding the legal status of women, children, servants and slaves.
