Law 337 - American Legal History (Prof. Spillenger)

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In this course, we will take up a variety of important topics in American legal and constitutional history.  The emphasis will be on exploring several topics in some depth, rather than attempting a complete survey of all of American legal history.  This year's topics will likely be chosen from among the following:  law and the economy in the antebellum period; slavery and the American legal system; the law and constitutionalism of Reconstruction; law, gender, and the family; the legal profession and legal education; the changing law of industrial relations and industrial accidents; legal progressivism and the New Deal.  The class will be taken by students at both UCLA and USC, and will be co-taught by Professor Spillenger and Professor Ariela Gross, Professor of Law and History at USC.  Two of the course's three weekly 50-minute meetings will be taught at one school (alternating between UCLA and USC) and videoconferenced to the other; the third class will be a discussion section with no videoconferencing involved.  All classes for enrolled UCLA students will meet at UCLA; no travel to USC is required.