For Immediate Release
September 12, 2006

Contact:
Kara Tershel , (202) 662-9500

Prof. Oldham

WASHINGTON, D.C. – While the right to trial by jury appears to be rooted in American constitutional law, the civil jury is actually an import from England.  In his new book, " Trial by Jury: The Seventh Amendment and Anglo-American Special Juries" (New York University Press, 2006), Georgetown University Law Center Professor James Oldham explores how trial by jury was transplanted to America and preserved in the U.S. Constitution under the Seventh Amendment.

Oldham examines English civil jury practices in the late eighteenth century and considers whether they remain viable today.  One such practice was the use of the “special jury,” usually a panel of experts, such as merchants to consider commercial cases and women to sit in judgment of female litigants claiming to be pregnant.  Oldham contrasts this concept with the contemporary American philosophy that juries should reflect a cross-section of their communities.    

"This first-rate work of legal history meets the high expectations of those familiar with James Oldham's scholarship," noted Barbara A. Black, George Welwood Murray Professor of Legal History at Columbia Law School.  "Illuminating not only the history of the jury, but the contemporary significance and judicial use of that history, this book will be enlightening for the non-specialist, and a boon to the legal historian."

"An impressive achievement by the leading historian of eighteenth century English law," said Thomas P. Gallanis, Professor of Law and History at Washington and Lee University.  "Meticulously researched and relevant both to historical and modern debates, this book deserves a wide readership."

Oldham continues to spend considerable time in London doing manuscript research on English legal history.  He is the author of "The Mansfield Manuscripts and the Growth of English Law in the Eighteenth Century" (University of North Carolina Press, 1992) and "English Common Law in the Age of Mansfield" (University of North Carolina Press, 2004).

Oldham, the St. Thomas More Professor of Law and Legal History, joined the Georgetown Law faculty in 1970.  He teaches seminars on English legal history and the Anglo-American jury tradition, and courses in contracts, labor law and labor arbitration. 

Prior to coming to Georgetown, Oldham specialized in labor law with the Denver firm of Shearman and Howard, and now serves as a labor arbitrator on several panels.  He is currently the grievance arbitrator for the National Hockey League and the NHL Players’ Association, as well as the umpire for ALCOA and the United Steelworkers of America. 

Oldham is a recent vice president of the National Academy of Arbitrators and was chair of the Foreign Service Grievance Board at the U.S. State Department.  He serves on the board of directors of the American Society for Legal History and on the editorial board of Law and History Review. 

About Georgetown Law

Georgetown University Law Center is one of the world's leading law schools. It has the largest full-time faculty in the nation and is pre-eminent in several areas, including constitutional, international, tax and clinical law. Drawing on its Jesuit heritage, it has a strong tradition of public service and is dedicated to the principle that law is but a means, justice is the end. With this principle in mind, Georgetown Law has built an environment that cultivates an exchange of ideas and the pursuit of academic excellence. It brings together an extraordinarily varied group of teachers, scholars and practitioners, as well as an outstanding student body. 

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