Legal history has long been a curricular priority at UVA Law School and a strength of its faculty. The Law School’s curriculum places the development of the law in historical context so that students can better understand both the past and present legal landscape. With 20 scholars in the Law School and 15 scholars in the Corcoran Department of History all teaching or doing work in legal history, UVA offers an unparalleled variety of lecture courses and seminars.
The Legal History Program is structured around two related components:
Combination Degree (J.D.-M.A.) in History
The heart of the program is the J.D.-M.A. Program in History, which enables law students to earn an M.A. in history during the same three years they are earning their J.D. As part of the program, J.D.-M.A. candidates present drafts of their theses to faculty. Several veterans of the combination-degree program have gone on to successful careers in legal academia, and recent graduates have clerked for U.S. Supreme Court justices.
The Law School is an international leader in opening global legal history to serious study worldwide.The Law School’s Legal History Program is affiliated with GLH@UVA, a cross-disciplinary enterprise focusing on global legal history based in UVA’s Corcoran Department of History. GLH@UVA aims to broaden awareness of the history of legal life around the globe.
This paper, prepared for the 2023 Clifford Symposium on “New Torts” at DePaul Law School, addresses the tort of offensive battery. This is an ancient...
This paper describes the response of George Washington's administration to a plea for emergency war financing from French colonists who were trying to...
At first blush, the debate between Stanley Fish and Ronald Dworkin that took place over the course of the 1980s and early 90s seems to have produced...
Offers a preliminary legal history of the white supremacist and anti-Semitic violence that took place in my hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia on...
This paper, prepared for the 2023 Clifford Symposium on “New Torts” at DePaul Law School, addresses the tort of offensive battery. This is an ancient...
This paper describes the response of George Washington's administration to a plea for emergency war financing from French colonists who were trying to...
At first blush, the debate between Stanley Fish and Ronald Dworkin that took place over the course of the 1980s and early 90s seems to have produced...
Offers a preliminary legal history of the white supremacist and anti-Semitic violence that took place in my hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia on...
The conventional wisdom is that the Commander-in-Chief Clause arms the President with a panoply of martial powers. By some lights, the Clause not only...
In the period immediately preceding the Constitution’s adoption, New Yorkers engaged in a spirited debate over whether a proposed delegation from the...
This essay, written for a symposium honoring John Henry Schlegel, is part intellectual history, part philosophical polemic. It first briefly compares...
One can ask two different questions about a given social, political, or legal practice. First, how, if at all, do the ideas embodied in that practice...
On August 11 and 12, 2017, Charlottesville, Virginia — the home of the University of Virginia and this law journal — played unwitting host to two days...
The Constitution identifies three forms of supreme federal law — the Constitution, laws, and treaties — and specifies, to some extent, procedures for...
The most famous law review article of all time is Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis’s The Right to Privacy. An often overlooked fact is that the roots...
In my response to reviews by Christopher Agee, Christopher Schmidt, Karen Tani, and Laura Weinrib, I explain some of the challenges of writing Vagrant...
The University of Virginia School of Law’s first classes 200 years ago were an experiment in American legal education — and success was anything but assured.
Professor Risa Goluboff discusses the U.S. Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison and the creation of judicial review in a mock constitutional law class held for admitted students.
The following is a list of courses offered during 2024-26. Numbers in parentheses indicate which academic year(s) the courses were offered, i.e., 2023-24 is coded (24), 2024-25 is coded (25) and 2025-26 is coded (26). (SC) stands for short course and (YR) stands for yearlong.
Legal History
An American Half-Century (24,25,26) Asian Americans and the Law (24,25,26) Citizenship: The Law, History and Politics of U.S. Citizenship (26) Civil War and the Constitution (24) Constitutional Law II: Poverty (26) English Legal History to 1776 (25) Federalism (SC) (24) Global Legal History (25) History of American Federalism (25) History of the American Administrative State (24) Jewish Law Jurisprudence: From the Bible to the Rabbis (SC) (25) Law in American History: 20th Century (24) Monetary Constitution Seminar (24,25,26) Property, the Police Power and Emergencies (24,25) Race and Slavery on UVA’s North Grounds (24,25,26) Roman Law (24) Roman Law of Family, Property and Succession (26) School Desegregation, School Integration (24) Supreme Court Justices and the Art of Judging (24) The Constitution, Democracy and U.S. History (25) The Great Writ (SC) (24,25) The Institutional Supreme Court (SC) (24)
A professor of law, a Harvard Ph.D. candidate and a law firm partner are just three of the successful University of Virginia School of Law alumni who gained a richer legal education from the J.D.-M.A. Program in History . "The J.D.-M.A. program was where I first learned what it meant to be a legal
The Dual-Degree (J.D.-M.A.) Program in History enables law students to earn an M.A. in history during the same three years they are earning their J.D. As part of the program, J.D.-M.A. candidates present drafts of their theses to faculty. Several veterans of the dual-degree program have gone on to successful careers in legal academia, and recent graduates have clerked for U.S. Supreme Court justices.
Katharine Janes ’21, a dual-degree candidate who graduates May 23 from the University of Virginia School of Law, has pursued her budding interest in history while also being of service to her peers.
Students at the University of Virginia School of Law can shift from studying legal scholarship to helping create it as research assistants for faculty members. Five students share their experiences.
Professor Megan Stevenson of the University of Virginia School of Law explores the origins of risk assessment tools in a new co-authored paper, highlighting the role that eugenic criminology played in their inception and early years.
Professors Risa Goluboff and G. Edward White of the University of Virginia School of Law reflect on the history and legacy of the Declaration of Independence as the nation marks its 250th anniversary.
New courses offered this fall at the University of Virginia School of Law include the AI and Legal Tools Lab, Roman Law of Obligations and The Current Supreme Court.
Professor Risa Goluboff discusses the U.S. Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison and the creation of judicial review in a mock constitutional law class held for admitted students.
Professors Risa Goluboff and G. Edward White discuss the legacy and impact of the Declaration of Independence, written 250 years ago this year by UVA founder Thomas Jefferson.
UVA Law professor John C. Harrison, former U.S. Pardon Attorney Margaret Love and Yale Law School professor Kate Stith-Cabranes discuss UVA Law professor Saikrishna Prakash’s new book, “The Presidential Pardon: The Short Clause with a Long, Troubled History.” Professor Micah Schwartzman ’05 moderated the panel and Dean Leslie Kendrick ’06 introduced the event, which was sponsored by the Karsh Center for Law and Democracy.
Professors Ross E. Davies of George Mason University, Lucas A. Powe Jr. of the University of Texas and Sarah A. Seo of New York University discuss UVA Law professor G. Edward White’s new book, “Robert H. Jackson: A Life in Judgment.” Professor Risa Goluboff moderated the panel and Dean Leslie Kendrick ’06 introduced the event, which was sponsored by the Law School and co-sponsored by the Legal History Program.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson discusses “Lovely One: A Memoir” with Professor Kimberly Jenkins Robinson, her law school roommate and director of UVA Law’s Education Rights Institute, in honor of the institute’s second anniversary. Dean Leslie Kendrick ’06 makes introductory remarks.
A new book from Professor Saikrishna Prakash of the University of Virginia School of Law explores the history of the presidential pardon power and how it has increasingly been deployed as a political instrument.
Judge Roger L. Gregory of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit gives a talk and participates in a Q&A to mark receiving the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Law. Dean Risa Goluboff served as moderator for the event.
Father Bertrand Hebert, a canon lawyer and Dominican friar, will present the basics of canon law. He is a graduate of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he earned both a bachelor’s degree and licentiate in philosophy. In 2025, Bertand was ordained a friar of the Province of St. Joseph to the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Bertrand currently serves as an associate pastor, Tribunal of the Archdiocese of Baltimore at Saints Philip and James Catholic Church.
This event is sponsored by a student organization.
The Federalist Society welcomes Judge Ryan Nelson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for a discussion of the enduring legal and political significance of the Declaration of Independence. Nelson will explore the historical context in which the declaration was written, its influence on the founding generation and its continuing relevance to Americans today. Food will be provided.
This event is sponsored by a student organization.
In a new book, “The Presidential Pardon: The Short Clause with a Long, Troubled History,” Professor Saikrishna Prakash examines one of the most powerful and controversial authorities granted to the U.S. president and its impact on law, justice and democratic accountability. In this event, participants will trace the historical origins and constitutional meaning of the presidential pardon power and how pardons have been used, abused and debated across American history. A book sale and signing will follow.
Madiba Dennie will discuss her book, “The Originalism Trap: How Extremists Stole the Constitution and How We the People Can Take it Back,” which argues for inclusive constitutionalism as a path toward a more just, democratic society. Dennie is deputy editor and senior contributor at the critical legal commentary website Balls and Strikes and co-director of the Democracy Committee of the New Jersey Reparations Council. Food will be provided.
A book signing will follow the event, and limited books will be available to purchase on a first-come, first-serve basis at a discounted rate.
This event is sponsored by a student organization.
Media law scholar and feminist legal theorist Jessica Lake will discuss her 2025 book, “Special Damage: The Slander of Women and the Gendered History of Defamation Law.” In her book, Lake analyzes a comparative legal history of gendered hate speech, verbal abuse and sexual harassment across the common law world. Lake is a senior lecturer at Melbourne Law School at the University of Melbourne in Australia. She researches the regulation of expression, reputation and creativity in the common law world from the early 19th century to the present, with a focus on gender. A reception will follow the event.
Interested in earning an M.A. in history in the same three-year period it takes to earn a J.D.? Students are invited to an information session to learn about the Combination-Degree (J.D./M.A.) Program in Legal History. The session will cover how to apply and what the program entails.
Professors Risa Goluboff and G. Edward White discuss the legacy and impact of the Declaration of Independence, written 250 years ago this year by UVA founder Thomas Jefferson.
