For much of human history, the idea that war could be regulated was inconceivable. It was assumed that states would pursue their interests in foreign affairs however they desired. If a powerful state wished to conquer a foreign nation, and had a strong enough army to do so, they could
The battle of the rich and the poor has a long pedigree. In Ancient Athens, it was a conflict between the nobility and the common people that led Solon to enact his legendary reform of the Athenian constitution in the sixth century B.C. In Ancient Rome, it was a
What should we do about bad laws? I'm not talking here about simply ill-conceived laws or poorly drafted ones, but about laws that we think are fundamentally immoral. Should we follow them? Ignore them? Try to overturn them? Break them and accept the consequences? Or something else?
In 1816, Napoleon Bonaparte, former emperor of the French Empire and conqueror of nations, languished in exile on St. Helena, ruing his defeated ambitions and complaining about his failing eyesight and achy legs. But like many a leader forced into an early retirement, he used his newly found time to
The Constitution is the law that keeps on giving. Every year, it seems, we learn something new about it. We find out that settled understandings about its meaning are wrong or that its provisions have been misinterpreted for decades. These discoveries are hotly debated, not just by Supreme Court justices,
The Magna Carta is the most famous law in history, and yet it is surprisingly under-studied. In fact, I don't remember discussing it at all in either college or law school. As I wrote that sentence, I doubted myself and so, just to be sure, I went
Vikings are having a bit of a moment. The Norwegian soccer team made a deep run into the World Cup, wearing fantastic jerseys inspired by Viking runes, boasting talented players like Erling Haaland and Thelo Aasgaard, and celebrating goals with a "Viking row" that would make a good
Justinian's Code, the monumental collection of ancient Roman law compiled in the sixth century A.D., begins with a famous first passage. "Law is the art of goodness and fairness," it states. "Of that art, we lawyers are deservedly called the priests." The words
One of the pleasures of studying the history of law is that you get to spend time with brilliant thinkers. And the thinker that started it all was Socrates. Nearly everyone is familiar with the broad outlines of Socrates' life--his birth in the Golden Age of Ancient Athens
I decided to launch this column out of a sense of gratitude. Earlier this month, John Fleming, brilliant scholar, devoted mentor, inspiring teacher, beloved husband and father and a long-time friend of my own father's, passed away. His classes at Princeton in English and comparative literature were