Legal History Books - Page 2

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: 23 new & used starting at $30.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> General AAS
Subjects -> Law -> Legal History -> General
Subjects -> Law -> Legal History -> General AAS

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.

Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Sharia Law

Nonie Darwish

Amazon Price: $16.49 List Price: $24.99 Not yet published By: Thomas Nelson

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> World -> Islamic
Subjects -> Law -> Legal History -> Islamic
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Politics -> Human Rights

Editorial Review:

Cruel and Usual Punishment is a wake up call to the Western world.

Nonie Darwish presents an insider's look at Sharia and examines how radical Muslim laws are destroying the Western world from within. Living under Sharia law for the first thirty years of her life,a virtual slave to Islamic law, Darwish never questioned or challenged her rights--or dared to even think about the validity of Sharia laws. She didn't try to examine what Sharia was, how it came about or why she followed it. "This is Allah's law," she was told, and she knew what awaited those who questioned Allah's law.

But she doesn't believe the lies anymore, and now she wants to share her experiences with the Western world. Cruel and Usual Punishment is an insider's look at how Muslims sacrifice their basic human rights to obey the archaic and brutal laws handed down to their prophet centuries ago.

Heed this warning: Sharia Law is attempting to infiltrate Western culture and destroy democracy.

American Legal History: Cases and Materials

Kermit L. Hall, William M. Wiecek, Paul Finkelman

List Price: $79.00 By: Oxford University Press, USA Amazon Marketplace: 8 new & used starting at $46.93

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> General
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> General AAS
Subjects -> Law -> Legal History -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Approaching American legal history from a new perspective, this text employs cases and other legal documents to reveal the law's underlying culture. American Legal History provides a comprehensive selection of the most important documents--well over 170--which integrate the history of public and private law from America's colonial origins to the present. It devotes special attention to the interaction of social and legal change, shows how legal ideas developed in tandem with specific historical events, and reveals a rich legal culture unique to America. Introductions and explanations accompany each document, tying legal developments to broader historical themes and providing a social and political context essential to an understanding of the history of law in America. Offering a thorough examination of both public and private law, American Legal History is essential for students and teachers of constitutional and legal history, the judicial process, and the effects of law on society.

Law in America: A Short History (Modern Library Chronicles)

Lawrence M. Friedman

Amazon Price: $19.95 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Modern Library Amazon Marketplace: 38 new & used starting at $1.79

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> General
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> General AAS
Subjects -> Law -> Legal History -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

succinct 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

A brilliant survey of American legal history. Be advised that this edition seems to be an abridged version of two greater Lawrence Friedman works, A History of American Law and American Law in the 20th Century and if you're at all intrigued with this kind of work, or if this edition intrigues you, I do highly recommend those volumes.

This particular work is the kind of book you might want to send to family members curious about why you're going/have gone to law school, particularly as Mr. Friedman's prose is clear and quite readable, and won't intimidate people who are new to the law. A good sampler indeed.

Editorial Review:

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.

The Case of Abraham Lincoln: A Story of Adultery, Murder, and the Making of a Great President

Julie M. Fenster

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Not yet published By: Palgrave Macmillan

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Historical -> United States -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Historical -> United States -> General AAS
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Leaders & Notable People -> Presidents & Heads of State

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Frustrating 3 out of 5 stars.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful.

When I bought this book, I wanted so much to like it. The author is from Upstate New York (where I am from originally) and the book purports to be about Lincoln and his representation of a client charged with murder. However, come to find out that Lincoln's involvement in this homicide case was merely peripheral. In fact, as another reviewer pointed out, Mr. Lincoln first gets involved in the case around page 200. Unfortunately, the publisher's marketing department knew that a sub-title of "The Story of Adultery, Murder, and the Making of a Great President" would sell more then "Lincoln, The Know-Nothings and the Anti-Nebraska Party." When Ms. Fenster describes the details involving the murder and the subsequent legal proceedings, the narrative flow is very smooth, but without any break in the narrative, she then goes on to discuss a minor will settlement that Lincoln handled. This made for a very difficult read, especially when the reader thinks Ms. Fenster is going to write about the murder trial, but instead interminably goes on about the birth of the Republican Party in Illinois. However, overall a good micro-study of not only Mr. Lincoln, but also the burgeoning state of Illinois in mid-19th century America.

Editorial Review:

In 1856, Abraham Lincoln was at a personal crossroads. Often despondent, he had grown bored with his work as a lawyer. He was beginning to see himself as just a former Congressman, without much of a future in politics. Later that year,  the gruesome murder of a Springfield blacksmith provided the case that defined Lincoln's legal career. The string of lurid revelations that followed the crime became front page news across the country, putting Lincoln back in the national spotlight. The Anderson case reflected the spirit of the times: an inescapable, dark world, hidden within the optimism and innocence of the young city of Springfield. With the Anderson murder, Lincoln's legal skills as a defender were challenged as never before and he was finally able to prove himself as a man with a great destiny.

The Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims

Amazon Price: $17.81 List Price: $26.98 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Prometheus Books Amazon Marketplace: 52 new & used starting at $12.41

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> World -> Islamic
Subjects -> Law -> Legal History -> Islamic
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Islam -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 46 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

17 years in Islamic lands 5 out of 5 stars.
16 of 16 people found this review helpful.

I have spent 17 years working in Countries were Islam is the dominant religion. What this book points out is sad but true. If you are a not a Muslim in an Islamic nation you have no rights. In Saudi Arabia Bibles are not allowed and confiscated. In Sudan you are killed. In Egypt you are a 3rd class citizen. THe Q'uran not only teaches this type of behavior but more and more it is being acted out upon those who dare disagree. We need more books like this one for sure.

Tolerance in Islam 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 14 people found this review helpful.

It is standard policy today to regard all religions as "saying the same thing" and being either all bad (Dawkins) or all sweetness-and-light (liberal Anglicanism). But, in fact, the religions of the world contradict each other in basic teachings and some (Islam in particular) have a nasty habit of persecuting those who disagree. The contrast between, for example, the prosecution of "apostasy" in countries under Sharia law and the free exercise of Islamic belief offered to Muslim adherents in Western countries is striking and sobering. Spencer's thoroughly documented book is a most valuable exposé of the inherently non-democratic nature of Islamic faith.

Editorial Review:

This hard-hitting and absorbing critique of Islamic teachings and practices regarding non-Muslim minorities exposes a significant human rights scandal that rarely receives any mention either in academic circles or in the mainstream press.

The Pastoral Companion: A Canon Law Handbook for Catholic Ministry

John M. Huels

List Price: $15.00 By: Franciscan Pr Amazon Marketplace: 4 new & used starting at $88.98

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Law -> Legal History -> Canon
Subjects -> Law -> General
Subjects -> Law -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Canon Law for Non-Canonist 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 11 people found this review helpful.

Intellectually, Fr. Huels is among the leading and most gifted canon lawyers currently living in North America. In this book, Fr Huels applies his canonical genius to the pastoral application of canon law. This book is not so much for the canonist, but for the non-canonist engaged in pastoral ministry. It teaches the basics of canon law, provides a handy glossary of canonical terms, and tells you when you are facing a canonical situation over your head and need to phone a canonist.

In particular, the non-Canonist will find Fr. Huels' treatment of marriage law handy. It outlines in what situations a dispensation is necessary, as well as in what circumstances a proposed marriage is invalid. It also provides a handy canonical reference to other common questions that arise around the celebration of the sacraments -- such as who can be a sponsor for baptism and confirmation.

I highly recommend this book to non-canonists engaged in pastoral ministry who are seeking a handy reference concerning how canon law applies in common pastoral situations.

50 Questions on the Natural Law: What It Is and Why We Need It

Charles E. Rice

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Ignatius Press Amazon Marketplace: 18 new & used starting at $8.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Law -> Legal History -> Theocratic
Subjects -> Law -> Perspectives on Law -> Natural Law
Subjects -> Law -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great intro to the Catholic View of the Natural Law 3 out of 5 stars.
18 of 20 people found this review helpful.

This book is a great introduction to how the Natural Law fits into Catholic philosophy.

The book is very well organized, with each question being independent of the other as much as possible without sacrificing relevance. The writing style is very good, the chronological orders of the questions are great, and the questions are common. Overall the book was great reading and the answers were good. I especially enjoyed Prof. Rice's talks about how the Catholic Church views man (as a relational creature), views the family in relation to the state, and her sexual ethics.

With all that said, there are some negatives that bring the book down from five stars to 3.5 stars. One negative being that this book was made more for the already Catholic who would like to know how the Natural Law fits into Catholic theology. It is much less a defense and understanding of the Natural law than it is an understanding of how the Natural law fits into Catholic philosophy, and certain Catholic teachings with regard to the natural law. When I received the book, I was looking more for a general understanding of the Natural Law, with emphasis on different schools of thought on the subject, and where they differ. I was also looking for systematic ways of applying the Natural Law in our everyday life. This was not given in much detail at all. The author relied too heavily on what the Catholic Church already teaches on certain topics, than on how I can arrive to that conclusion on my own reason. I would like to have seen the emphasis reversed. Because of the books strong reliance on Catholic teachings and presuppositions, anyone who is investigating the Natural Law as an alternative to the liberalism of today, and who doesn't have an already preconceived respect for the Catholic Church will not have a lot to gain from this book.

Another, and more important, negative is some sections are only introductory answers to very complex issues. Sometimes I would have liked the author to give other areas less attention and maybe concentrate more on more prevalent areas, especially areas where there is much more confusion and the Catholic Churches reasoning so strong. Areas like Contraception, Abortion, and even surrogate motherhood could have received more attention. Or at least recommended great books to read more on the subject. Authors like, Janet Smith, Peter Kreeft, and Fracis Beckwith each provide outstanding additions, and much more depth to many of the topics covered in this book. Yet Charles Rice does not recommend any of them. Now I can understand his desire to keep the answers general and succinct. I realize there are far too many important topics in this book to give each answer its due time. I just often wonder if a little more space for certain loaded questions would have been better.

I would just like to end with, if you are expecting how I characterized the book on my first comment, than this book is right for you. I couldn't recommend it more.

Shari'ah Law: An Introduction (One World (Oxford))

Mohammad Hashim Kamali

Amazon Price: $26.95 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Oneworld Publications Amazon Marketplace: 24 new & used starting at $22.95

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Law -> Legal History -> Islamic
Subjects -> Law -> General
Subjects -> Law -> General AAS

Editorial Review:

Providing a comprehensive and accessible examination of Shari'ah Law, this well considered introduction examines the sources, characteristic features and various schools of thought of a system often stereotyped for its severity in the West. Complete with a bibliography, glossary, and extensive index of Arabic quotations, this wide-ranging resource will prove an indispensable resource for Islamic students, and an informative guide to a complex topic for the general reader.

An Introduction to Canon Law

James A. Coriden

List Price: $16.95 By: Paulist Press Amazon Marketplace: 15 new & used starting at $1.84

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Law -> Legal History -> Canon
Subjects -> Law -> General
Subjects -> Law -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

This "Intro to CL a must have" 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This gives a quick, easy to understand, in a nutshell briefing on a difficult, legalized subject. It helps greatly. I recommend it to all students of the "Law" and future deacons like myself.

A Very Useful and Basically Balanced Introduction to Canon Law 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a very concise and helpful introduction to Canon Law. It is not easy to find many introductory books in English. This is probably, as far as American publications go, the best one out there.

It is an easy read and it would also be worth while to keep this book on one's shelf for reference. Considering the depth of the Code of Canon Law, Father Coriden was always to the point and quite balanced. Here and there you can perceive some of the ecclesiastical laws or matters that he takes issue with as well as a little bit of extra emphasis on the sections of the Code that deal with a subject that he is quite interested in: the various rights of the faithful. He has another book on this subject and is intent on emphasizing and writing about what he terms a "bill of rights" for the baptized. He also does things such as go out of his way only to refer to priests as "presbyters".

But again, for a handy introduction to Canon Law, this book has to be one of the best there is out there and I cannot imagine anyone who purchases it not being satisfied.

Editorial Review:

Canon law is the name given to the rules that govern church order and discipline of the Roman Catholic Church. This valuable book, which has been updated to reflect changes and adaptations in canon law and new resources in the field, offers an introductory orientation of all of canon law.

A superb teaching and learning tool, it provides outlines and overviews of relatively complex areas of canon law, sketches the basic structure and design of the various offices and functions within the church and how they relate to each other, and gives an orientation to the more important areas of canon law, as well as a background and context within which more detailed rules can be understood. Two appendices offer guidance for doing canonical research and case studies for further discussion.