1: The Origins of Courts
What are courts and what is their purpose in society and politics? In this session we reflect on the intended functions of courts in societies, their history, common typologies of courts and why they are relevant for the study of politics. We also trace where the institutions we recognise today came from, from ancient dispute settlement to the medieval origins of the common and civil law traditions.
Mandatory readings
Messick, Richard E. “The origins and development of courts.” Judicature 85, no. 4 (2002): 175-181.
Ginsburg, Tom, and Mila Versteeg. “Why do countries adopt constitutional review?” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 30, no. 3 (2014): 587-622. https://doi.org/10.1093/jleo/ewt008
Hirschl, Ran. “The Judicialization of Mega-Politics and the Rise of Political Courts.” Annual Review of Political Science 11, no. 1 (2008): 93-118. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.11.053006.183906
Optional readings
Shapiro, Martin. Courts: A Comparative and Political Analysis. University of Chicago Press, 1981. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226161341.001.0001
Carugati, Federica, Gillian K. Hadfield, and Barry R. Weingast. “Building legal order in ancient Athens.” Journal of Legal Analysis 7, no. 2 (2015): 291-324. https://doi.org/10.1093/jla/lav003
Fleck, Robert K., and F. Andrew Hanssen. “The emergence of democratic constitutions: comparing the modern world to ancient Greece.” Public Choice 207, no. 1-2 (2026): 183-220. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-025-01273-6
Milgrom, Paul R., Douglass C. North, and Barry R. Weingast. “The role of institutions in the revival of trade: The law merchant, private judges, and the Champagne fairs.” Economics & Politics 2, no. 1 (1990): 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0343.1990.tb00020.x
Kapiszewski, Diana, and Matthew M. Taylor. “Doing courts justice? Studying judicial politics in Latin America.” Perspectives on Politics 6, no. 4 (2008): 741-767. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592708081899
Mohr, Lawrence B. “Organizations, decisions, and courts.” Law & Society Review 10, no. 4 (1976): 621-642. https://doi.org/10.2307/3053299
Frank, Jerome. “What Courts Do in Fact.” Illinois Law Review 26, no. 6 (1931): 645-666.
Ferejohn, John. “Judicializing Politics, Politicizing Law.” Law and Contemporary Problems 65, no. 3 (2002): 41-68. https://doi.org/10.2307/1192402