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You might try asking Stanton Krauss, Ph.D., a Fairfield resident who recently won a Quinnipiac University Faculty Scholars award for his intriguing and exhaustive research on just that topic.
Krauss, a Quinnipiac professor of law since 1990, was recognized for his two-volume book “Gentlemen of the Grand Jury,” the multi-volume “Newspaper Reports of Decisions” and the single volume “Three Neglected Pieces.”
The books make significant parts of American legal history readily accessible to modern Americans, both legal scholars and attorneys and the general public looking for insights into the 18th-century reasoning behind, say, the Bill of Rights.
“They will allow lawyers and scholars to more easily answer a host of questions about how our 18th-century legal systems actually worked, as well as questions about what contemporaries thought various parts of their constitutions meant,” Krauss said of his work. “They will give ordinary Americans a unique glimpse into our early history.”
Krauss, who teaches courses in law, criminal procedure and torts, was a Bigelow Teaching Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School and taught at Washington University Law School and the University of San Diego Law School before joining the Quinnipiac faculty.
Though his work centers on centuries-old rulings and thought, he believes it provides interesting context for many arguments playing out today.
“I think (the books) will remain useful long after I’m done writing,” he said. “I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to have done this work, and for the award I have been given for doing it."
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