The Brown History Department frequently offers undergraduate courses in Legal History. Below are some examples offered in recent years.

HIST 1949A LEGAL HISTORY: THE CASE OF THE MIDDLE EAST

Spring 2026

Professor Faiz Ahmed

Course Description:

This seminar is devoted to exploring questions of law and legal history in the Middle East. Together we shall navigate a range of imperial, colonial, and national legal systems in the region via select case studies from the early modern Ottoman Empire to modern Middle East. Major themes include not only Islamicate legal traditions and jurisdictions, but the intersections, tensions, and synergy between Islamic law and Roman, Persianate, and European imperial legacies; fellow Abrahamic faiths and the interplay between religion and secularism; and the evolving role of international law including human rights and humanitarian law. From early schools of Islamic jurisprudence to Ottoman, Iranian, and Afghan constitutions, and the role of lawyers and judiciaries from decolonization to the Arab Spring uprisings, our goal is to explore the depth, diversity, and transformation of legal cultures and institutions across different epochs of Middle East history.

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