The American Legal History Podcast

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 the court structure, and organization throughout the colonies; social services and business regulation throughout the colonies; and the Protestant Ethic and its impact on subsequent American legal history.

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 their abolition. We will also look at civil justice, and the birth, growth, proliferation, and importance of the "writ system."

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 of criminal law and procedure. Lastly, we will see how a series of important laws paved the way for the introduction of the jury and writ system.

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, canon law, and feudal law to form a common legal culture the ius commune across continental Europe.

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.