David M. Rabban
- Dahr Jamail, Randall Hage Jamail, and Robert Lee Jamail Regents Chair in Law
- Distinguished Teaching Professor
- Professor
Professor Rabban joined the Texas Law faculty in 1983. He served as counsel to the American Association of University Professors for several years; later, served as its general counsel and as chair of its committee on academic freedom and tenure. His teaching and research focus on free speech, academic freedom, higher education and the law, and American legal history. He was a fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation in 2016 and of the Program in Law and Public Affairs at Princeton University in 2016-17. His most recent book, Academic Freedom: From Professional Norm to First Amendment Right, was published in 2024.
Featured Work
Professor Rabban served as counsel to the American Association of University Professors for several years before joining the Texas faculty in 1983. He served as General Counsel of the AAUP from 1998 to 2006 and Chair of its Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure from 2006 to 2012. His teaching and research focus on free speech, higher education and the law, and American legal history. He is the author of Free Speech in Its Forgotten Years, 1870-1920 (Cambridge,1997), which received the Forkosch Prize from the Journal of the History of Ideas for "the best book in intellectual history published in 1997." His many articles have appeared in Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, Cambridge Law Journal, and elsewhere. He was a fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation in 2016 and of the Program in Law and Public Affairs at Princeton University in 2016-17. His most recent book, Academic Freedom: From Professional Norm to First Amendment Right, was published in 2024.
No publications or activities matching the current search and filters.
year-2024
-
Book
Academic Freedom: From Professional Norm to First Amendment Right
David M. Rabban. Academic Freedom: From Professional Norm to First Amendment Right ( Harvard University Press, August 13, 2024). View online.
year-2023
-
Article
Jhering’s Influence on American Legal Thought
David M. Rabban. "Jhering’s Influence on American Legal Thought, in Jhering Global 147–65 (V&R Unipress 2023) (Stephen Meder & Christoph-Eric Mecke, eds.)." (October 3, 2023).
year-2018
-
Book Review
Review Essay of Gordon, Taming the Past: Essays on Law in History and History in Law
David M Rabban, Review Essay of Gordon, Taming the Past: Essays on Law in History and History in Law, 36 Law and History Review 421 (2018).
-
Article
The Diversity of the Common Law Tradition
David M. Rabban. “The Diversity of the Common Law Tradition.” In 70 Stanford Law Review, Page 1665 (2018). -
Article
The State of Free Speech Doctrine in 1917
David M. Rabban. “The State of Free Speech Doctrine in 1917.” In 50 Arizona State L.J., Page 911 (2018). -
Book Chapter
Hammond’s Blackstone and the Historical School of American Jurisprudence
David M. Rabban, Hammond’s Blackstone and the Historical School of American Jurisprudence, in Blackstone and His Critics 173-91 (Anthony Page & Wilfred Prest, eds.; Hart Publishing, 2018).
year-2015
-
Article
The Regrettable Underenforcement of Incompetence as Cause to Dismiss Tenured Faculty
David M. Rabban, The Regrettable Underenforcement of Incompetence as Cause to Dismiss Tenured Faculty [Symposium: Academic Freedom for the Next 100 Years], 91 Indiana Law Journal 39 (2015).
year-2014
-
Book Chapter
Professors Beware: The Evolving Threat of Institutional Academic Freedom
David M. Rabban, Professors Beware: The Evolving Threat of Institutional Academic Freedom, in Academic Freedom in Conflict, 23 (James Turk, ed., James Lorimer & Company LTD, 2014).
year-2013
-
Article
American Responses to German Legal Scholarship: From the Civil War to World War I
David M. Rabban, American Responses to German Legal Scholarship: From the Civil War to World War I, 1 Comparative Legal History 13 (2013).
year-2012
-
Book Chapter
Methodology in Legal History: From the History of Free Speech to the Role of History in Transatlantic Legal Thought
David M. Rabban, Methodology in Legal History: From the History of Free Speech to the Role of History in Transatlantic Legal Thought, in Making Legal History, 88 (Anthony Musson & Chantal Stebbings, Eds., Cambridge University Press, 2012).
-
Book
Law’s History: American Legal Thought and the Transatlantic Turn to History
David M. Rabban, Law’s History: American Legal Thought and the Transatlantic Turn to History (Cambridge University Press, 2012). Visit Cambridge Press
year-2011
-
Article
Melville M. Bigelow: Boston University's Neglected Pioneer of Historical Legal Scholarship in America
David M. Rabban, Melville M. Bigelow: Boston University's Neglected Pioneer of Historical Legal Scholarship in America, 91 Boston University Law Review 1 (2011). View Article
year-2009
-
Article
From Maine to Maitland via America
David M. Rabban, From Maine to Maitland via America, 68 The Cambridge Law Journal 410 (2009).
year-2005
-
Article
Presentation by David Rabban
David M. Rabban, Presentation by David Rabban [Symposium: Free Speech in Wartime Conference], 36 Rutgers Law Journal 947 (2005). -
Book Chapter
Bad Tendency Test, and Clear and Present Danger Test
David M. Rabban, Bad Tendency Test, and Clear and Present Danger Test; in The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States (Kermit L. Hall ed.; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).
year-2003
-
Article
The Historiography of the Common Law
David M. Rabban, The Historiography of the Common Law, 28 Law & Social Inquiry 1161 (2003). -
Article
The Historiography of Late Nineteenth-Century American Legal History
David M. Rabban, The Historiography of Late Nineteenth-Century American Legal History, 4 Theoretical Inquiries in Law 541 (2003). <http://www.bepress.com/til/default/vol4/iss2/art5>
year-2002
-
Article
Gerald Gunther: Generous Mentor [Tribute to Professor Gerald Gunther]
David M. Rabban, Gerald Gunther: Generous Mentor [Tribute to Professor Gerald Gunther], 55 Stanford Law Review 669 (2002).
year-2001
-
Article
Academic Freedom, Individual or Institutional?
David M. Rabban, Academic Freedom, Individual or Institutional?, Academe, Nov.-Dec. 2001, at 16.
year-2000
-
Book Chapter
Academic Freedom and the Constitution
David M. Rabban, Academic Freedom and the Constitution, in Encyclopedia of the American Constitution (Leonard W. Levy & Kenneth L. Karst eds.; New York: Macmillan, 1986).
spring 2026
- Academic Freedom, The First Amendment, and the American University
- Higher Education and the Law