The Life of the Law: The People and Cases That Have Shaped Our Society, from King Alfred to Rodney King

by Alfred H. Knight

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195122399
• ISBN13: 9780195122398
• Release Date: July 1998
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A Veritable Treasure

I found This book in the library and when finished reading it, knew I must own it and at once. It is a complete delight: learned, factual, humorous and a great read! He gives us twenty-one stories starting with Alfred the Great and finishing with the Rodney King trial. Some of the chapters left an everlasting impression, e.g., Thomas More's treason trial, Edward Coke the leading English legal scholar attempting to walk all over Sir Walter Raleigh at his trial. (Coke's attempt failed miserably). I must mention William Pitt's declaration that"everyman's home is his castle "in the chapter "Reasonable Searches and Seizures" Enough said, for Heaven's sake, just go buy this treasure! You won't be sorry.

Great book!

I worked in Mr. Knight's law firm while I was in law school. At the time he was working on this book. I couldn't wait to read it. It was worth it. Sadly, I loaned my copy to a local newspaper editor, and have never gotten it back. I wish every student of high school history/civics had a copy of this book. I wish that every adult who questions our basic rights as outlined in the bill of rights, would read this book. It is very well written: not as a text book, but as a story about real people who faced challenges, and how our legal system resulted. I'm ordering a new copy for myself, with thoughts of a couple of people that I will lend it to. Maybe I should buy two copies!

Readable, accurate and illuminating legal history for laymen

A well-researched and readable legal history that casts a greater understanding of the law and the tradition of the American legal system. Most important it introduces the lay reader to legal thinking not as a scholar, but as a citizen for whom law is a fact and not an option.

Captivating legal history and principle.

This book is a sheer delight. Witty, insightful and entertaining. What a great introduction to the history, politics and philosophy behind our system of jurisprudence.

Written like a story instead of a textbook.

To combine history and law together and make it interesting is difficult. This book kept my attention from start to finish because it was told more as a story than a textbook. Each chapter is about a different legal principle. He examines the history of each principle in a way that stripped me of my belief that the law was made by inspired visionaries back in 1776. The history he presents shows that the law as we know it today evolved from many lawyers, judges and jurys redefining the law to fit new problems. Because it reads like a story, it was a pleasure to read.