The American Legal History Podcast

The most interesting fact about the American Revolution, which makes it unique in the annals of all our wars, is that it was the unintended consequence of a dispute about the law. Two principle arguments emerged on both sides of the Atlantic and it was the failure to reconcile these competing views of the law that led to open warfare in 1775, and the decision in 1776 of 13 of the British colonies...

In episode ten we will discuss the deadliest war in American history as a proportion to population, King Phillips War. Native American legal culture in the south; the importance of the Amerindian Confederacies in the 17th and 18th centuries. The different perspectives of the Crown and the colonies toward Native peoples. The Marshall trilogy and Indian removal.

In episode nine we will explore the fascinating but often neglected topic of the influence of Amerindians on the law. We will discuss why the English gained supremacy along the North American coast at the expense of other European powers; how "virgin soil epidemics" devastated indigenous peoples throughout the New World; the starkly different world views concerning the possession of land and conce...

In episode eight we will continue our examination of the law in early Colonial America. First, we will examine the trial and banishment from the Massachusetts Bay Colony of Anne Hutchinson in 1637. Next, we will discuss one of the strangest episodes in American legal history, the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Last, we will take on the codification of law in the 17th century, with a particular emphas...

In this episode we will explore the motivations for the founding of colonies in British North America; how their corporate charters served as a template for the organization of their governments; the highly coercive legal system initiated in Jamestown to control the immigrants; the Massachusetts Bay Colony, its founding, leaders, religious beliefs, and governmental structure; a big-picture view of...

In Episode Six, Part II, on the birth of the Common Law in Medieval England, we will discuss the origins, legal significance, and enduring legacy of "Magna Charta." In addition, we will examine the abolition of the "ordeals" as the principle method of determining the guilt or innocence of those accused of major crimes, the effect on legal procedure, and the changing role of the jury in wake of the...

In the first of two episodes we will explore the origins and growth of the common law in Medieval England. First, we will attempt the difficult task of defining the common law; then we will take a big picture view of English society in the 10th and 11th century, the feudal system and its influence on the common law. Next, we will look at the revolutionary judicial reforms of King Henry II in terms...

In episode four we will examine the extraordinary story of the creation of the Corpus Juris Civilis at the direction of the emperor Justinian I in the sixth century. This work was and is the foundational template for all civil law countries today. I will also discuss the lose and rediscovery in Western Europe and the birth of the university. Finally, you will learn about the merger of Roman law, c...

In episode three we will examine the unwritten Spartan legal code, so coercive that one historian has described it as a "human molding" system, We will also look at the creation and enduring legacy of Rome's first written code of laws, the Twelve Tables, Last, we will examine the origins and practice of law in Classical Athens and Republican Rome.

In this episode we will begin with a note on how we measure time. Then we will look at the Laws of the Bible and the Mitzvot. The Greek contribution to the development of the law through an examination of their law codes, philosophy, and theater.

In Episode One you will learn about the science of human equality; the ancient roots of the law and the steps in its evolution; the Code of Hammurabi and the astonishing sophistication of the Mesopotamian legal system.

This podcast will trace the history and evolution of American Law from its most ancient roots, through the birth of the Common Law in medieval England, the early colonial and revolutionary era, through the early days of the Supreme Court, the Civil War years, the tumultuous twentieth century, and on to the present day. Although legal theory and philosophy will be discussed it is not a podcast on j...