Exploring Southern Legal History

Abstract

Whether the South has a distinct legal history has not been adequately explored by scholars. In this essay, Professor Finkelman discusses southern legal history through an examination of race relations, violence, crime, legal institutions, and legal culture concluding that marked differences exist between northern and southern legal history. By highlighting the many unanswered questions concerning the South’s legal heritage, Professor Finkelman invites and encourages scholars to engage in research that will relieve the South of “the pressure [its] past must exercise” upon it today.

Keywords: regionalism, race relations