Product Description
If you are an individual with a disability and believe you have been discriminated against, it is often hard to find a lawyer to help remedy your situation. Accordingly, 'self-help' may often be your most, or your only, viable strategy. But how to proceed? This book serves as a badly needed practical guide to disability discrimination law. Covering a wide range of issues faced by individuals with different kinds of disabilities, it not only describes those individuals' legal rights but also suggests solutions to disability discrimination issues that are more practical and less expensive than filing a lawsuit. Written by two disability law experts, Ruth Colker, whose son is developmentally disabled, and Adam Milani, who is paralyzed from the chest down, this book is informed by their scholarly expertise but is also based on their collective practical experience from years of navigating issues of disability discrimination. Everyday Law for Individuals with Disabilities is the first in a series of practical guides to the law, organized by series editors Richard Delgado and Jean Stephancic, packed with useful overviews and advice for the people who need it most and can least afford it. ... Read more

Product Description

In Black's Law, one of America's toughest and shrewdest criminal defense lawyers shows us the life-and-death struggles that occur every day in our criminal courts. This book takes us behind the scenes of four difficult and dangerous cases to reveal the legal strategies, no-holds-barred tactics, and courtroom psychology Roy Black used to make sure his clients received every protection promised by the law.

Black demonstrates in riveting detail how a defense attorney must investigate criminal cases by sifting through evidence and preparing for trial. (It's like preparing for war.) He shows us how the principles of law, cross-examination, and evidence -- as well as careful jury selection and skillful use of expert witnesses -- can level the playing field to counter the enormous resources that state and federal prosecutors have at their disposal.

Black's Law makes resoundingly clear the crucial role that criminal defense lawyers play in safeguarding the basic right to a fair trial for all.Amazon.com Review
The title of criminal defense lawyer Roy Black's first bookalludes to the renowned legal dictionary, and the reference isappropriate: Black is beyond a reasonable doubt the definitive defenseattorney. Considered among the best advocates for the accused in theUnited States, he has had clients that included William Kennedy Smithand Marv Albert. But in Black's Law, the former public defenderand law professor recounts the strategies and tactics he employed tosafeguard the freedom of four lesser-known clients: Luis Alvarez,Thomas Knight, Steve Hicks, and Fred De La Mata.

In "Alvarez" (Black refers to each of his four examples by case name),a Miami cop is put on trial for shooting an African American suspectwith no previous criminal record, pitting Black against the office ofDade County state attorney Janet Reno, who desperately needed aconviction to avert widespread race riots. In "Knight," Black mustconvince a federal appeals court that an insane multiple killer wascondemned to death row by the bad lawyering of his first fourattorneys. In "Hicks," a young bartender finds himself charged withmurder after his girlfriend dies of an accidental gunshot wound; Blackdefends him against incriminating circumstantial evidence and thecluster-bungling efforts of police investigators. And in "De La Mata,"Black takes a break from the murder trials to work on amoney-laundering case.

The aforementioned Black's Law Dictionary defines a defenseattorney as "a [l]awyer who files appearance in behalf of defendantand represents such in civil or criminal case," but Roy Black'saccount underscores how such technical definitions fail to convey theessential role defense attorneys play in our adversarial system ofjustice. Black's Law is not just about four individualdefendants, it's about the rights to which all defendants areentitled--and for which people like Roy Black fight--in a court oflaw. --Tim Hogan ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!! HIGHLY SUGGESTED
If youor any one you know has had their back to the wall, especially in a corrupt county or municipality, and are facing criminal charges especially with no attorney, BUY THIS BOOK! Take it seriously. It shows how dirty things can and often do get and gives some good insight into things that can make you think along new lines that never would have occurred to you before.

Justice System: Intriguing and Chilling
I'm a big fan of court stories from novelists as William Bernhardt and Sheldon Siegel, among others. So trying a non-fiction book was a risk because of the potential dense prose of court documents and legal procedures. No problems here. Black's Law is well written for any layman to understand. 4 case studies are included. Black tells each with an ongoing stream of his reflections about the process and proceedings. If you are looking for a feel of the important stakes in cases and the adversarial relationship between prosecution and defense, you'll find it here. Each story builds an increasing sense of chill about the rights, or lack of, for the defendant in a system that seems to favor the prosecution--unless you have a good lawyer who works hard on research and cross-examinations.

Read the book. You will not be disappointed.

Wonderful Insights from a Great Defense Attorney
"I'm going to do whatever I can to see justice is done in the courtroom. If the town burns down because of it, so be it." Those words were spoken by Roy Black, the author, who shares with readers his passion for defending the criminally accused. In this book, he tells the story of four trials. In one, he represented Luis Alvarez, a young cop who shot a black man which caused a large riot in Miami. Another case involved a bartender who faced death for murdering his girlfriend. In that case, Black dissects the botched police investigation and shows how to take apart a prosecution's case built on circumstantial evidence.

Throughout the book, there are many insightful practice tips for defense attorneys. For example, Black instructs for cross-examination that "although jurors needed to understand that the detectives had failed to do many things, I didn't wnat to transmit the impression that 'my client's guilty, but the cops blew the investigation and so they didn't prove it."

All four cases in the book read like great mysteries. Whether you are a defense attorney or not, you are sure to thoroughly enjoy this book.

Black's Law: A clinic on strategies and tactics.
Roy Black once said, "The kind of cases I handle are the ones people can't afford to lose." On the eve of yet another notorious public figure facing penitentiary chances, Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis made the call, "Get me Roy Black." And why not? Mr. Black has attained legendary status as one of the top legal minds in the country. From his days battling in the PD's office in Miami to his rise as Miami's `super lawyer' , Black's deft handling of the media makes for a formidable one-two punch when you combine his PR skills with his presence in the courtroom. Francis knows he's in for the fight of his life. The government has tattooed crosshairs on his back for the last ten years, and he knows he's facing the end of his rope. Who wouldn't hire Black?

This book encapsulates all that is Roy Black. Delivering gut-wrenching stories of trench warfare, he said, "My cases are World War III to me. I don't take prisoners when I go to trial." Attorneys make their living through words. And this book is a testament to that. Written for the everyday man, the style of writing is brief, easy to read, and compelling. It's as if Black is masterfully telling his stories to a jury. And once again, he wins them over. Highly recommended.

Black's Law Is An Eye Opener
Do you sometimes wonder why anyone could possibly want to defend the scum, the losers, the obviusly-guilty-because-the newspapers-said-so?Well, if you think that way you will find a very good answer in this book. Roy Black describes four different cases which seemed impossible to defend, yet he did and did it well. He lets you in on what it's like to be on the defense side of the aisle. His writing style is smooth and flowing and each of the cases was so interesting I found it hard to put the book down. For me this was one of those books you can't help but read fast because it's fascinating, yet want to read slow so it lasts longer. For any True Crime genre fan, this is a MUST read. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description

The authors argue that the rules and practices of corporate law mimic contractual provisions that parties would reach if they bargained about every contingency at zero cost and flawlessly enforced their agreements. But bargaining and enforcement are costly, and corporate law provides the rules and an enforcement mechanism that govern relations among those who commit their capital to such ventures. The authors work out the reasons for supposing that this is the exclusive function of corporate law and the implications of this perspective.

Customer Reviews (4)

CLASSICAL BOOK
Es un libro de obligada lectura en materia de Derecho de sociedades de capital. Se puede decir que se ha convertido en pocos años en un "clásico" del Corporate Law.

Big Waste!
Don't buy this book unless you like fiction.And bad fiction at that.This book contains absolutely no analysis (like all of this author's writings).

A classic of the field
Easterbrook and Fischel collected a series of law review articles into the classic text on the contractarian theory of corporate law. During the 1980s, E&F were two of the corporate law academy's enfants terribles. Their articles were provocative, yet insightful. They raised a lot of hackles, yet did ground-breaking work. Both E&F have gone on to bigger and better things. Easterbrook is now a judge on the US 7th Circuit. Fischel is dean of the UChicago law school. "The Economic Structure ..." stands as their legacy for corporate law.

Like other contractarians, E&F model the firm not as an entity, but as an aggregate of various inputs acting together to produce goods or services. Employees provide labor. Creditors provide debt capital. Shareholders initially provide equity capital and subsequently bear the risk of losses and monitor the performance of management. Management monitors the performance of employees and coordinates the activities of all the firm's inputs. The firm is simply a legal fiction representing the complex set of contractual relationships between these inputs. In other words, the firm is not a thing, but rather a nexus or web of explicit and implicit contracts establishing rights and obligations among the various inputs making up the firm.

The nexus of contracts model has important implications for a range of corporate law topics, the most obvious of which is the debate over the proper role of mandatory legal rules. As a positive matter, contractarians contend that corporate law in fact is generally comprised of default rules, from which the parties to the set of contracts making up the corporation are free to depart, rather than mandatory rules. As a normative matter, contractarians argue that this is just as it should be. E&F devote the bulk of this text to tweaking out these implications across an array of important topics, such as limited liability and insider trading.

Their analysis is not flawless. As but a single example, E&F consistently opt for the so-called majoritarian default. Their basic thesis is that by providing the rule to which the parties would agree if they could bargain, society facilitates private ordering. Majoritarian defaults are not always desirable, however, even if a potentially dominant one can be identified.Sometimes penalty defaults are preferable. Penalty defaults are designed to impose a penalty on at least one of the parties if they fail to bargain out of the default rule, thereby giving at least the party subject to the penalty an incentive to negotiate a contractual alternative to the penalty default. They force the parties to choose affirmatively the contract provision they prefer. Penalty defaults are appropriate where it is costly for courts to determine what the parties would have wanted. In such cases, it may be more efficient for the parties to negotiate a term ex ante than for courts to determine ex post what the parties would have wanted.

Having said that, however, this remains one of the most significant monographs on corporate law. I highly recommend it for an corporate lawyer's bookshelf.

Coase Applies; Coase is Right ...
The classic exposition of law and economics in the corporate field. This book consolidates and expands upon several law review articles written in the early 1980s that have reshaped how corporate and securities law andpolicy have developed. If you want heavier economic analysis, this book islacking, but if you want *structure* and *framework* then this book isideal. ... Read more

Product Description
Today, a California resident can incorporate her shipping business in Delaware, register her ships in Panama, hire her employees from Hong Kong, place her earnings in an asset-protection trust formed in the Cayman Islands, and enter into a same-sex marriage in Massachusetts or Canada--all the while enjoying the California sunshine and potentially avoiding many facets of the state's laws.

In this book, Erin O'Hara and Larry E. Ribstein explore a new perspective on law, viewing it as a product for which people and firms can shop, regardless of geographic borders. The authors consider the structure and operation of the market this creates, the economic, legal, and political forces influencing it, and the arguments for and against a robust market for law. Through jurisdictional competition, law markets promise to improve our laws and, by establishing certainty, streamline the operation of the legal system. But the law market also limits governments' ability to enforce regulations and protect citizens from harmful activities. Given this tradeoff, O'Hara and Ribstein argue that simple contractual choice-of-law rules can help maximize the benefits of the law market while tempering its social costs. They extend their insights to a wide variety of legal problems, including corporate governance, securities, franchise, trust, property, marriage, living will, surrogacy, and general contract regulations.

The Law Market is a wide-ranging and novel analysis for all lawyers, policymakers, legislators, and businesses who need to understand the changing role of law in an increasingly mobile world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good but sometimes tedious
This book describes why it has become easier for parties to a contract to choose which legal system will be applied to their contract, both in terms of the political forces that enabled choice and why it's good that choice is possible.

The political forces include the ability of some parties to physically leave a jurisdiction if they have inadequate choices about what law will be applied to them. Often enough those parties are employers that legislators want to remain in their jurisdiction.

The benefits include simple things like predictability of contract interpretation when the contract covers things that involve physical locations associated with multiple jurisdictions where there otherwise would be no reliable way to predict which court would assert jurisdiction over disputes. They also include less direct effects of providing incentives for legal systems to improve so as to attract more customers.

The book mostly deals with contracts between corporations, and is much more tentative about advocating choice of law for individuals.

The book provides examples showing that as with most markets, competition for law produces better law. But is also mentions more questionable results, such as competition for most effective tax shelters or the easiest terms for divorce (for divorce, the book suggests those who want divorce to be hard should try to arrange contracts that allocate assets in a way that discourages divorce; it would be harder for easy-divorce states to justify ignoring those contracts). There's also a risk that the competition will sometimes benefit lawyers rather than their clients, as clients often rely on lawyers to decide which legal system to use without having a practical way to check who benefits from some of those choices.

The book is often dull reading because it often describes case law to explain quirks of current law that will be of interest to few non-lawyers.

One part that disappointed me was the assumption that the choice of jurisdiction should dictate the physical location in which plaintiffs must argue their case (the travel costs can make some lawsuits unpractical to a consumer suing a company if the company decides the location at which a suit is argued). Why are we trapped in a set of rules that requires travel to a possibly distant court when we have technology that provides reasonable remote communications?
... Read more

Product Description
A successful law school candidate must be articulate and capable of clear, consecutivethinking--qualities that invariably translate into their written work. This updated manual instructs law school applicants on preparing the style of essay that is required for law school admission. Approximately 40model essays originally submitted by applicants to leading law schools are presented in this book with a critique following each essay. General essay-writing advice is also included. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Incredible--a must-buy for applicants
This book helped me immensely with my personal statement for law schools. It doesn't just give abstract suggestions, it helps you every step of the way and makes the process a lot less daunting. It also tells you exactly what admissions officers want to glean from your essay (your personality) and explains how you can show that to them. I had previously been reading a Princeton Review book about personal statements, and not only did it not help, but it just made me feel like I could never write a good essay. "Essays That Will Get You into Law School" gave me great strategies and concrete, helpful tips for crafting a great essay.

Good Starter
This book is best used for those people who do not know exactly how to put information together, but do know what they want to add in thier essay. If you do not have previous experience in anything and do not have a story, well then this book is not for you. It gives you great ideas to add into your essay, but it does not spoon feed you the method. The examples in the back are not the best, but they help you draw out some ideas that you would not have otherwise remembered or deemed important.

Essays that get into law school?
Most of these essays are garbage, foreign to what most people need to know.I'm shocked that some of these people got into law school.I'm starting to figure out why the profession is a dying one and why no one respects it.

Get another one, or search deeper.This is simply a PC book of garbage and generic information on how to write an essay that you learned your first two years as an undergrad.

Essays that don't relate
The general tips provided about writing your personal statement are good, but are generally common sense to anyone who has taken a argumentative writing class and/or a good english class.Most books about the overall application process include these tips.

As for the essays included in this book, they are applicable to the average applicant, that is unless the average applicant has worked for five years in the Sudan raising orphans, or escaped genecide as a child.It would be more helpful if this book included essays that were written by applicants with a more normal work/life experience.This book was a complete waste of my time.I would suggest instead to read "How to get into top law schools" and then focus your reading on the adcom's quotes.

For those who dont know where to start
If you are like me and had no clue where to begin writing a personal essay (the personal ones are always the hardest, this book offers a step by step outline of how to brainstorm subjects and how to organize your thoughts, write and outline and eventually the essay(s).

I really needed this because I, like you, will have to write a number of essays, depending on how many schools we are applying to. I have all these ideas and life experiences, but did not know how to organize them, let alone write anything coherent!This book helped me tremendously with organization and perspective and put me on a path to writing 4 sucessful essays. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (2)

Corporate Mythology
This book should be a must read for judges and reporters.It shows how propaganda, rather than fact, controls our lives, beliefs and behavior.It exposes the myths of litigation promoted by the ignorant and those inthe sociopathic pursuit of profit.
It is a hard read for the unitiated and the writers assume that the reader has a basic understanding of law and sociology.It is essential reading for those who wish to reflect on the ills of post-modern societal and governmental organization.

Objection Sustained!
After having read Stephanie Mencimer's"Blocking the Courthouse Door" I became more interested in the arguments against "tort reform." However, this book did little to enhance that interest.

In defense of the authors, Haltom and McCann, they have presented a thorough discussion of the topic as it relates to politics, media and the litigation crisis, just as the subtitle says. There are chapters for pro-business tort reformers, plaintiffs and sociological scholars opposed to it, newspaper reporting and information selection, the story of "the McDonalds Hot Coffee Lady," tobacco litigation, and a final chapter, which I confess, I had no idea what they were talking about, mainly because I had lost interest. Their analyses are so in depth that they would probably even have John Stossel scratching his head.

My hypnotic trance was due to the academic presentation of information. In fact it was so dry, it almost gave me the Heaves. I object to this for the person who wants to learn AND be entertained. The objection is overruled for the reader who wishes to pursue serious academic study of the tort misinformation from different directions. For the latter, it is at least four stars. Either one will be better informed, and may God have mercy on your soul!

For me, it was a solid three, only because I wanted to find the information interesting.

Can I sue Amazon for this?
... Read more

Product Description

Written by a medical and a legal pioneer in the field, this book comprehensively reviews and analyzes the evolving law and policy issues surrounding assisted reproductive technologies. Dr. Howard W. Jones, Jr., founder of the first in vitro fertilization program in the United States, offers medical commentary, while attorney Susan L. Crockin, author of the column "Legally Speaking" in ASRM News (the newsletter of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine), provides legal analysis.

The book opens with a legal primer and timelines sketching the medical and legal milestones in the history of reproductive technology and law. Each chapter provides a case-by-case discussion of the relevant law, as well as cogent medical and legal commentary and analysis on a particular substantive area. Chapter topics deal with a vast array of issues, including artificial insemination, sperm and egg donation, traditional and gestational surrogacy, posthumous reproduction, same-sex parentage, genetics, cryopreservation and embryo litigation, discrimination and access to reproductive care, professional liability, stem cell research, and abortion.

In discussing the medical and legal issues surrounding these topics, Crockin and Jones reveal what has gone right and what at times has gone terribly wrong for both the families and the professionals involved. They make clear that technological advancements have far outpaced the laws and policies in place to protect all who use them.

This book makes a timely contribution to current debates over the legal and policy issues raised by the highly publicized birth of octuplets in California and the embryo legislation activity taking place in many states. It offers information and insight to policymakers, medical and legal professionals, patients and other participants, and everyone else interested in the history and future direction of the field.

Customer Reviews (1)

Great textbook and book!
I had professor Crockin for a course at Tufts University this semester and we read a copy of this book before it was published. It was very easy to understand and was very helpful for students like me, who are not law students but science students. It's a great way to learn how ARTs have developed and what paths have been chosen through cases thus far. Professor Crockin discusses specific cases with summaries of each at the end of the chapters, making a great reference for looking up complete cases relevant to what you are researching.
The sections written by Dr. Jones are very clear and informative and supplement the legal side of the book very well.

I highly recommend this book! It's the first of it's kind. ... Read more

Product Description
If there was a handbook formembers of law firm management, it would be TheFirst Great Myth of Law Firm Management is that it Exists.  Dealing with the tough topics thatmanaging partners worry about but many consultants are afraid to tackle, The First Great Myth-- collects some of Ed Wesemann's most popular articles from publications around theworld, including his famous monthly e-mail columns.  Some of the topics covered include:Firing Unprofitable Clients  Manyfirms get so busy pushing hours and rates that they overlook a critical reviewof their clients as an opportunity to "pick some low hanging fruit.".Ten Terrible Truths About LawFirm Strategic Planning Law firms have trouble implementing strategic plans because it is a flawedprocess from the beginning. Valuing Management  Law firms aren't really mismanaged - mostaren't managed at all.  That's what youget when you have volunteers running your business.  Taking the Easy Way Out:Non-equity Partnerships Many firms think that by making non-equitypartners they have solved their problems with unproductive partners andassociate leverage.  Wrong!  Ten Terrible Truths About LawFirm Compensation  Some law firms equate compensation with management as if lawyers werecommission based aluminum siding salesmen. It's time to take a new look at the way we pay people.Hitting the Wall: Six Rules toManaging the Mega Practice Most major business developers top out at about$3 million in annual billings.  It's timeto help the elite billers manage their practices.Knowledge Management:  The Emperor Has No Clothes  For most law firms, all of the money and effortspent on knowledge management is a    wasteof time.  For anyone to benefit from KM,law firms have to change the way they do business.Pricing to the Market   Some clients are moreprice sensitive than others.  It ispossible to identify the clients who are willing to accept higher rates beforeyou send the bill.           A Common Sense Approach to Cross Selling  Why lawyers keepscrew ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Pleasant Surprise
Who would read a book with this title other than someone who has a running interest in law firm management?Well, anyone with that running knowledge knows that law firms are different from other entities and that they are hard to manage and that they are notorious for being mis-managed.So, what else is new?
Actually, some fresh treatments and insights contained within this book is what is new!
First off, what a treat it is to have this common knowledge put together so succinctly.
Secondly, the chapter on partner compensation -- a perennial favorite topic in any firm greater than 1 -- paints a very clear picture of the inherent booby traps.
Last but not least, the chapter on the 6 Rules to Managing The Three Million Dollar Practice and Beyond is worth the price of the book alone.It is such a unique and useful presentation of what works.

Wesemann's a Wise Man!
Thirteen chapters and every one a thought provoker. I thoroughly recommend this book.

Not Just For Law Firms . . . And Long Overdue
This is a great read and a fabulous guidebook to overcoming the ingrained biases in your thinking and addressing those seemingly impossible problems and tough issues inherent in managing a professional firm.

The author, Ed Wesemann, manages to delightfully provoke the reader's thinking: "most firms would be more profitable if they fired 80 percent of their clients," and "you can't get anything done with concensus management when everyone has a veto. It's like being managed by the UN Security Counsel."

Chapter One prescribes a number of cogent actions to take for Firing Unprofitable Clients; while the next chapter highlights the Ten Terrible Truths About Strategic Planning. Subsequent topics include valuing management, handling compensation issues, mergers as a marketing tool, and non-equity partnerships. My personal favorites are the chapter entitled Pricing to the Market that offers a highly innovative approach to analyzing price sensitivity and The Seven Basic Laws of Successful Networking, which will redefine your views on networking.

The book concludes with timely chapters covering When Good Firms Go Bad, and an in depth look at seven future trends likely to impact professional firms over the next five years. While targeted to "Law Firm" managing partners and administrators, it is my strong belief that this text offers solid guidance to those having responsibility for managing any kind of a professional service firm. ... Read more

Product Description
Recently a new battle has emerged between science and religion. The battle has focused on intelligent design (ID) and the numerous legal, philosophical, and educational concerns surrounding it. Resolution of these concerns centers on two questions: Is ID science? And is ID religion? Despite the fact that ID does not meet the standards of scientific rigor, ID proponents have been able to create a remarkably well-designed marketing plan aimed at imposing a theistic naturalism in schools and scientific discourse. Both the ID movement and some of its most vociferous opponents have a vested interest in suggesting that science, especially evolutionary biology, and religion are incompatible. This book presents a philosophical and legal counterpoint by demonstrating the compatibility between religion and evolutionary biology and the incompatibility between ID and mainstream science. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (2)

The most detailed and nuanced,factual history of U.S. environmental laws - a limitation is lack of international perspective.
Lazarus places environmental laws in broader context, drawing on history and an extraordinaryvariety of cultural, scientific, and political details to make candid generalizations. This is unusual in a time of fragmentation and compartmentalization of U.S. academic research disciplines, as well as society,beginning in the 1960s.

Thus, for example, many textbooks on environmental policy and history and most environmental organizations tend to focus on the Scottish immigrant advocate of environmental preservation, John Muir, and Theodore Roosevelt as U.S. environmental pioneers. In contrast,Lazarus points out George Perkins Marsh's 1864 book, "Man and Nature" as the groundbreaking study of the interaction of human society with ecology. Among other things,Lazarus notes the significance of public health awareness and advances around 1900, early "municipal efforts to control pollution", the municipal zoning movement, and the enactment by Congress of the Food and Drug Act, and Meat Inspection Act in 1906.

Lazarus' unquenchable curiosity nourishes his ability, found in a minority of scholars, to use concrete detail in ways that clarify the big picture, rather than letting it confuse or obfuscate. An example is citation of the effects of DDT to control malaria by public health workers in Borneo in the 1960s.The well-intentioned efforts of public health workers caused decimation of the lizard population when they ate DDT-contaminated food. This in turn decreased the local cat population that had been dependent on lizards for much of their diet. Reduction of the cat population led to an explosion of caterpillars that destroyed the thatched roofs, and rats that spread disease within the village. In short, the story illustrates the complexity and sensitivity of ecological relationships.

The author also offers probing and significant detail on political interactions relating to environmental policy. He cites President Nixon's order to his staff to "get his administration out front on the environment" in 1969 and 1970,and the Nixon Administration's early initiatives. He also notes that in time Nixon cooled on environmental action, "becoming convinced that environmentalists were running amok".

Lazarus points out in his introduction that the 1970s environmental laws were "enormously radical" , and that in spite of intense and continuing reform efforts, these laws continue to dominate the U.S. environmental management system. He is mindful of some of the problems with current environmental law, including its patchwork nature and objections by business and other groups. However, he embraces the necessity of centralized command & control law and decries the paralysis in extension of lawmaking. Based on my own historical research (that gained valuable material from Lazarus's book) and comparisons with EU policy*,I believe the book overlooks important issues that have come into ever sharper focus since the publication of Lazarus's work.

Most important is the fact that the U.S. system remains dominated by an outdated system of labyrinthine laws enacted in response to an atmosphere of crisis more than 35 years ago. They were based on assumptions that the greatest threat to the environment came from industry, and that economic forces would overrun federal regulators if not checked. The response not only created an adversarial, rigid framework of law and regulation selectively applicable to manufacturing,other industry, and activities involving land use. The key laws gave exclusive legal standing to environmental protection (excluding economic or other values), empowered citizen enforcement, and transferred leadership roles in environmental management from professional agencies to Congress and civil courts. This politicized system is unique among advanced nations. It not only created a rift in U.S. society, but fostered subsequent hemmhoraging of U.S. manufacturing and industry, decay of infrastructure (which inevitably involves land use), and hamstrung attempts at innovation in environmental management (except in the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments). Regulatory problems are now increasingly recognized as barriers to renewable energy development.

*Manheim, The Conflict over Environmental Regulation in the United States, 2009

The Road to Protection
Here, Richard J. Lazarus has delivered a very unique look at the history of environmental law from an evolutionary or holistic perspective. This book will be a valuable resource for anyone looking for an in-depth look at environmental law as a field, but without the need for tedious policy descriptions or scientific minutiae. Lazarus covers the social and political history of environmental thought and how those phenomena shaped American environmental law as we know it. Lazarus also offers rewarding coverage of the challenges faced by concerned lawmakers in a legal system that resists long-term regulatory schemes, redistributions of costs and benefits, and scientific uncertainty. He also shows how environmental law needs to remain both heavily detailed and flexibly dynamic as the natural world and knowledge about it change over time.

This holistic approach to the law is fascinating and highly insightful, but just watch out for Part III in which Lazarus adds too much unnecessary supporting material on technical specifications (Chapter 8); and derails his unique legal history with unenlightening condemnations of American consumerism and high-speed lifestyles, complete with fairly bizarre complaints about sped-up baseball games, pre-faded jeans, and internet dating services. The tail end of the book is also stretched out with many repeated points and brief introductions of post-modern concepts like "convergence" that Lazarus fails to completely explore. But overall, despite the problematic third part of the book, Lazarus has delivered a unique summary and insightful overview of a complex topic that will be of use to both concerned citizens and researchers in a variety of disciplines. [~doomsdayer520~] ... Read more

Product Description
Written for anyone who carries a knife, including travelers, hunters, fishermen, and those who carry pocket knives, Knife Laws of the Fifty States -- A Guide for the Law-Abiding Traveler covers the knife laws of all fifty states and the District of Columbia, and discusses the legal status of open carry, concealed carry, and off-limits locations for knife carry for a wide variety of knives, from folding pocket knives to fixed blades (including dirks, daggers, and stilettos) to automatics and balisongs.Both excerpts of relevant statutes and capsule summaries of knife-related case law are included for each state.In addition, the book covers municipal knife ordinances and regulations, which tend to be more restrictive than state law, for most major cities, including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Las Vegas, Denver, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Atlanta and many others. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Knife Laws of the Fifty States
Marginal utility. Other than the general overview, there were just two and a half pages covering California (plus bit more listing legal cases).

Must-Have Book on Knive Carry
If you carry anything larger than a Swiss Army Knife on your keychain, you need this book.Mr. David Wong, the author, clearly explains the knife laws of each of the fifty states.Mr. Wong's style makes easy reading of what you need to know before your carry a knife.Anyone who has ever attempted to decipher state knife laws knows how confusing they can be.Buy Mr. Wong's book.

Comprehensive
If you own a knife and like to carry it, get this book and find out what you can and cannot do in each state. It just might keep you out of jail.

Becoming an educated traveler
I travel to and through many different states every week for work. I have carried a pocket knife daily for 35 years. Recently I learned from a co-worker that his pocket knife (3" lock blade) was confiscated by a police officer in Boston, MA. Although it was concealed in his pocket, the officer saw its print and asked him to hand it over. With this fresh reminder of the existence of knife laws, I spent hours reading through whatever I could find (and decipher) from the Internet on my home state and MA. Although I found some of the laws, there was the nagging thought that maybe there was more, or that I was misunderstanding what I was reading. With my intense schedule, it was also an overwhelming thought to dig up the laws of all of the states I travel through on a weekly basis.

As an aid in my pursuit to be a law abiding knife owner, I ordered this book. Within an hour of receiving it I read sections 1-6 (introduction and basic concepts and facts concerning legal knife carry), and the sections on all of the states I travel through weekly.

It was both comforting and disturbing to gain a clear understanding of the wide variety of state laws pertaining to knife carry. Although I came away from that session wondering if I could get in trouble for carrying a simple folding pocket knife in some states, it was empowering to have Mr. Wong's concise assessment of each state's knife carry laws.

Referencing this book before any travel to/through other states is making me a much more educated traveler. Although this knowledge is compelling me to leave the knife home on certain trips (for the first time in my life), it is also reducing my likelihood of getting in trouble with the law. My co-worker lost his knife to a Boston police officer, but he could have gotten jail time because his knife exceeded Boston's 2 ½" blade limit!

Mr. Wong is an attorney who has traveled extensively within the USA. He is doing a wonderful service to law abiding knife carrying travelers to share his knowledge with us through this very reasonably priced book!

Knife Laws
I have been carrying a pocket knife for over... well let's just say a very long time. It is becoming increasingly common for states to limit the type of knives we can carry in public. Knife Laws open with a broad discussion of the issue and follows up with a clear, reference style, list of the restrictions of the various states. I found both sections worthwhile.

Knife Laws has made a nice complement to my others books on knife art, value, construction. ... Read more

Product Description
This Nineteenth Edition references all regulatory changes made in the last two years and provides legal insight into understanding the requirements of the environmental laws. It examines all of the issues and changes that have arisen since the publication of the Nineteenth Edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A must for anyone working in environmental cleanup responses
I work for the Federal Government in the Oil Spill response funding field, and this book is a great reference.I particularly like how the book cites case law that helps me figure out how our regulations ended up being the way they are.

I also like that the book is pretty straight to the point on the topics it covers.If I remember well, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 was explained in 100 pages or less.Some of you may think this is a lot, but it isnt.

I always buy the newest edition to ensure that I am up-to-date regarding case law.

Good Book
So far the book has proved to be very helpful in my Environmental Law class.Though the chapters where it is simply listing the law are not particularly interesting, the case studies are often very helpful.

Essential
This handbook is an essential tool to anyone in the environmental field.There are always new additions, so having a recent copy helps but it's not necessary since the environmental laws don't change that much.I would recommend getting a newer edition when a major law has passed so that the reader can understand the impact the new law will have on their community.A copy can usually be found at either the public library or a law library but there is SO MUCH information packed into this book that I highly recommend having your own copy so you can hi-light the text and bookmark the important sections that apply to your business.

Leilani

Excellent
I am very blessed to have gotten it in the nick of time. I had time to read some of the book before my classes started.

"Must-Have" resource!
This Environmental Law Handbook has proven to be an invaluable resource to me as an environmental mediator and public involvement specialist.I use it constantly so that I can be technically sharp at work.It's dry reading, but very valuable!Paired with the Consensus Building Handbook by Susskind et al, it is the core of any environmental and public policy specialist. ... Read more

Product Description
This comprehensive, current examination of U.S. law as it relates to global climate change begins with a summary of the factual and scientific background of climate change based on governmental statistics and other official sources. Subsequent chapters address the international and national frameworks of climate change law, including the Kyoto Protocol, state programs affected in the absence of a mandatory federal program, issues of disclosure and corporate governance, and the insurance industry. Also covered are the legal aspects of other efforts, including voluntary programs, emissions trading programs, and carbon sequestration. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good synopsis
Very good overview-level synopsis of the legal landscape as it shapes regulation of greenhouse gases in the U.S.Unfortunately, it was published just before the 2007 Massachusetts decision, so it does not address these implications directly.

Global warming hype meets environmental ambulance chasers
The premises of this volume rest upon the intellectual and scientific quicksand which underlies the entire phenomenon of "global warming" hysteria. Like the vast majority of those who have jumped onto the "global warming" bandwagon, the editor and contributors to this volume bring no scientific expertise to the project, being content to blindly accept the extreme hypotheses of some scientists on the federal grant gravy train and run with them. But this will make little difference to those lawyers who are looking for new avenues in which to peddle their "services," just as they sign up for the latest specialized conferences on Vioxx litigation and the like. Cap and trade, however, will provide a virtual goldmine to litigation-happy lawyers for years to come as it drives a stake into the heart of the American economy. It will, in its dire effects, constitute the most far-reaching, and totally unecessary, case of economic masochism in American history.

Nevertheless, it's astounding what a negligible increase of 0.8 degrees Celsius in the world's temperature over the past 150 years, coming at the end of the Little Ice Age, will do to fuel the collective, and collectivist, mindset among the nations and citizens of the world.These temperatures have variously risen and fallen for eons. Indeed, some of the most highly qualified climate scientists have painstakingly documented the existence of a 1,500-year climate cycle over the entire globe. In a monumental 1983 study of mile deep Greenland ice core samples by Denmark's Willi Dansgaard and Switzerland's Hans Oeschger (results confirmed a few years later on Antarctica, and by scores of proxy studies) revealed a 250,000-year world climate history which reflected the moderate climate cycles of the sun.What characterizes the present era, however, is a lot of bad science anxious to tap unlimited sources of government funding for climate research, a gullible media, quasi-religious environmental organizations, and the nefarious influence of politics upon the scientific enterprise. The fruits of that "research" include Michael Mann's now thoroughly debunked "hockey stick" representation of the most recent 1,000 years of climate history, which, nevertheless, became a prominent feature of Al Gore's global warming sideshow, and which finds naïve acceptance by the editor of this volume (see Figure 1-1). The "presentist" mindset, which interprets the current climate experience as a unique and threatening phenomenon, reveals a sorry lack of historical perspective. Most significantly, the carefully documented climate record reveals that temperatures were 2-4 degrees higher in the medieval warm period (900-1300 A.D.) than they are today, when CO2 levels are higher, and that CO2 levels are actually an 800-year lagging indicator of global warming, not a causal factor.Many of the scientists who contributed to the 1996 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) documented these findings, concluding that no such "human fingerprint" had been found in the recent global warming, but their statements were shockingly removed from Chapter 8 of the IPCC's 1996 report by U.N. bureaucrats and U.S. politicians in the Clinton administration anxious to manufacture "consensus" regarding anthropogenic global warming.This is the context in which books like the Global Climate Change and U.S. Law are produced.Regardless of the flawed presentation of the science presented in this volume, however, lawyers stand to make a good living off the complex legal and regulatory schemes detailed in this book, including the implementation of an elaborate system of emission cap and trade programs, as well as the more benign efforts to conserve energy, and develop renewable energy sources.

Building upon this flawed scientific analysis, Part I of this volume describes the national and international framework of climate change regulation, the impact of the Kyoto Protocol on U.S. business, clean air regulation, civil remedies, climate change in facility permitting, and international trade and development. Part II describes the emerging regional, state and local actions, together with a 50-state survey of state responses to climate change. Part III examines a variety of corporate actions, including disclosure issues, fiduciary duties, insurance and climate change, and subsidies, tax policy and technological innovations. Part IV examines the legal aspects of efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, such as voluntary efforts, emissions trading, and carbon sequestration. It also includes a list of important resources, a glossary of climate-related terms, a list of acronyms; endnotes, and index. Twenty-four authors contributed to this volume under the editorship of Michael Garrard, a partner in the New York office of Arnold & Porter LLP, where he heads its environmental practice group. The views of the individual authors stand alone, irrespective of the views of the other contributors.

For more authoritative and balanced views of the science of global climate, see Fred Singer and Dennis Avery's Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007); Lawrence Solomon's "The Deniers" (Richard Vigilante Books, 2008);" Iain Murray's "The Really Inconvenient Truths" (Regnery, 2008); Roy Spencer's "Climate Confusion" (Encounter Books, 2008); and Henrik Svensmark and Nigel Calder's The Chilling Stars: A New Theory of Climate Change (Icon Books, 2007), which argues that the interplay of clouds, the sun, and cosmic rays has a far more profound effect of climate than carbon dioxide.Readers are also directed to Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas' metanalysis of studies related to the existence of the climate cycle, the Medieval Warming Period, and Little Ice Age (see "Reconstructing Climatic and EnvironmentalChanges of the Past 1000 Years: A Reappraisal," Energy and Environment 14, no. 2/3 (March 2003), 233-296.They discovered 112 studies about the Medieval Warming Period, 92% of which showed evidence of warming, 124 studies from around the world addressing the existence of the Little Ice Age, 98% of these confirming the era's cooling.Finally, they examined 102 studies containing information on the question of whether the 20th century was the warmest on record, 78% of which found earlier periods lasting at least 50 years that were warmer than any period in the 20th century.

Ironically, despite all the hoopla about "global warming" or, as it isincreasingly called as temperatures have fallen, "climate change," global mean temperatures are now at roughly their 3,000-year average.

The EPA, led by Lisa Jackson and its socialist "global warming" czarina Carol Browner,has now declared carbon dioxide to be a "pollutant."This is surely the most scientifically unfounded decision and the most damaging to our economy and freedom in the history of that agency. And, if implemented, it will rank with the banning of DDT as the most deadly action every perpertated by the U.S. government on the world's poor.But that won't stand in the way of thousands of lawyers trying to make a buck off their, and our, misery.

**Since this review was written, the so-called "Climategate" scandal has implicated the Hadley Centre's Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in the UK, a leading source for the U.N.'s climate data, in an orchestrated effort to fudge climate data and impugn the integrity and publication efforts of those who fail to toe the alarmist line.Among those exposed by more than a thousand e-mails were the Center's director Phil Jones, and Michael Mann, author of the infamoushockey stick graph.As a result of the fallout, many scientists have admitted a much higher degree of uncertainty in the climate record than previously acknowledged.Thus, this review, which was written before the scandal erupted, has been largelyvindicated by subsequent events; and public concern for the alleged threat of "global warming" or "climate change", has declined significantly. ... Read more

Product Description
CONTENTS:ForewordPrefaceThe OriginsThe Evolution of the Concept of Piracy in EnglandThe United States of America and the Law of PiracyBritish Practice in the Nineteenth Century"Piracy" in the Twentieth CenturyAppendicesAbbreviationsBibliographyIndexIndex of CasesProfessor Alfred P. Rubin of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University, the author of this volume, has contributed a work of exceptional scholarship that will long be regarded as an authoritative reference material not only with respect to the law of piracy, but to the whole of international law.Professor Rubin's work is considered to be informative, comprehensive, and provocative.Ronald J. KurthRear Admiral, U.S. NavyPresident, Naval War College ... Read more

Product Description

Conflict of Laws, the fourth edition of Abla Mayss' Principles of Conflict of Laws, continues to provide students with a comprehensive overview of the rules of private international law in an easily accessible manner. Fully updated and revised, this edition includes lists of further reading and web addresses to facilitate a greater depth of understanding and analysis.

Key issues covered in this edition include:

• issues raised by e-commerce and litigation relating to internet defamation
• the provisions and impact of the Brussels I Regulation and the revised Brussels II Regulation
• conflict of laws rules as they relate to children
• changes in the context of the European Community.

Written with students in mind, each chapter provides guidance on issues which would merit further consideration, encouraging readers to reflect on what they have learnt. Well-written and up to date, this clearly-structured text is ideal for both undergraduates and postgraduates studying private international law.

Product Description
The classic survival guide to one of the toughest academic challenges you’ll ever face—first - year law… Slaying the Law School Dragon Second Edition First-year law classes are notoriously competitive and the pressure to excel is intense. Yet, each year, nearly 50,000 students willingly subject themselves to that ordeal. Written by a graduate of New York University Law School who went on to become a California Deputy Attorney General, Slaying the Law School Dragon gives law students precisely the brand of no-nonsense, practical advice they need to overcome the obstacles and pitfalls that can trip them up in their first year. While preparing students for all the intellectual rigors of law school, this witty, at times irreverent guide also steels them against the emotional demands placed on first-year students by professors’ attempts to intimidate and appraise them. In Slaying the Law School Dragon, readers will find invaluable tips on how to prepare in advance of the first day of classes; how to study effectively for class; how to prepare for exams; how to put together a brief; how to compose an argument; as well as overview chapters on first-year law courses. Offering the kinds of insights and advice that most students learn the hard way, Slaying the Law School Dragon gives students an indispensable competitive edge. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Informative - but in a different way.
Let me begin this stellar review by noting: if you are looking for a book that gives you step-by-step advice and ideas on how to get through law school successfully, step-by-step then DO NOT buy this book.Go out and buy "Law School Confidential" - which will give you the low down on everything.

HOWEVER, if you've already bought your step-by-step books, but would like to get the big picture on law school, law practice and the history of law...BUY THIS BOOK.I've already done the shopping and read the books that are informative and quick.But in the back of my mind, fresh with the knowledge of how hard I'm going to work my first year, I've been wondering if I got the interest to go at this whole-heartedly (or do I just want to make money?)Call me a dork, but I loved the attention this author placed on the history of law, coming from the Common Law of England and citing cute little stories about punishing lawyers for writing too long of briefs or knights jousting to settle a case.Roth gives great attention to the extra-mile on how to go about legal research, studying for the bar and life after law school.I admit he doesn't dwell much on how to study, but rather gives a summary on each first year subject, he mentioned NOTHING on the Law Review, but suggests getting practice on writing briefs by involving yourself in Moot Court, and he has one chapter with the misleading title of "How to Study for Exams" although he pretty much talks about the Bar.And I'm not sure that you study the same for the Bar as for exams.

But at the risk of sounding uppity, I feel if you cannot appreciate the insight, advice and information that this book has to offer - then you don't have a genuine interest in law itself.I was hesistant about this book after reading everyone else's ... review - BUT AM NOW VERY GLAD THAT I BOUGHT IT.This makes me more excited about law school than any other book I read (which usually made me scared to death)And this book does offer some little tidbits and know-how of what to do when beginning law school - provided you are devoted enough to your studies to do this.This book goes beyond 'going to law school - here's how to do well and get a high paying job at a big firm and buy a yacht and a million dollar home', this book is talking about pure interest people, and devotion to your work.If you aren't willing to put forth such effort as he suggests than I question if you heart is in it.But hey, your heart doesn't have to be into Law in order to excel at it, it's just kinda nice to have happen.

Useful and Informative
This book was right on the money when it came to what I should expect frommy first year of law school.If you are disciplined and willing to makethe effort to succeed, then the tips that the book gives will prove veryuseful.If you are not willing to make the efort, then do not buy the bookbecause you will need more than a simple book to do well in school.

This book provides very few useful tips
The law school I attend suggested books to read before attending the first day of class.This wasn't one of them.I now know why.

The book provides very few (and I mean few) useful tips for first year. The tips itdoes provide are pretty useless.You will have enough to do in law schoolwithout attempting the strategies he suggests. I'll give you four tips ifyou are attending law school in the near future (for free): 1)Buy studyguides geared to the text the teacher uses(emanuel's, blonde's, etc.) 2)Getinto a good study group 3)Study 4)Get outlines from second years 5)Don'tbuy this book.

Excellent summary of what to expect in law school.
I enjoyed the presentation of topics in the book. It includes some helpful tips on how to prepare for a rigorous course of classes.

To each, their own
Before leaving for law school, I thought it was necessary to check out every "surving your first year" book on the market(By the way there are a million). After completing my first year, I have come to the conclusion that none of them give you a real picture of the first year. The suggestions offered by this book and many others may work for a discreet few but every law school experience is unique. It may be far more helpful to talk to other law students about thier first year. If you are considering law school, and feel you must buy something to calm your nerves, then this book is appropriate. However, because you are considering law school, my guess is you already know how to succeed. ... Read more

Product Description
Throughout America’s history, our laws have been a reflection of who we are, of what we value, of who has control. They embody our society’s genetic code. In the masterful hands of the subject’s greatest living historian, the story of the evolution of our laws serves to lay bare the deciding struggles over power and justice that have shaped this country from its birth pangs to the present. Law in America is a supreme example of the historian’s art, its brevity a testament to the great elegance and wit of its composition.


From the Hardcover edition.Amazon.com Review
Although, in the eyes of many, the law "moves slowly and sluggishly" behind society's advances, Lawrence M. Friedman, in Law in America, a historical overview from colonial times to the present, posits that this is an "illusion." As surely as culture creates law, law creates culture. The American legal system--a bubbling mélange of common ("judge-made") and civil (derived from codes) law--is a "complicated beast," born of thousands of political entities. Originally a "crude and stripped down" descendant of English law, American law in the 19th century was often an instrument of "economic promotion." In the 20th century, with the rise of a national economy, an evermore heterogeneous population, waning federalism, and the rise of what Friedman calls the "administrative-welfare state," the law daily reached further, into the jurisdiction of civil rights of all stripes, product liability, malpractice, and environmental and antitrust considerations. Friedman's chapters on the colonial period and family law are strong, while his look at the contemporary legal climate drifts toward a general discussion of political and social mores. --H. O'Billovich ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Intro law book, a great read
Needed this for class and is well written and easy to relate to the real world. A great buy for any one interested in basic principles and hisotry of law in America.

An excellent first read on law in the US.
This book provides a comprehensive summary of the development of law and legal institutions of the US in anamazingly concise manner. Prof. Freidman even manages to offer synthesis and pespective /albeit a bit cynically/ in a compelling conclusion. My only unmet hopes from the book were a deeper comparison of legal systems outside English commom law and treatment of antitrust.

Excellent intro to subject
I am a newcomer to this subject and found Prof. Friedman's book informative and approachable. Prior to this, I found reading about law pretty dry and boring compared to science (my usual preference), but this book managed to hold my interest from beginning to end. Taking a historical approach, Prof. Friedman shows how the law reflected changing social conditions and priorities as America evolved from a primitive, farming-based colony to a thriving industrial state. Overall this is a readable and interesting introduction to this important subject.

A nice introduction
I am a lawyer working in Australia. I am planning to do more law study in the US later this year, and read this book on the recommendation of a professor. While a section of the book after the introduction is a little straight-forward and essentially like revision for someone familiar with the common law, the book then moves into a very accessible and engaging introduction to some major ideas, landmarks and (more or less) large-scale developments in American law. As such, it was a very useful guide to a lawyer with no real knowledge of American legal history. A nice, quick introduction which would enable the reader to delve deeper subsequently in some of the issues the book discusses.

very well done...relevant and interesting
It is remarkable that Friedman can cover so much in such a short book, and he does it with great clarity.Moreover he excels in helping the reader feel connected to the material, making it seem more relevant and interesting.I've wanted to read the thicker Friedman book: A History of American Law, for years now, but have never gotten around to it. This much shorter book is something that can be read and easily digested in just a few days, and it has given me the increased motivation I've needed to commit to diving into Friedman's fatter history of law, as well as his similarly portly history of 20th century American law.This small volume is highly recommended as an introduction to a very engaging writer who has an admirable and extensive talent for clearly explaining the workings of our legal system and its history. ... Read more

Product Description
Roman Law and Common Law was first published in 1936. The second edition, entirely reset, revised throughout and supplemented by Professor F. H. Lawson, Fellow of Brasenose College and Professor of Comparative Law in the University of Oxford, appeared in 1952. This was done at the suggestion of Lord McNair, who read the revised copy. Professor Lawson's work of revision was extensive and touches every part of the book. In 1965 many small corrections were made. The book remains in this edition a 'comparison in outline'. It does not set out to be a comprehensive statement of Roman Law and Common Law comparatively treated, or a comparative study of legal methods. It is concerned rather with the fundamental rules and institutions of the two systems, and examines the independent approaches of the two peoples and their lawyers to the same facts of human life. ... Read more

Product Description
This book treats problems in the epistemology of the law.Beginning with the premise that the principal function of a criminal trial is to find out the truth about a crime, Larry Laudan examines the rules of evidence and procedure that would be appropriate if the discovery of the truth were, as higher courts routinely claim, the overriding aim of the criminal justice system.Laudan mounts a systematic critique of existing rules and procedures that are obstacles to that quest. He also examines issues of error distribution by offering the first integrated analysis of the various mechanisms-the standard of proof, the benefit of the doubt, the presumption of innocence and the burden of proof-for implementing society's view about the relative importance of the errors that can occur in a trial. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Truth, Justice, and the American Way?
The Supreme Court, in Nix v. Whiteside, 374 U.S. 157, 158 (1986), solemnly intoned that "The very nature of a [criminal] trial [is] a search for truth," and this sentiment has been echoed by lower courts. For example, both People v. Santorelli, 5 N.Y.2d 412, 420-421, 41 N.E.2d 493, 497 (N.Y. 2000), and Floyd v. State, 902 So.2d 775, 778 (Fla. 2005), speak of "the search for truth in criminal cases."

Laudan begins with this premise and explores how well the American criminal justice system does the job of searching for truth.His verdict?Not very well.As Laudan dissects our criminal justice system, he demonstrates that it is driven by numerous considerations which have nothing whatsoever to do with discovery of the truth and which actually impede the determination of truth.As Laudan sees things, the system is in dire need of repair, and in the closing chapter he makes some modest suggestions for improving it.

I think it highly unlikely that any of Laudan's suggestions will ever be implemented, but I do believe his critique is one which everyone involved in criminal justice should seriously consider. If this were to happen, we might possibly prevent further erosion of our ability to determine truth in criminal trials.



... Read more