diff --git a/src/scribe/mcp/tools/rulebooks.py b/src/scribe/mcp/tools/rulebooks.py
index a5c2dde..9795b79 100644
--- a/src/scribe/mcp/tools/rulebooks.py
+++ b/src/scribe/mcp/tools/rulebooks.py
@@ -548,6 +548,66 @@ async def update_rule(
     return await rulebooks_svc.rule_detail(uid, rule, system_ids)
 
 
+async def rule_history(rule_id: int, version_id: int = 0) -> dict:
+    """What a rule USED TO SAY, newest change first.
+
+    Read this before you argue with a rule, and before you rewrite one. A
+    rule that has been reworded may have been reworded for a reason you are
+    about to rediscover the hard way — and the wording it replaced is often
+    the fastest way to see what the current one is guarding against. The
+    rescoping of rule 79 is the case this exists for: the superseded
+    statement had to be hand-copied into a task log to survive the edit.
+
+    EACH ENTRY HOLDS THE TEXT THE EDIT REPLACED, not the text it introduced.
+    So "what did this say before the most recent change?" is the first entry,
+    and the text the change PRODUCED is the rule as it stands now — read that
+    with get_rule. Pair the two and you have the diff.
+
+    An empty history is ordinary and means the rule has never been reworded,
+    not that its history was lost. Nothing is written before milestone 323,
+    so a rule edited before then starts empty too.
+
+    Args:
+        rule_id: The rule whose history to read.
+        version_id: 0 (default) lists the history — when each change
+            happened, by whom, and the title as it then stood. Pass an id
+            from that list to read that snapshot IN FULL. The list omits
+            statement and why on purpose: a rule's statement runs to
+            thousands of characters, and a history carrying every field would
+            cost more to read than the answer is worth.
+
+    There is deliberately no restore. Putting an old wording back is a
+    decision, so it goes through update_rule — which snapshots what it
+    replaces, leaving the undo visible in the history like any other edit. A
+    one-click revert would erase the only record of why the rewrite happened.
+    """
+    uid = current_user_id()
+    if version_id:
+        version = await rulebooks_svc.get_rule_version(rule_id, version_id, uid)
+        if version is None:
+            raise ValueError(
+                f"version {version_id} not found on rule {rule_id}"
+            )
+        return version.to_dict(include_text=True)
+
+    versions = await rulebooks_svc.list_rule_versions(rule_id, uid)
+    if versions is None:
+        raise ValueError(f"rule {rule_id} not found")
+    return {
+        "rule_id": rule_id,
+        "versions": [v.to_dict(include_text=False) for v in versions],
+        "total": len(versions),
+        # Said in-band because an empty list is the ordinary case and reads
+        # like a missing feature otherwise.
+        "note": (
+            "Each entry holds the text the edit REPLACED. The current wording "
+            "is on the rule itself — get_rule(%d)." % rule_id
+            if versions else
+            "This rule has never been reworded."
+        ),
+    }
+
+
 async def delete_rule(rule_id: int, confirmed: bool = False) -> dict:
     """Move a rule to the trash (recoverable). Requires confirmed=True."""
     uid = current_user_id()
@@ -832,5 +892,6 @@ def register(mcp) -> None:
         suppress_topic_for_project, unsuppress_topic_for_project,
         exclude_always_on_rulebook, include_always_on_rulebook,
         rules_due_for_verification, mark_rule_verified,
+        rule_history,
     ):
         mcp.tool(name=fn.__name__)(fn)
diff --git a/src/scribe/routes/rulebooks.py b/src/scribe/routes/rulebooks.py
index 2acc4bb..629ba1c 100644
--- a/src/scribe/routes/rulebooks.py
+++ b/src/scribe/routes/rulebooks.py
@@ -206,6 +206,42 @@ async def update_rule(rule_id: int):
     return jsonify(await rulebooks_svc.rule_detail(uid, rule, data.get("system_ids")))
 
 
+@rulebooks_bp.get("/rules/<int:rule_id>/versions")
+@login_required
+async def list_rule_versions(rule_id: int):
+    """A rule's edit history, newest first.
+
+    Listing form only — a rule's `statement` and `why` run to thousands of
+    characters, so a history list carrying every field would be unreadable
+    and expensive to send. Open one for the text.
+    """
+    uid = get_current_user_id()
+    versions = await rulebooks_svc.list_rule_versions(rule_id, uid)
+    if versions is None:
+        return jsonify({"error": "rule not found"}), 404
+    return jsonify({
+        "versions": [v.to_dict(include_text=False) for v in versions],
+    })
+
+
+@rulebooks_bp.get("/rules/<int:rule_id>/versions/<int:version_id>")
+@login_required
+async def get_rule_version(rule_id: int, version_id: int):
+    """One snapshot in full — what the rule said before that edit."""
+    uid = get_current_user_id()
+    version = await rulebooks_svc.get_rule_version(rule_id, version_id, uid)
+    if version is None:
+        return jsonify({"error": "version not found"}), 404
+    return jsonify(version.to_dict(include_text=True))
+
+
+# NO restore route, deliberately (milestone 323). A note version can be
+# restored; a binding instruction should not be revertible in one click.
+# Putting a rewrite back goes through update_rule, which takes its own
+# snapshot and leaves the undo in the history like any other edit — a silent
+# revert would erase the only record of why the rewrite happened.
+
+
 @rulebooks_bp.post("/rules/<int:rule_id>/relations")
 @login_required
 async def relate_rules(rule_id: int):
diff --git a/src/scribe/services/rulebooks.py b/src/scribe/services/rulebooks.py
index e37a99a..f5c9152 100644
--- a/src/scribe/services/rulebooks.py
+++ b/src/scribe/services/rulebooks.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ from scribe.services.verification import (
     last_verified_label as _last_verified_label,
 )
 from scribe.services import rule_versions
+from scribe.models.rule_version import RuleVersion
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -787,6 +788,48 @@ async def update_rule(
         return rule
 
 
+# ── Edit history (milestone 323) ───────────────────────────────────────
+#
+# The ACL-scoped reads live HERE rather than in services/rule_versions.py,
+# and not by preference: rulebooks imports rule_versions for the write path,
+# so the reverse import would be a cycle. The split is also the honest one —
+# rule_versions owns what a version IS, this module owns who may read one.
+
+
+async def list_rule_versions(rule_id: int, user_id: int):
+    """A rule's history, newest first. None when the rule is not readable.
+
+    Scoped through the rule itself, never through the version's `user_id`:
+    that column is the ACTOR. Reading a rule's history is a question about
+    the RULE, so anyone who can read the rule can read what it used to say,
+    and anyone who cannot read the rule gets nothing — including the versions
+    they personally wrote, if the rule has since moved out of their reach.
+    """
+    async with async_session() as session:
+        if await _fetch_owned_rule(session, rule_id, user_id) is None:
+            return None
+    return await rule_versions.list_versions(rule_id)
+
+
+async def get_rule_version(rule_id: int, version_id: int, user_id: int):
+    """One snapshot in full. None when the rule or the version is not found.
+
+    Takes the rule id as well as the version id so the ownership check has
+    something to run against BEFORE the version is read, and so a version id
+    from another rule cannot be read through a rule the caller does happen to
+    own — the check and the fetch have to agree about which rule is in play.
+    """
+    async with async_session() as session:
+        if await _fetch_owned_rule(session, rule_id, user_id) is None:
+            return None
+        return (await session.execute(
+            select(RuleVersion).where(
+                RuleVersion.id == version_id,
+                RuleVersion.rule_id == rule_id,
+            )
+        )).scalar_one_or_none()
+
+
 # ── Canon tags + typed edges (milestone 307) ───────────────────────────
 
 async def set_rule_systems(
diff --git a/tests/test_integration_rule_versions.py b/tests/test_integration_rule_versions.py
index ffd84bf..83cc28e 100644
--- a/tests/test_integration_rule_versions.py
+++ b/tests/test_integration_rule_versions.py
@@ -196,3 +196,98 @@ async def test_history_reads_newest_first(constraint):
     assert [v.statement for v in listed] == [
         "first change", "Write every `run:` step in POSIX sh.",
     ]
+
+
+# ── The read path is ACL-scoped (milestone 323 step 3) ─────────────────
+#
+# Rule 47: every read of user data is scoped by owner. A version carries a
+# `user_id`, which makes it tempting to scope the history by it — that would
+# be wrong in both directions, and these pin which way round it goes.
+
+
+@pytest_asyncio.fixture
+async def stranger():
+    """A second user who owns nothing in the fixture above."""
+    async with async_session() as s:
+        other = await ensure_user(s, "rule_history_stranger")
+        uid = other.id
+        await s.commit()
+    return uid
+
+
+async def test_the_owner_reads_the_history(constraint):
+    await rulebooks_svc.update_rule(
+        constraint["rule_id"], constraint["uid"], statement="reworded",
+    )
+    versions = await rulebooks_svc.list_rule_versions(
+        constraint["rule_id"], constraint["uid"],
+    )
+    assert [v.statement for v in versions] == [
+        "Write every `run:` step in POSIX sh.",
+    ]
+
+
+async def test_a_stranger_reads_nothing(constraint, stranger):
+    """None, not an empty list. The two mean different things — "not your
+    rule" versus "this rule has never been reworded" — and collapsing them
+    would tell a caller the rule exists and is unedited."""
+    await rulebooks_svc.update_rule(
+        constraint["rule_id"], constraint["uid"], statement="reworded",
+    )
+    assert await rulebooks_svc.list_rule_versions(
+        constraint["rule_id"], stranger,
+    ) is None
+
+
+async def test_a_version_cannot_be_read_through_a_DIFFERENT_rule(constraint):
+    """The check and the fetch have to agree about which rule is in play.
+
+    The second rule is owned by the SAME user on purpose — an id that simply
+    does not exist would pass on the ownership check alone and prove nothing
+    about the `rule_id` clause. Here the caller genuinely owns the rule they
+    name and genuinely owns the version's rule, and the read must still
+    refuse, because scoping by version id alone is how a snapshot leaks
+    through whichever rule the caller happens to be able to see.
+    """
+    await rulebooks_svc.update_rule(
+        constraint["rule_id"], constraint["uid"], statement="reworded",
+    )
+    [version] = await _versions(constraint["rule_id"])
+
+    async with async_session() as s:
+        rule = await s.get(Rule, constraint["rule_id"])
+        topic_id = rule.topic_id
+    sibling = await rulebooks_svc.create_rule(
+        topic_id, constraint["uid"], "A different rule", "Unrelated.",
+    )
+
+    assert await rulebooks_svc.get_rule_version(
+        sibling.id, version.id, constraint["uid"],
+    ) is None
+    # And through its own rule it reads fine — or the assertion above would
+    # pass for the wrong reason.
+    assert await rulebooks_svc.get_rule_version(
+        constraint["rule_id"], version.id, constraint["uid"],
+    ) is not None
+
+
+async def test_the_actor_does_not_grant_the_read(constraint, stranger):
+    """The inverse mistake. `user_id` on a version is the ACTOR, so scoping
+    the history by it would hand someone the snapshots they personally wrote
+    on a rule that has since moved out of their reach — and would hide, from
+    the rule's owner, every edit somebody else made."""
+    async with async_session() as s:
+        s.add(RuleVersion(
+            rule_id=constraint["rule_id"], user_id=stranger,
+            title="written by someone else", statement="a stranger's edit",
+        ))
+        await s.commit()
+
+    assert await rulebooks_svc.list_rule_versions(
+        constraint["rule_id"], stranger,
+    ) is None
+
+    owner_view = await rulebooks_svc.list_rule_versions(
+        constraint["rule_id"], constraint["uid"],
+    )
+    assert "a stranger's edit" in [v.statement for v in owner_view]
diff --git a/tests/test_mcp_tool_rulebooks.py b/tests/test_mcp_tool_rulebooks.py
index c922a06..274e1fb 100644
--- a/tests/test_mcp_tool_rulebooks.py
+++ b/tests/test_mcp_tool_rulebooks.py
@@ -229,8 +229,9 @@ def test_register_attaches_every_tool():
     mcp = FakeMCP()
 
     register(mcp)
-    # 26 through milestone 307, +2 for the staleness sweep (milestone 312).
-    assert len(mcp.names) == 28
+    # 26 through milestone 307, +2 for the staleness sweep (milestone 312),
+    # +1 for a rule's edit history (milestone 323).
+    assert len(mcp.names) == 29
     # spot-check a few names
     assert "list_rulebooks" in mcp.names
     assert "create_rule" in mcp.names
@@ -244,6 +245,8 @@ def test_register_attaches_every_tool():
     # milestone 312: the sweep, and the stamp that answers it
     assert "rules_due_for_verification" in mcp.names
     assert "mark_rule_verified" in mcp.names
+    # milestone 323: what a rule used to say
+    assert "rule_history" in mcp.names
     assert "unsuppress_rule_for_project" in mcp.names
     assert "suppress_topic_for_project" in mcp.names
     assert "unsuppress_topic_for_project" in mcp.names
@@ -433,3 +436,115 @@ async def test_unrelate_rules_raises_when_the_edge_is_gone():
         from scribe.mcp.tools.rulebooks import unrelate_rules
         with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="not found"):
             await unrelate_rules(relation_id=99)
+
+
+# ── rule_history (milestone 323 step 3) ────────────────────────────────
+
+def _fake_version(**over):
+    """A RuleVersion-shaped stand-in. A real model instance rather than a
+    MagicMock, because the tool calls `to_dict` and a mock would hand back
+    another mock instead of failing."""
+    from scribe.models.rule_version import RuleVersion
+    from datetime import datetime, timezone
+
+    defaults = {
+        "id": 5, "rule_id": 100, "user_id": 1,
+        "title": "The runner has no bash", "statement": "Use sh.",
+        "why": "the image ships no bash", "how_to_apply": None,
+        "when_to_apply": None, "tier": "always_on",
+        "verify_with": "read the workflow's shell setting",
+        "expires_when": None,
+        "created_at": datetime(2026, 8, 29, tzinfo=timezone.utc),
+    }
+    return RuleVersion(**{**defaults, **over})
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_rule_history_lists_without_the_heavy_text():
+    """The listing answers "when, and by whom". A rule's statement runs to
+    thousands of characters, so a history carrying every field would cost
+    more to read than the answer is worth."""
+    with patch(
+        "scribe.mcp.tools.rulebooks.rulebooks_svc.list_rule_versions",
+        AsyncMock(return_value=[_fake_version(), _fake_version(id=4)]),
+    ):
+        from scribe.mcp.tools.rulebooks import rule_history
+        out = await rule_history(rule_id=100)
+
+    assert out["total"] == 2
+    assert out["versions"][0]["title"] == "The runner has no bash"
+    assert "statement" not in out["versions"][0]
+    assert "why" not in out["versions"][0]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_rule_history_opens_one_version_in_full():
+    """Passing a version id switches from the index to the text — which is
+    the whole reason the listing can afford to omit it."""
+    with patch(
+        "scribe.mcp.tools.rulebooks.rulebooks_svc.get_rule_version",
+        AsyncMock(return_value=_fake_version()),
+    ):
+        from scribe.mcp.tools.rulebooks import rule_history
+        out = await rule_history(rule_id=100, version_id=5)
+
+    assert out["statement"] == "Use sh."
+    assert out["verify_with"] == "read the workflow's shell setting"
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_rule_history_says_an_empty_history_is_ordinary():
+    """Most rules have never been reworded, and nothing was written before
+    milestone 323. Without this line an empty list reads as a lost history or
+    a broken tool."""
+    with patch(
+        "scribe.mcp.tools.rulebooks.rulebooks_svc.list_rule_versions",
+        AsyncMock(return_value=[]),
+    ):
+        from scribe.mcp.tools.rulebooks import rule_history
+        out = await rule_history(rule_id=100)
+
+    assert out["total"] == 0
+    assert "never been reworded" in out["note"]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_rule_history_raises_when_the_rule_is_not_yours():
+    """None from the service means "not readable", and the tool must not
+    turn that into an empty history — which would read as "this rule has no
+    past" rather than "this is not your rule"."""
+    with patch(
+        "scribe.mcp.tools.rulebooks.rulebooks_svc.list_rule_versions",
+        AsyncMock(return_value=None),
+    ):
+        from scribe.mcp.tools.rulebooks import rule_history
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="rule 100 not found"):
+            await rule_history(rule_id=100)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_rule_history_raises_for_a_version_on_another_rule():
+    with patch(
+        "scribe.mcp.tools.rulebooks.rulebooks_svc.get_rule_version",
+        AsyncMock(return_value=None),
+    ):
+        from scribe.mcp.tools.rulebooks import rule_history
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="version 5 not found"):
+            await rule_history(rule_id=100, version_id=5)
+
+
+def test_rule_history_docstring_says_what_a_version_HOLDS():
+    """The one thing a reader gets wrong unaided: an entry is the text the
+    edit REPLACED, not the text it introduced. Read the other way, every
+    diff comes out backwards — so the docstring has to say it, and this is
+    the guard against a later tidy-up dropping the line."""
+    from scribe.mcp.tools.rulebooks import rule_history
+
+    doc = rule_history.__doc__ or ""
+    assert "REPLACED" in doc
+    assert "no restore" in doc.lower(), (
+        "the docstring no longer explains that a rule version cannot be "
+        "restored. A caller who assumes a revert exists will look for one "
+        "and, not finding it, is likely to hand-copy the old text back with "
+        "no record of why."
+    )