History 385: The Biography of an Influential Legal History Course, Taught by Stanley N. Katz

This short essay describes the nature and far-reaching impact of a large-format undergraduate course on U.S. legal history that legal historian Stanley N. Katz taught at Princeton University for almost ten years, starting in 1978. The course had a complex origin story, rooted in curricular innovations of the 1960s. It was unusual in its demand that students pursue sustained immersion in primary sources, debate their meaning, and take interpretive positions. Katz taught the course socratically, eschewing lectures. Because Princeton faculty often precepted for fellow faculty—attending Katz’s large-format sessions and leading their own small weekly discussion sections—Katz’s approach persuaded some colleagues to change their own teaching approaches. At a time when legal history was expanding as a research and teaching field, the course, along with its extensive reading materials that were not available in published form, was transplanted to other campuses by Katz’s students and associates.