Charleston’s legal climate topic of lecture by colonial legal scholar

One of the nation’s leading scholars on colonial law will talk about the law and legal practices in Charleston from 1670 - 1775 Thursday, March 19, at the University of South Carolina.

William E. Nelson, the Edward Weinfeld Professor of Law and History at New York University, will speak at 5 p.m. in the Law School auditorium. His talk is titled "The Height of Sophistication: Law and Professionalism in the City-State of Charleston, South Carolina 1670 – 1775.”

His talk is free and open to the public.

Drawing on a thorough examination of the colonial legal records preserved in the state archives, Nelson says that by the mid-18th century, South Carolina had developed the most sophisticated and, at least for its limited purposes, the most effective legal order on the North American continent. Among the matters he will discuss are two pre-Revolutionary instances of judicial review, previously unknown to scholars of this core American constitutional practice.

Nelson, a former law clerk to Justice Byron R. White of the U.S. Supreme Court, holds a J.D. from New York University and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has written more than 10 books and numerous articles. His most recent book is The Common Law in Colonial America: Volume I: The Chesapeake and New England, 1607-1660. "The Height of Sophistication" will be included in volume 2, which will cover legal growth in the early Carolinas and Middle Colonies.