Philosophy Books - Page 2

The Tempting of America

Robert H. Bork

By: Sinclair-Stevenson Ltd Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $15.48

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Read this book to understand the Supreme Court 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

In 1987, President Ronald Wilson Reagan nominated Judge Robert H. Bork to the United States Supreme Court. Leftist pressure groups immediate launched a strident attack on Judge Bork and his record, including such tactics as printing his video rental history in newspapers. The ensuing firestorm gave the American lexicon a new verb - to Bork.

In 1990, Robert Bork first published this book as an explanation of his judicial philosophy, attempting to clear his name. The book has three parts. The first part gives a history of the Supreme Court, showing how the use of judicial activism (judges ruling based on the biases of their own class, rather than on the wording of the Constitution) has been a part of the Court since the early days of the Republic. The second part of the book deals with various theories of Constitutional practice. And, the third part is Judge Bork's memoirs of his nomination battles.

Overall, even after all these years, I still found this to be a fascinating book. In particular, his history of judicial activism was highly enlightening.

What I couldn't help but wonder is how things have changed since this book came out in 1990. The recent firestorm of criticism of the Supreme Court's radical expansion of the power of eminent domain in the case of Kelo v. City of New London, have produced no great groundswell of support for reigning in the Court's activism. Indeed, after the initial criticism, most Americans accepted the new rules of eminent domain as the new law of the land. The activism of the Court was accepted.

So, was this a highly influential book? I suppose that only time will tell. But, I must say that as a history of the United States Supreme Court, and as an explanation of the theories of reasoning used by judicial thinkers, it is absolutely excellent. I loved this book and highly recommend it.

Editorial Review:

Judge Bork shares a personal account of the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on his nomination as well as his view on politics versus the law. 2 cassettes.

The Concept of Law (Clarendon Law Series)

H. L. A. Hart

Amazon Price: $43.15 List Price: $47.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Oxford University Press, USA Amazon Marketplace: 49 new & used starting at $22.23

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

First published in 1961, The Concept of Law is the most important and original work of legal philosophy written this century. It is considered the masterpiece of H.L.A. Hart's enormous contribution to the study of jurisprudence and legal philosophy. Its elegant language and balanced arguments have sparked wide debate and unprecedented growth in the quantity and quality of scholarship in this area--much of it devoted to attacking or defending Hart's theories. Principal among Hart's critics is renowned lawyer and political philosopher Ronald Dworkin who in the 1970s and 1980s mounted a series of challenges to Hart's The Concept of Law. It seemed that Hart let these challenges go unanswered. However, after his death in 1992, his answer to Dworkin's criticism was discovered among his papers.

In this valuable and long-awaited new edition Hart presents an Epilogue in which he answers Dworkin and some of his other most influential critics including Fuller and Finnis. Written with the same clarity and candor for which the first edition is famous, the Epilogue offers a sharper interpretation of Hart's own views, rebuffs the arguments of critics like Dworkin, and powerfully asserts that they have based their criticisms on a faulty understanding of Hart's work. Hart demonstrates that Dworkin's views are in fact strikingly similar to his own and in a final analysis, Hart's response leaves Dworkin's criticisms considerably weakened and his positions largely in question.

Containing Hart's final and powerful response to Dworkin in addition to the revised text of the original The Concept of Law, this thought-provoking and persuasively argued volume is essential reading for lawyers and philosophers throughout the world.

And Justice for Some: An Expose of the Lawyers and Judges Who Let Dangerous Criminals Go Free

Wendy Murphy

Amazon Price: $16.19 List Price: $19.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Tantor Media Amazon Marketplace: 14 new & used starting at $11.62

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Fascinating expose and how legal system needs reform! 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Wendy Murphy is a lawyer who represents victims of violent crime. She goes behind the scenes and shows us how defendants (criminals, the accused) are taken care of by the legal system more than their victims. In fact, often defense attorneys investigate victims and try to put the blame for the crime on them instead of where it belongs.

Since Ms. Murphy comes from a background of having prosecuted criminals, she is well acquainted with defense attorney tactics. She gives us valuable insight into such famous trials as O.J. Simpson's and Robert Blake's and how attorneys (defense and prosecuting) and judges all made mistakes.

Ms. Murphy not only goes into what's wrong with our system but also offers helpful suggestions should the reader ever end up as a victim in criminal or civil court. A well-researched and well-written book.

Highly recommended.

Valerie Matteson
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Editorial Review:

When Wendy Murphy was a young prosecutor, she learned that the deck is stacked in favor of criminal defendants. She has since made it her mission to help the victims who get the least protection from our twisted legal system. In And Justice for Some, she guides readers through one horror story after another about judges and lawyers who bend over backward to let the worst offenders go free.

May It Please the Court: Live Recordings and Transcripts of Landmark Oral Arguments Made Before the Supreme Court Since 1955 (with MP3 Audio CDs)

Amazon Price: $18.25 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: New Press Amazon Marketplace: 39 new & used starting at $15.13

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Now available with MP3 audio CDS: the bestselling book-and-audio set of Supreme Court oral arguments.

Until The New Press first published May It Please the Court in 1993, few Americans knew that every case argued before the Supreme Court since 1955 had been recorded. The original book-and-tape set was a revelation to readers and reviewers, quickly becoming a bestseller and garnering praise across the nation. William Safire, writing in the New York Times, called it "a fascinating, you-are-there experience...an ear to history in the making," and the Los Angeles Times Book Review dubbed it a "treasure trove."

Including both transcripts of the most significant cases argued before the Supreme Court and recordings of the oral arguments, May It Please the Court offers "a front-row seat in America's most powerful courtroom, where very, very few have had the opportunity to sit" (American Bar Association Journal ). This new edition of the original volume makes the recordings available for the first time in MP3 audio CDs.

The audio for this new edition is on MP3 compact discs. MP3 audio books on compact disc can be played on newer CD players that support MP3 technology and accept a standard-sized CD, and on any personal computer that has Apple's iTunes, Microsoft's Media Player or similar software.

Law and Judicial Duty

Philip Hamburger

Amazon Price: $35.96 List Price: $49.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Harvard University Press Amazon Marketplace: 24 new & used starting at $30.00

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Editorial Review:

Almost every day, a judge in the United States holds a statute unconstitutional. This power of the judges is known as “judicial review,” and it often seems the central feature of American constitutional law. The authority and scope of this power, however, have long remained unclear, and because historical accounts have tended to suggest that the judges themselves largely developed judicial review, the history has given credence to the view that judges enjoy considerable discretion over the extent and exercise of this power.

Law and Judicial Duty presents a very different history and a very different conception of the power of the judges. Drawing upon previously unexplored evidence, Philip Hamburger reveals the familiar notion of judicial review to be largely an illusion produced by modern assumptions, and he shows that what today is called “judicial review” was once understood more simply as part of the duty of judges to decide in accord with the law of the land. His book challenges many modern assumptions about the extent of judicial power, and by exploring judicial duty in its social context, the book raises sobering questions about the nature of law and the possibility of government under law.

Taking Rights Seriously

Ronald Dworkin

List Price: $37.20 By: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd Amazon Marketplace: 14 new & used starting at $17.13

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

What is law? What is it for? How should judges decide novel cases when the statutes and earlier decisions provide no clear answer? Do judges make up new law in such cases, or is there some higher law in which they discover the correct answer? Must everyone always obey the law? If not, when is a citizen morally free to disobey?

A renowned philosopher enters the debate surrounding these questions. Clearly and forcefully, Ronald Dworkin argues against the "ruling" theory in Anglo-American law-legal positivism and economic utilitarianism and asserts that individuals have legal rights beyond those explicitly laid down and that they have political and moral rights against the state that are prior to the welfare of the majority.

Mr. Dworkin criticizes in detail the legal positivists' theory of legal rights, particularly H. L. A. Hart's well-known version of it. He then develops a new theory of adjudication, and applies it to the central and politically important issue of cases in which the Supreme Court interprets and applies the Constitution. Through an analysis of Rawls's theory of justice, he argues that fundamental among political rights is the right of each individual to the equal respect and concern of those who govern him. He offers a theory of compliance with the law designed not simply to answer theoretical questions about civil disobedience, but to function as a guide for citizens and officials. Finally, Professor Dworkin considers the right to liberty, often thought to rival and even pre-empt the fundamental right to equality. He argues that distinct individual liberties do exist, but that they derive, not from some abstract right to liberty as such, but from the right to equal concern and respect itself. He thus denies that liberty and equality are conflicting ideals.

Ronald Dworkin's theory of law and the moral conception of individual rights that underlies it have already made him one of the most influential philosophers working in this area. This is the first publication of these ideas in book form.

The nature of the judicial process

Benjamin N Cardozo

By: Yale Univ. Pr Amazon Marketplace: 1 new & used starting at $17.50

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A classic text that remains relevant to judicial politics 5 out of 5 stars.
53 of 56 people found this review helpful.

This book reflects the profound intellect of one of the most highly regarded jurists in American history. Despite its age, Justice Cardozo's classic treatise provides insights into the "real" workings of the judicial decision making process that remain relevant to a modern analysis of American jurisprudence. His exploration of the motivations, ideals, and even prejudicies of judges serves to demystify this crucial aspect of the legal system. His insights into "legal realism" provide an appreciation of this judicial approach and offers an understanding of its underlying rationale, as well as an argument for its continued utility for modern jurists. Most importantly, he strives to make the judicial process comprehensible and, even, approachable to the non-practitioner of law, as well as law students, thus attempting to make public law, truly, "public."

Editorial Review:

In this legal classic, a former Associate Supreme Court Justice explains the conscious and unconscious processes by which a judge decides a case. In simple, understandable language, he discusses the ways rulings are guided and shaped by information, precedent and custom, and standards of justice and morals.

Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought)

Jurgen Habermas

Amazon Price: $34.68 List Price: $42.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: The MIT Press Amazon Marketplace: 29 new & used starting at $17.98

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Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

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"[A] fascinating synthesis of Continental and Anglo-American legal theory. . . full of interesting insights, acute criticisms, and striking passages." -- Richard A. Posner, The New Republic

In Between Facts and Norms Jürgen Habermas works out the legal and political implications of his Theory of Communicative Action (1981), bringing to fruition the project announced with his publication of The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere in 1962.

This new work is a major contribution to recent debates on the rule of law and the possibilities of democracy in postindustrial societies. It offers a sweeping, sociologically informed conceptualization of law and basic rights, a normative account of the rule of law and the constitutional state, an attempt to bridge normative and empirical approaches to democracy, and an account of the social context required for democracy. The work concludes with a bold proposal for a new paradigm of law that goes beyond the dichotomies that have afflicted modern political theory from its inception and that still underlie current controversies between so-called liberals and civic republicans.

Law, Legislation and Liberty: A New Statement of the Liberal Principles of Justice and Political Economy

F.A. Hayek

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Constitutional Political Economy 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 12 people found this review helpful.

In this third and final volume of Law, Liberty, and Legislation Hayek makes his case for a classical liberal constitutional order. True liberalism is the philosophy of free trade and association, and limited government. The modern corrupted version of liberalism stems from a host of fallacies and misconceptions. The Law Liberty and Legislation trilogy was intended to complete the case that Hayek made for classical liberalism in The Constitution of Liberty. This trilogy combines with the Constitution of Liberty to make a powerful case for strictly limited government and free enterprise. You should read The Constitution of Liberty before starting this trilogy, but be sure to read both.

I first became familiar with the ideas in this book in James Buchanan's class on Constitutional Political Economy. This was one of the more intruiging sections of this class. While this book has its critics, it derives from sound reasoning and plausible arguments. While the Law, Liberty, and Legislation trilogy is important in its own right, these books do not stand alone well. Welfare state liberals will find it naïve, even utopian. Hayek makes his case for the legal order of free markets without really explaining why free markets are superior to state controlled systems. Skeptics must refer to Hayek's "Individualism and Economic Order" to get a more detailed explanation of why free markets outperform government regulated systems. Better still, read "Human Action" by von Mises, if you can find the time to wade through it.

Editorial Review:

Combines all three volumes of Hayek's comprehensive study of the basic principles of the political order of free society: Rules and Order, The Mirage of Social Justice and The Political Order of a Free Society . 'A careful and brilliant statement of the conditions of human freedom. It is a major work of political and economic philosophy which sets terms that neither its friends or critics can ignore.' - THES

Procedures in the Justice System (9th Edition) (MyCrimeKit Series)

Cliff Roberson, Harvey Wallace, Gilbert Stuckey

Amazon Price: $97.92 List Price: $106.67 Not yet published By: Prentice Hall

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Excited and Surprised 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I was very surprised at the incredible condition of this book. I was hopeful, but it surpassed my expectations. Seller was on time and I am ready for classes. Thanks.

Editorial Review:

 This text covers the American criminal courts and judicial process using a sequential approach–following law violators from arrest to conviction and sentencing.  Each chapter examines the roles that law enforcement agencies, courts and correctional departments play in the process. Illustrations, court documents and cases help make procedures more real and concrete. Fully updated in this edition, the book features the latest on courtroom evidence, new Supreme Court decisions and more information on victims’ rights and programs.   For courses in Judicial Process, Criminal Courts, Criminal Procedure, Introduction to Courts, and Judicial Procedures and Practices.