Christopher Columbus Langdell

Who was Christopher Columbus Langdell?

Christopher Columbus Langdell, American jurist, was born in the town of New Boston, New Hampshire, of English and Scots-Irish ancestry.

Langdell's core legacy is his influence on the legal education. Before Langdell's tenure, the study of law was a technical pursuit. Students were told what the law is. However, at Harvard Langdell applied the principles of pragmatism to the study of law. Now, as a result of this innovation, lawyers are taught the law through a dialectical process of inference called the case method. The case method has been the primary method of pedagogy at American law schools ever since. The case method has since been adopted and improved upon by schools in other disciplines, such as business, public policy, and education. Students such as Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. would ensure that Langdell's innovation would not go unnoticed.