California Legal History

California Legal History (formerly The California Supreme Court Historical Society Yearbook), is an annual journal which publishes scholarly articles and the oral histories of prominent figures of the bench and bar of California (member benefit at minimum $50 level). To purchase current or back issues in hard copy, please contact W.S. Hein & Co., Inc. Full text is available online through subscribing libraries at HeinOnline, Index to Legal Periodicals & Books Full Text, and LegalTrac.

Submission Information

2023-2019 | 2018-2015 | 2014-2011 | 2010-2006 | 1999-1994

To view the table of contents and excerpts of selected articles from these volumes, please see below:

› California Legal History | 2023: Vol. 18 [PDF]

›  March is the Cruelest (Cruellest) Month
›  Epstein on Witkin:  A Conversation with Norm Epstein about his 15-Year Association with Bernie Witkin
›  Did Brown v. Plata Unleash a More Dangerous Genie?
›  Victims’ Rights in California:  A Historical Perspective to Modern Day
›  The Roots of America’s Crime Victims’ Legal Rights Movement, 1975-2023,
A Personal Retrospective and Memoir
›  California Without Law:  1846 Though 1850

Student Writing Competition

›  The End of Free Land:  The Commodification of Suscol Rancho and the Liberalization of American Colonial Policy
›  California’s Constitutional University:  Private Property, Public Power, and the Constitutional Corporation, 1868–1900
›  A Shameful Legacy:  Tracing The Japanese American Experience of Police Violence and Racism From the Late 19th Century Through the Aftermath Of World War II

Oral Histories

› Knowing Bernie: The Witkin Oral History Project
› Remembering the Legacy of Justice John Arguelles: An Introduction and Oral History

Postscript: Regarding the Article Concerning the Racial Justice Clinic at the University of San Francisco School of Law, published in (2022) 17 California Legal History 27

› California Legal History | 2022: Vol. 17 [PDF]

›  Legal History in the Making: Introduction and Conclusion
›  The Community Justice Clinic: Pepperdine Caruso School of Law
›  Racial Justice Clinic: University of San Francisco School of Law
    ›  Postscript to Racial Justice Clinic (Published in (2023) 18 California Legal History 359)
›  Elder Law Clinic: Chapman University Fowler School of Law Alona Cortese Elder Law Center
›  Foster Education Program: UC Berkeley School of Law
›  Community & Economic Development Clinic: UC Irvine School of Law
›  Energy Law and Policy Clinic: University of San Diego School of Law
›  Aoki Water Justice Clinic: UC Davis School of Law
›  New Media Rights’ Internet & Media Law Clinic: California Western School of Law
›  Access to Justice Practicum: University of Southern California Gould School of Law
›  Community Group Advocacy and Social‑Change Lawyering Clinic: UC Hastings College of the Law
›  Women’s Employment Rights Clinic: Golden Gate University School of Law
›  Tribal Legal Development Clinic: UCLA School of Law

Articles

›  Perez V. Sharp:  A California Landmark Case that Overturned a Century-Old Ban on Interracial Marriage
›  The California Supreme Court’s First Mistake:  Von Schmidt v. Huntington — and the Rise, Fall, and Ultimate Rise of Alternative Dispute Resolution
›  Legal History Treasures in the California State Library

Student Writing Competition

›  2022 Writing Competition Virtual Roundtable
›  More Than Moratoriums?   The Obstacles to Abolishing California’s Death Penalty
›  San Fernando Valley Secession:  How A Quest to Change the Law Almost Broke L.A. Apart (and Whether it Still Could)
›  Wind of (Constitutional) Change:  Amendment Clauses in the Federal and State Constitutions

Oral History of Edward A. Panelli, Associate Justice, California Supreme Court 1985-1994

› California Legal History | 2021: Vol. 16 [PDF]

›  Women, Marriage, and Divorce in California, 1849–1872
›  The Evolution of Workers’ Compensation Policy in California, 1911–1990
›  Inventing the Public Trust Doctrine:   California Water Law and the Mono Lake Controversy
›  “Hush, Hush, Miss Charlotte”:   A Quarter Century of Civil Rights Activism by the Black Community of San Francisco, 1850–1875
›  With Ballots and Pocketbooks:  Women, Labor, and Reform in Progressive California
›  The Creative Society:   Environmental PolicyMaking in California, 1967–1974 Society

Student Writing Competition

›  2021 Writing Competition Virtual Roundtable
›  Surveying the Golden State (1850–2020):  Vagrancy, Racial Exclusion, Sit-Lie, and the Right to Exist in Public
›  Getting to Tarasoff:   A Gender-Based History of Tort Law Doctrine
› California Wrongful Incarceration Compensation Law:   A History That is Still Being Written

Oral History of Carlos R. Moreno, Associate Justice, California Supreme Court, 2001–2011

› California Legal History | 2020: Vol. 15 [PDF]

›  Justice David S. Terry and Federalism:  A Life and a Doctrine in Three Acts
›  The Joads Go to Court:  A True-Life Melodrama with Implications for Today
›  Celebrating the California Supreme Court and Its History
›  Inside the Court and Out:  California Supreme Court Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar

Articles

›  California’s First Judicial Staff Attorneys:  The Surprising Role That Commissioners Played, 1885-1905, in Creating the Courts of Appeal
›  2020 Writing Competition Virtual Roundtable
›  Ronald Reagan v. CRLA:  Politics, Power, and Poverty Law
›  Breaking California’s Cycle of Juvenile Transfer
›  Stop! Turn the Car Around Right Now for Federalism’s Sake! The One National Program Rule and How Courts Can Stop Its Impact

Special Book Section: A Social History of Farm Labor in California with Special Emphasis on the United Farm Workers Union and California Rural Legal Assistance

›  Title Page, Foreword and Preface
›  Table of Contents
›  Chapter 1 – Introduction
›  Chapter 2 – Farm Labor in California:  The Setting
›  Chapter 3 – Farm Labor Organizing:  The Background
›  Chapter 4 – Farm Workers and the UFW:  Gaining Admission
›  Chapter 5 – Containment of the UFW
›  Chapter 6 – CRLA:  Broadening the Conflict
›  Chapter 7 – Containing CRLA
›  Chapter 8 – Institutionalization Through the ALRA
›  Chapter 9 – Conclusion
›  Coda
›  Bibliography

Oral History of Justice Armand Arabian

› California Legal History | 2019: Vol. 14 [PDF]

›  Introductory Materials
›  Address to the Supreme Court of Mexico on the American Judicial System
›  Access to Justice
›  Law Enforcement and the Courts
›  Mendez v. Westminster and School Desegregation
›  Standing the Test of Time:  Using Diversity as the Foundation for Judicial Decision-Making
›  Language Access in Court
›  On Self-Esteem and Life’s Opportunities
›  Prosecutorial Misconduct
›  “Justice for All Seasons”
›  The State of the Initiative Process as Seen Through the Lens of Criminal Law

›  How a California Settler Unsettled the Proslavery Legislature of Antebellum Louisiana
›  Right of Publicity in the Era of Celebrity:  A Conceptual Exploration of the California Right of Publicity, as Expanded in White v. Samsung Electonics, in Today’s World of Celebrity Glorification and Imitation
›  The Right of Free Speech in Privately Owned Premises:  Following up with the Robins v. Pruneyard Judgment
›  Gems From California’s Legal History at LA Law Library

Special Book Section: A History of the California Supreme Court in its First Three Decades, 1850-1879

›  Preface
›  Table of Contents
›  Chapter 1 – Organization of the Supreme Court
›  Chapter 2 – The Justices
›  Chapter 3 – Common Law and Mexican Law
›  Chapter 4 – Defining the Powers of the Courts
›  Chapter 5 – Defining Individual Judicial Rights
›  Chapter 6 – The Legislature and the State Constitution
›  Chapter 7 – State and Local Authority
›  Chapter 8 – Economic Aspects of a Developing State
›  Chapter 9 – California and the Nation
›  Chapter 10 – Minerals and Waters
›  Chapter 11 – Conclusion
›  Bibliography