Legal archaeology is an area of legal scholarship
"involving detailed historical reconstruction
and analysis of important cases."
While most legal scholars confine their research
to published opinions of court cases, legal
archaeologists examine the historical and
social context in which a court case was decided.
These facts may show what social and cultural
forces were at work in a particular case.
Professors can use legal archaeology to "sensitize
students as to how inequality, specifically
with regard to race, gender and class affects
what occurs throughout the cases they study."
A legal archaeologist might also research
biographical material on the judges, attorneys,
and parties to a court case.
Such information might show whether a judge
held particular biases in a case, or if one
party had superior legal representation that
caused the party to prevail in a case.
== Notable practitioners of legal archaeology
==
Richard Danzig
Judith Maute
Debora Threedy
Joan Vogel
== Notes and references ==
