Major Overview

You’ll find yourself at the interdisciplinary crossroads between Law and History as you examine how law, in its many forms, has contributed to shaping society, be it through domestic and international court systems or the methods employed by citizens to resist unjust laws. You will study the evolution of laws and cases revolving around such crucial issues as the death penalty, criminal justice, hate speech, transgender rights, and immigration. You may enroll in this major as an informal pre-law major or to complement other areas of study.

Intl. Human Rights Law

Featured Course

Introduces key issues and explores the establishment of standards, human rights treaties...

Prison Education

Featured Course

How AUP students learn alongside people detained at La Santé prison in Paris

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The educational goals for this major are as follows:

  • You will gain fluency in legal issues and reason.                   
  • You will understand connections between law and history.
  • You will develop an interdisciplinary understanding of law and its social impact.
  • You will integrate law into the liberal arts curriculum.

Learning Environment

In keeping with our University’s commitment to a liberal arts education, we support the ideal of law as a “liberal profession”, wherein free thinking, academic mastery, and intellectual rigor are encouraged through a multitude of disciplines. In small seminars you will be asked to contemplate historical and contemporary cases, engage in mock trials, and share what you learn and discover with students and professors who hail from around the world. You will also be exposed to readings that relate to the many relevant disciplines that make up the major, including History, Literature, and Sociology. 

Savannah

Student

I’ll never forget our small class coming together to organize...

Professor Zinigrad

Faculty spotlight

Too often, law is taught in a conceptual vacuum...

Stephen Sawyer

Faculty Profile

Firstly, history is useless if you don’t have an imagination...

Major Components
Build Your Degree

With every single one of our majors, you’ll find a carefully curated medley of core courses and electives, which will provide you with the tools you need to establish an unshakeable foundation in the principles and concepts fundamental to your growth within your disciplines of choice. Many majors also enable you to specialize further within the broader area of study.

Core Courses

Core Courses

We aim to help you develop a range of skills, capacities, and modes of inquiry that will be crucial for your future since employers and graduate schools are looking for the critical thinking and innovative problem-solving skills that are associated with a liberal arts education, including sophisticated writing abilities, willingness to pose difficult questions, and an understanding of the historical and cultural contexts surrounding a topic or decision.

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Electives

Electives

With the three courses that you choose from one of the following seven disciplines, you’ll be able to take a different critical approach towards your degree, thus allowing you to uncover interdisciplinary nuances and new distinctions within both history and law.

You can choose from Comparative Literature, Computer Science, Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology and Sociology.

See all Major Electives

BROWSE ALL MAJORS AND REQUIREMENTS

Core Courses

The History, Law & Society core courses, which you must take as part of the major requirements, will provide you with the tools you’ll need to ground your present and future studies. Your introduction to the fundamentals of History, Law & Society will help pave the way for your successful completion of other History, Law & Society courses.