Trials in History
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this seminar on famous trials across European and American history, examining cases where law, politics, and public spectacle collided. The course covers how each trial was constructed and reported at the time, how legal argument and narrative storytelling shaped courtroom outcomes, and how later retellings reshaped a trial's meaning. Materials include a syllabus, reading assignments, and discussion topics drawn from primary sources and historical accounts of specific cases. Students choose one trial to research in depth and present their findings to the class, working through primary documents and secondary scholarship. The course treats trials as both legal proceedings and public performances, asking what a courtroom reveals about the society watching it. No enrollment fee; materials are freely downloadable through MIT OpenCourseWare, with no certificate offered.