A survey of court litigation traces the development of case law regarding the substantive rights of elementary and high school students in relation to school board rules and regulations. The survey reveals the gradual "judicialization" (conversion of conflicts into court cases) of educational governance and the delimiting of the school board's "limited monarchy." In the 19th century there were few cases. They dealt with attendance, student conduct, school rules, corporal punishment, parental authority, and, at the end of the century, vaccination. In most cases the conflict had more to do with parents and their rights in relation to the school board than with the students' own rights. Cases became moderately more common in the early 20th century, up through the early 1960s. The issues involved included vaccination, student fraternities, and married students. The mid-1960s through the early 1970s saw an eruption of student rights cases, mostly about personal grooming (specifically, hair length). Unlike earlier cases, these concerned constitutional issues of personal liberty and were tried in federal courts. A table covering the years 1899-1978 presents data by decades on the number of student rights cases, the national rate of cases per pupil, the percentage won by students, the proportion in federal court, and the most common issues. (RW)