CSS2: Inheritance of table layout from column context

Section 17.3 is very clear in describing which properties, set for
elements of display type table-column-*, can affect the formatting of
table cells. However, the absence of a way to specify column-specific
horizontal alignment perplexes me a bit, particularly since this function
is provided in HTML 4 using align attributes on col/colgroup. To avoid
rehashing what is probably an old topic, can anyone recall (or reference
in the list archives) when or where table column formatting issues were
discussed in the months leading up to the CSS2 spec (and perhaps after?)

Ian