Drawing on material from Nelson’s three most recent books, this lecture details a series of 1766 cases in New England, South Carolina, and Virginia holding Parliament’s 1765 Stamp Act unconstitutional. These cases, discovered by Nelson, date the origins of judicial review back to pre-Revolutionary America.

William E. Nelson is the Edward Weinfeld Professor of Law and History at New York University. A recipient of an LL.B. from New York University in 1965 and a Ph.D. in American history from Harvard University in 1971, he served as a law clerk to Judge Edward Weinfeld of the Southern District of New York and Justice Byron White of the Supreme Court. He is the author of 17 books and over 100 articles.