American Legal History: Cases and Materials, 3rd edition

By Kermit L. Hall, James W. Ely Jr., William M. Wiecek, et al.

Book Overview

Revised and expanded in this third edition, American Legal History now features a new coauthor, James Ely, who is a specialist in the history of property rights. This highly acclaimed text provides a comprehensive selection of the most important documents in the field, which integrates the history of public and private law from America's colonial origins to the present. Devoting special attention to the interaction of social and legal change, it shows how legal ideas developed in tandem with specific historical events and reveals a rich legal culture unique to America. The book also deals with state and federal courts and looks at the relationship between the development of American society, politics, and economy, and how it relates to the evolution of American law. Introductions and instructive headnotes 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.
American Legal History, Third Edition, offers fresh material throughout and increased coverage of cases on such topics as slave law, politics, and terrorism. The authors have incorporated more cases dealing with minority rights, including Native American and Asian American rights, women's rights, and gender and gay rights. Two new chapters have been added to this edition: one on law and economics in modern America, including a discussion of the new federalism, and the other on law, politics, and terrorism, including a full discussion of the USA PATRIOT Act. The "since 1945" portion includes up-to-date material and current cases. The section on English background and colonial America has been expanded. In addition, there is new material on the most recent developments in American constitutional and legal history. Setting the legal challenges of the twenty-first century in a broad context, American Legal History, Third Edition, is an essential text for students and teachers of constitutional and legal history, the judicial process, and the effects of society on law.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195162250
• ISBN13: 9780195162257
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 736 Pages
• Weight: 2.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.6" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Great survey of American law

I read this for a class and in all honesty, it is a great read whether or not its for a class or just for fun. It gives a survey of the important and sometimes well known cases. It's a perfect addition to any bookshelf. Especially those bookshelves of law students, history students, and history buffs. There is a newer addition out there, which people may want to purchase instead of this one. I really enjoyed reading this. It layed the cases out so it was easy to udnerstand and if you were looking for one particular cases it was easy to find. I definitely recommend this.

Dred Scott Returns

Many people reading this book will be law students, but even for those who aren't, Kermit Hall's collection is a terrific resource for readers of history and politics. In a real sense, if you're looking for a "road map" to see how America got to where it is, the "legal" history in many respects trumps military, political and economic histories. Here you'll find ll the usual suspects - Magna Charta, the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the Colonial Charters, the American Revolution, Dred Scott, Griswald, Miranda, Roe v. Wade. Expect the next edition to carry Bush v. Gore.

greatest hits of the law

This is a terrific book. I use it for teaching Law & Public Policy to political science masters students. The authors have done a great job winnowing the dusty tomes of legal history to the essential nuggets. In addition to the classics, they've selected some hilarious "voice of the people" sources one might never come across in standard legal history texts. I really enjoy this book!