The Life of the Law: The People and Cases that Have Shaped Our Society, from King Alfred to Rodney KingOxford University Press, 1998 - 278 pages Law is intended to apply to common life and should be comprehensible to ordinary folk, but increasingly, it is not. The meaning of the law is becoming inaccessible, not only to the public but to the bar itself. In The Life of the Law, Alfred H. Knight outlines how some of the main contours of American law came to be as he recounts twenty-one stories beginning with Alfred the Great in the late ninth century and ending with the Rodney King trials in 1993. Knight gives us a veritable "biography" of our legal tradition by focusing on the key individuals, and the pivotal cases that have helped to mold the law as we know it today. The Life of the Law finds a riveting story behind each historic decision and recounts the tales with both narrative flair and ironic wit. The law is a living organism, constantly changing as new cases are decided, building on and modifying decisions that went before. Every case, no matter how lofty the principles involved, represents a human drama, a clash of competing desires. Alfred Knight's reflections on how twenty-one of these cases have left their mark on our society will inform and fascinate anyone interested in the law. |
Contents
INTRODUCTION | 1 |
NATIONALIZING ENGLISH JUSTICE Late Ninth Century | 7 |
THE RULE OF LAW 1215 | 16 |
THE BAR IS BORN 1291 | 26 |
BINDING PRECEDENT 1454 | 33 |
MAN AGAINST THE STATE 1535 | 49 |
THE RIGHT TO CONFRONT ACCUSERS 1603 | 62 |
JUDICIAL REVIEW 1610 | 71 |
THE BILL OF RIGHTS 1791 | 126 |
CONSTRUCTIVE TREASON 1807 | 137 |
EQUALITY AS LAW 1853 | 152 |
UNREASONABLE SEARCHES AND SEIZURES CONTINUED 1886 | 163 |
THE RIGHT OF PRIVACY 1890 | 176 |
THE RIGHT TO COUNSEL 1942 | 198 |
EQUALITY AS LAW CONTINUED 1954 | 216 |
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS CONTINUED 1964 | 228 |
THE PRIVILEGE AGAINST SELFINCRIMINATION 1649 | 89 |
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS 1735 | 100 |
UNREASONABLE SEARCHES AND SEIZURES 176165 | 115 |
TRIAL BY JURY 1993 | 243 |
Epilogue | 259 |
Other editions - View all
The Life of the Law: The People and Cases that Have Shaped Our Society, from ... Alfred H. Knight No preview available - 1996 |
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