We are delighted to be part of the re-launch of the American Journal of Legal History as it moves from Temple University, where it has been published since 1957, to Oxford University Press. AJLH , as the journal is affectionately known, has had a distinguished history and its growth parallels the development of the field, which in the 1950s was focused on great (almost exclusively) American men—judges and lawyers, legal doctrine, and the development of the legal profession, to the 21st century when there are many more focal points. The field now stretches from mighty jurists to humble litigants and outsiders, in the United States and beyond. It includes the ideas of those actors, the way that law sets the boundaries for their thoughts and actions, and how they challenge law and custom. Its methods include such classic tools of intellectual history as reported cases and treatises, the quantitative analysis of records of long-forgotten courts and administrative agencies, and the oral recollections of people subject to law’s scrutiny. The journal has been around long enough that we can now turn its content into a subject of study.1 Let us look back for a moment and use the AJLH ’s content as a measure of how far we have come and as a gauge of the changes in legal history from the 1950s to now. Much of legal history writing before the 1950s had been part of a scholarly tradition that told a positive story of the unfolding of American liberty, where there was little conflict between the leaders of American law and society and those left behind. In fact, the complete picture of American legal history was rather different. There were plenty of causes for celebration, to be sure. The AJLH told some of those stories, as well … stefan.vogenauer{at}iecl.ox.ac.uk

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介绍法律史的未来：重新推出《美国法律史杂志》

我们很高兴参与重新推出《美国法律史杂志》，因为它从天普大学（自 1957 年以来一直在那里出版）转移到牛津大学出版社。众所周知，AJLH 有着杰出的历史，其发展与该领域的发展平行，该领域在 1950 年代专注于伟大的（几乎完全是）美国男性——法官和律师、法律学说以及法律专业，到 21 世纪，届时会有更多的焦点。该领域现在从强大的法学家延伸到美国及其他地区的谦逊的诉讼当事人和局外人。它包括这些行为者的想法、法律为他们的思想和行为设定界限的方式，以及他们如何挑战法律和习俗。其方法包括案例和论文报告等思想史的经典工具，长期被遗忘的法院和行政机构的记录的定量分析，以及受法律审查的人的口头回忆。该期刊已经存在了足够长的时间，我们现在可以将其内容转化为研究主题。1 让我们回顾一下，并使用 AJLH 的内容来衡量我们已经走了多远，并作为衡量从 1950 年代到现在的法律历史变化。1950 年代之前的大部分法律史著作都是学术传统的一部分，它讲述了美国自由发展的积极故事，美国法律和社会的领导人与落后者之间几乎没有冲突。事实上，美国法律史的全貌大相径庭。可以肯定的是，有很多值得庆祝的理由。AJLH 也讲述了其中的一些故事……stefan.vogenauer{at}iecl.ox.ac.uk