Download or read book Shades of Freedom written by A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1998-06-11 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few individuals have had as great an impact on the law--both its practice and its history--as A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. A winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, he has distinguished himself over the decades both as a professor at Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard, and as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals. But Judge Higginbotham is perhaps best known as an authority on racism in America: not the least important achievement of his long career has been In the Matter of Color, the first volume in a monumental history of race and the American legal process. Published in 1978, this brilliant book has been hailed as the definitive account of racism, slavery, and the law in colonial America. Now, after twenty years, comes the long-awaited sequel. In Shades of Freedom, Higginbotham provides a magisterial account of the interaction between the law and racial oppression in America from colonial times to the present, demonstrating how the one agent that should have guaranteed equal treatment before the law--the judicial system--instead played a dominant role in enforcing the inferior position of blacks. The issue of racial inferiority is central to this volume, as Higginbotham documents how early white perceptions of black inferiority slowly became codified into law. Perhaps the most powerful and insightful writing centers on a pair of famous Supreme Court cases, which Higginbotham uses to portray race relations at two vital moments in our history. The Dred Scott decision of 1857 declared that a slave who had escaped to free territory must be returned to his slave owner. Chief Justice Roger Taney, in his notorious opinion for the majority, stated that blacks were "so inferior that they had no right which the white man was bound to respect." For Higginbotham, Taney's decision reflects the extreme state that race relations had reached just before the Civil War. And after the War and Reconstruction, Higginbotham reveals, the Courts showed a pervasive reluctance (if not hostility) toward the goal of full and equal justice for African Americans, and this was particularly true of the Supreme Court. And in the Plessy v. Ferguson decision, which Higginbotham terms "one of the most catastrophic racial decisions ever rendered," the Court held that full equality--in schooling or housing, for instance--was unnecessary as long as there were "separate but equal" facilities. Higginbotham also documents the eloquent voices that opposed the openly racist workings of the judicial system, from Reconstruction Congressman John R. Lynch to Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan to W. E. B. Du Bois, and he shows that, ironically, it was the conservative Supreme Court of the 1930s that began the attack on school segregation, and overturned the convictions of African Americans in the famous Scottsboro case. But today racial bias still dominates the nation, Higginbotham concludes, as he shows how in six recent court cases the public perception of black inferiority continues to persist. In Shades of Freedom, a noted scholar and celebrated jurist offers a work of magnificent scope, insight, and passion. Ranging from the earliest colonial times to the present, it is a superb work of history--and a mirror to the American soul.
Download or read book The Supreme Court in the American Legal System written by Jeffrey A. Segal and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-08 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the American legal system, including a comprehensive treatment of the U.S. Supreme Court. Despite this treatment, the 'in' from the title deserves emphasis, for it extensively examines lower courts, providing separate chapters on state courts, the US District Courts, and the US Courts of Appeals. The book analyzes these courts from a legal/extralegal framework, drawing different conclusions about the relative influence of each based on institutional structures and empirical evidence. The book is also tied together through its attention to the relationship between lower courts and the Supreme Court. Additionally, Election 2000 litigation provides a common substantive topic linking many of the chapters. Finally, it provides extended coverage to the legal process, with separate chapters on civil procedure, evidence, and criminal procedure.
Download or read book American Judicial Process written by Pamela C. Corley and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-09-25 with total page 666 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text is a general introduction to American judicial process. The authors cover the major institutions, actors, and processes that comprise the U.S. legal system, viewed from a political science perspective. Grounding their presentation in empirical social science terms, the authors identify popular myths about the structure and processes of American law and courts and then contrast those myths with what really takes place. Three unique elements of this "myth versus reality" framework are incorporated into each of the topical chapters: 1) "Myth versus Reality" boxes that lay out the topics each chapter covers, using the myths about each topic contrasted with the corresponding realities. 2) "Pop Culture" boxes that provide students with popular examples from film, television, and music that tie-in to chapter topics and engage student interest. 3) "How Do We Know?" boxes that discuss the methods of social scientific inquiry and debunk common myths about the judiciary and legal system. Unlike other textbooks, American Judicial Process emphasizes how pop culture portrays—and often distorts—the judicial process and how social science research is brought to bear to provide an accurate picture of law and courts. In addition, a rich companion website will include PowerPoint lectures, suggested topics for papers and projects, a test bank of objective questions for use by instructors, and downloadable artwork from the book. Students will have access to annotated web links and videos, flash cards of key terms, and a glossary.
Download or read book American Criminal Courts written by Casey Welch and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-04-05 with total page 615 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American Criminal Courts: Legal Process and Social Context provides a complete picture of both the theory and day-to-day reality of criminal courts in the United States. The book begins by exploring how democratic processes affect criminal law, the documents that define law, the organizational structure of courts at the federal and state levels, the overlapping authority of the appeals process, and the effect of legal processes such as precedent, jurisdiction, and the underlying philosophies of various types of courts. In practice, criminal courts are staffed by people who represent different perspectives, occupational pressures, and organizational goals. Thus, this book includes chapters on actors in the traditional courtroom workgroup (judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys, etc.) as well as those outside the court who seek to influence it, including advocacy groups, the media, and politicians. It is the interplay between the court's legal processes and the social actors in the courtroom that makes the application of criminal law fascinating. By focusing on the tension between the law and the actors inside of it, American Criminal Courts: Legal Process and Social Context demonstrates how the courts are a product of "law in action" and presents content in a way that enables you to understand not only the "how" of the U.S. criminal court system, but also the "why." Clearly explains both the principles underlying the development of criminal law and the practical reality of the court system in action A complete picture of the criminal justice continuum, including prosecution, defense, judges, juries, sentencing, and pre-trial and appeals processes Feature boxes look at how courts are portrayed in the media; identify landmark due-process cases; illustrate the pros and cons of the courts’ discretionary decision-making; examine procedures and the goals of justice; and highlight the various types of careers available within the criminal courts
Download or read book Rebooting Justice written by Benjamin H. Barton and published by Encounter Books. This book was released on 2017-08-01 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America is a nation founded on justice and the rule of law. But our laws are too complex, and legal advice too expensive, for poor and even middle-class Americans to get help and vindicate their rights. Criminal defendants facing jail time may receive an appointed lawyer who is juggling hundreds of cases and immediately urges them to plead guilty. Civil litigants are even worse off; usually, they get no help at all navigating the maze of technical procedures and rules. The same is true of those seeking legal advice, like planning a will or negotiating an employment contract. Rebooting Justice presents a novel response to longstanding problems. The answer is to use technology and procedural innovation to simplify and change the process itself. In the civil and criminal courts where ordinary Americans appear the most, we should streamline complex procedures and assume that parties will not have a lawyer, rather than the other way around. We need a cheaper, simpler, faster justice system to control costs. We cannot untie the Gordian knot by adding more strands of rope; we need to cut it, to simplify it.
Download or read book American Law and Legal Systems written by James V Calvi and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-07-22 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American Law and Legal Systems examines the philosophy of law within a political, social, and economic framework with great clarity and insight. Readers are introduced to operative legal concepts, everyday law practices, substantive procedures, and the intricacies of the American legal system. Eliminating confusing legalese, the authors skillfully explain the basics, from how a lawsuit is filed to the final appeal. This new edition provides essential updates to forensic and scientific evidence, contract law, family law, and includes new text boxes and tables to help students understand, remember, and apply central concepts.
Download or read book The Lawyer Judge Bias in the American Legal System written by Benjamin H. Barton and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-12-31 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Virtually all American judges are former lawyers. This book argues that these lawyer-judges instinctively favor the legal profession in their decisions and that this bias has far-reaching and deleterious effects on American law. There are many reasons for this bias, some obvious and some subtle. Fundamentally, it occurs because - regardless of political affiliation, race, or gender - every American judge shares a single characteristic: a career as a lawyer. This shared background results in the lawyer-judge bias. The book begins with a theoretical explanation of why judges naturally favor the interests of the legal profession and follows with case law examples from diverse areas, including legal ethics, criminal procedure, constitutional law, torts, evidence, and the business of law. The book closes with a case study of the Enron fiasco, an argument that the lawyer-judge bias has contributed to the overweening complexity of American law, and suggests some possible solutions.
Download or read book Whose Monet written by John A. Humbach and published by Aspen Publishing. This book was released on 2016-01-31 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This extraordinary paperback provides a highly accessible and appealing orientation to the American legal system and presents basic concepts of civil litigation to first-year law students. Whose Monet? An Introduction to the American Legal System focuses on a lengthy dispute over the ownership of a painting as a vehicle for introducing students to the basic law school tasks of reading analytically, understanding legal materials, and working with the common law. The author and his colleagues have used these materials successfully in their classrooms for many years, ensuring their teachability and effectiveness: Whose Monet? can be used as primary course material in orientation courses or seminars, as well as collateral reading for in-semester Legal Process or Civil Procedure courses The organization is logical and straightforward and the accessible writing style--lucid, descriptive, and conversational--is ideal for incoming students The major events in a lawsuit are considered, and the text sheds light on how the law is applied in a civil dispute, introducing common law and statutory law and the various courts and their interrelationship (trial/appellate, state/federal) The author draws on judicial opinions, litigation papers, transcripts, and selections from commentators and various jurisprudential sources, thereby exposing the first-year student to as broad a spectrum of materials as possible Telling the story of a real lawsuit (DeWeerth v. Baldinger)--from client intake through trial and various appeals--draws students into the legal process by means of an engaging narrative and makes for a truly enjoying teaching experience for professors The lawyer's role is examined in both its functional and moral dimensions: What do lawyers do? What does society legitimately expect lawyers to do? This book is suitable for both classroom and stand-alone assigned reading
Download or read book American Courts and the Judicial Process written by G. Larry Mays and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2016-01-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Featuring the insights of criminal justice scholars G. Larry Mays and Laura Woods Fidelie, American Courts and the Judicial Process, Second Edition, is ideal for undergraduate courts courses. It examines the many elements of the U.S. court system--its structures, functions, and key actors--addressing the major problems facing the system and considering potential solutions. This unique text also provides students with a practical perspective, discussing the contrast between the law and the rules as they are written and the ways in which they actually play out in the real world. The book is enhanced by "In the News" boxes that discuss contemporary events and "World View" boxes covering international courts and legal systems.
Download or read book American Law in a Global Context written by George P. Fletcher and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2005 with total page 700 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Resource added for the Paralegal program 101101.
Download or read book The Canon of American Legal Thought written by David Kennedy and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-05 with total page 936 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anthology presents, for the first time, full texts of the twenty most important works of American legal thought since 1890. Drawing on a course the editors teach at Harvard Law School, the book traces the rise and evolution of a distinctly American form of legal reasoning. These are the articles that have made these authors--from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., to Ronald Coase, from Ronald Dworkin to Catherine MacKinnon--among the most recognized names in American legal history. These authors proposed answers to the classic question: "What does it mean to think like a lawyer--an American lawyer?" Their answers differed, but taken together they form a powerful brief for the existence of a distinct and powerful style of reasoning--and of rulership. The legal mind is as often critical as constructive, however, and these texts form a canon of critical thinking, a toolbox for resisting and unravelling the arguments of the best legal minds. Each article is preceded by a short introduction highlighting the article's main ideas and situating it in the context of its author's broader intellectual projects, the scholarly debates of his or her time, and the reception the article received. Law students and their teachers will benefit from seeing these classic writings, in full, in the context of their original development. For lawyers, the collection will take them back to their best days in law school. All readers will be struck by the richness, the subtlety, and the sophistication with which so many of what have become the clichés of everyday legal argument were originally formulated.
Download or read book Law 101 written by Jay Feinman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-08-01 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In each of the first three editions of the bestselling Law 101, Jay Feinman gave readers an upbeat and vivid examination of the American legal system. Since the third edition was published in 2010, much has happened: several key Supreme Court cases have been decided, we've seen sensational criminal trials, and the legal system has had to account for the latest developments in Internet law. This fully updated fourth edition of Law 101 accounts for all this and more, as Feinman once again provides a clear introduction to American law. The book covers all the main subjects taught in the first year of law school, and discusses every facet of the American legal tradition, including constitutional law, the litigation process, and criminal, property, and contracts law. To accomplish this, Feinman brings in the most noteworthy, infamous, and often outrageous examples and cases. We learn about the case involving scalding coffee that cost McDonald's half a million dollars, the murder trial in Victorian London that gave us the legal definition of insanity, and the epochal decision of Marbury vs. Madison that gave the Supreme Court the power to declare state and federal law unconstitutional. A key to learning about the law is learning legal vocabulary, and Feinman helps by clarifying terms like "due process" and "equal protection," as well as by drawing distinctions between terms like "murder" and "manslaughter." Above all, though, is that Feinman reveals to readers of all kinds that despite its complexities and quirks, the law is can be understood by everyone. Perfect for students contemplating law school, journalists covering legislature, or even casual fans of "court-television" shows, Law 101 is a clear and accessible introduction to the American legal system. New to this edition: Featured analysis of: -the Obamacare case -Citizens United -the DOMA decision -the Trayvon Martin case As well as recent legal developments pertaining to: -online contracting -mortgages -police investigations -criminal sentencing
Download or read book Business Law I Essentials written by MIRANDE. DE ASSIS VALBRUNE (RENEE. CARDELL, SUZANNE.) and published by . This book was released on 2019-09-27 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A less-expensive grayscale paperback version is available. Search for ISBN 9781680923018. Business Law I Essentials is a brief introductory textbook designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of courses on Business Law or the Legal Environment of Business. The concepts are presented in a streamlined manner, and cover the key concepts necessary to establish a strong foundation in the subject. The textbook follows a traditional approach to the study of business law. Each chapter contains learning objectives, explanatory narrative and concepts, references for further reading, and end-of-chapter questions. Business Law I Essentials may need to be supplemented with additional content, cases, or related materials, and is offered as a foundational resource that focuses on the baseline concepts, issues, and approaches.
Download or read book An Introduction to the American Legal System written by John M. Scheb (II) and published by Aspen Publishers. This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Fourth Edition of An Introduction to the American Legal System provides both historical context and thoroughly up-to-date coverage of all aspects of American law and the legal system. Vivid examples, on-point case summaries, and hot-button issues make this text an obvious choice for paralegal, criminal justice, political science, or legal studies courses. Key New Features Cases in Point that concisely illustrate how the law applies in the real world Questions for discussion in every chapter that point to high-interest issues for debate Discussions of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions such as the Obamacare decisions, the Defense of Marriage Act decision, and key rulings on recess appointments and First Amendment Rights Contemporary topical coverage, such as the national security legislation and whistleblowers Updated discussions of justifiable use of force, intellectual property, abortion rights, capital punishment, and affirmative action A well-crafted design that includes learning objectives and chapter outlines A convenient Glossary of Legal Terms and The Constitution of the United States of America in the Appendices
Download or read book Real Law Stories written by Richard A. Brisbin and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection describes the day-to-day functions of lawyers, courts, and the law in personal injury, divorce, employment relations, real estate, and commercial practice; criminal justice; and the appellate process. The authors contribute insights into the legal process in the United States across a range of legal activities.
Download or read book American Legal Systems written by Toni M. Fine and published by Anderson Publishing Company (OH). This book was released on 1997 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book American Courts Explained written by Gregory Mitchell (Law teacher) and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Softbound - New, softbound print book.
