The American Journal of Legal History is a peer reviewed, peer edited legal periodical published by the Temple University Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It has appeared quarterly since 1957 and acts as a “showcase for outstanding scholarship on all facets of legal history.” It was the first English-language periodical devoted solely to legal history.
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The American Journal of Legal History was founded by Temple University law library director Erwin C. Surrency.[1] The first issue appeared in February 1957.[2] From its inception until 1982, the Journal was the official publication of the American Society for Legal History.[3]
According to Professor Surrency, the Journal was created to provide legal historians with a forum for their work and as a means of advancing the "law through a study of its history."[4] As a peer publication, the Journal provides authors with "a more experienced editorial hand [and its] articles often are shorter, filled with less publish-or-perish tenure pieces than with an exchange of ideas between scholars."[5]
The Journal was the first English-language periodical devoted solely to legal history.[6] Since 2010, it has used the tag line, “Combining the professional approach of the historian and the technical knowledge of the lawyer.”[7]
The Journal publishes articles, essays, biographies, bibliographies, and book reviews on all aspects of legal history.[8] Although a popular misconception is that the Journal’s coverage is limited to “American legal history,” the editors make it a point to regularly publish works on non-American legal history.[9]
The Journal has had three editors during its existence, all of whom have been affiliated with Temple University’s law library: Professor Surrency (1957-81); Professor Diane C. Maleson (1982-2002); and Mr. Lawrence J. Reilly (2008 to present).[10]
In addition to the Editor, the Journal has a number of assistant editors as well as an advisory board made up of prominent academicians.[11] From 1957 to 1974, the honorary chair of the advisory board was Earl Warren, the former Chief Justice of the United States.[12]
Since 1974, the Journal has been printed by the George H. Buchanan Company of Logan Township, New Jersey.[13]
Federal and state judges have cited the Journal in 125 published opinions.[14] Scholars have cited the Journal in more than 3,000 articles and more than 15,000 books.[15]
In their seminal work on the evolution of the growth of American legal history as a field of study, Professors William E. Nelson and John Phillip Reid noted that the Journal is "a publication in which academic historians speak to each other . . . [and] virtually every one of the many articles in the Journal [is] essential reading for those wishing to keep current in the field."[16]
Hard copies of the Journal can be purchased from W.S. Hein & Co., Inc. Electronic copies of the Journal are available on EBSCO, HeinOnline, JSTOR, LexisNexis, and Westlaw.