Reconsidering the Seventeenth Century: Legal History in the Americas

The Age of Constitutions in the Americas

“…7 In keeping with these cues, Dale urges a "legal history of the Americas" for the seventeenth century that reaches beyond British North America to consider "New Spain, New France, the New Netherlands, and Native Americans." 8 An early experiment produced the contributions to The Many Legalities of Early America, and experiments in this vein have led to new understandings of the colonial world, such as Ross's explorations of legal communication. 9 Similarly, Robert J. Cottrol's study of race in the Americas demonstrates the success of expanding our enquiries beyond national borders in the region.'…”