Ox Comp Amer Law Oc: Ncs C

By: Hall

Book Overview

A landmark in legal publishing, The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court is a now classic text many of whose entries are regularly cited by scholars as the definitive statement on any particular subject. In the tradition of that work, editor in chief Kermit L. Hall offers up The Oxford
Companion to American Law, a one-volume, A-Z encyclopedia that covers topics ranging from aging and the law, wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping, the Salem Witch Trials and Plessy vs. Ferguson.
The Companion takes as its starting point the insight that law is embedded in society, and that to understand American law one must necessarily ask questions about the relationship between it and the social order, now and in the past. The volume assumes that American law, in all its richness and
complexity, cannot be understood in isolation, as simply the business of the Supreme Court, or as a list of common law doctrines. Hence, the volume takes seriously issues involving laws role in structuring decisions about governance, the significance of state and local law and legal institutions,
and the place of American law in a comparative international perspective. Nearly 500 entries are included, written by over 300 expert contributors.
Intended for the working lawyer or judge, the high school student working on a term paper, or the general adult reader interested in the topic, the Companion is the authoritative reference work on the subject of American law.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195088786
• ISBN13: 9780195088786
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Academic
• Length: 944 Pages
• Weight: 3.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.3" x 7.2" x 10.5"

Customer Reviews

Concise and Engaging Legal Resource

The colossal "The Oxford Companion to American Law" is a valuable legal resource for the untrained person and the mature attorney. It borders on 900 pages and is written so well one can read many of its entries in a relaxated state. 300 top legal scholars offer the reader 468 articles. The editors make this a very handy compilation inasmuch as they provide: - Indexes of subjects and cases (including citations) - Cross-referenced and user-friendly entries - Current sources on all the topics covered. The essays are written with fine concision and a readable style. There are not many resources that can match its comprehensiveness and its skill in communicating difficult legal concepts and laws. Hall delivers solid coverage on: - Institutions - Legal Doctrines - Forensic concepts - Important persons, events, and legal cases. One disappointment for me was: TOCAL lacks an entry on perjury. Nonetheless thisis a marvelous resource for the legal advocate or the non-professional. There Are Moral Absolutes: How to Be Absolutely Sure That Christianity Alone Supplies

Book was in excellent condition

Although, it would be nice to have known which year it was published. Maybe it was there and I missed it. Otherwise, I am happy with the whole process.

American Law

I came by this book while actually looking for something else, and found it to be very informative and useful. Similar to other Oxford companions it is cross-referenced and attempts to be usable to both the legal community as well as ordinary people.The bookk is centered upon themes in law (common law, constitutional law, environmental law, etc. rather than specific cases, which makes it a bit cumbersome until the reader learns what the book is really meant to provide. If one is looking for specific Supreme Court cases then the companion to the Supreme Court should be consulted. But the point is that other books are out there for specific case histories. This book attempts to pull legal issues together into a single point of reference. True legal scholars will likely feel this book is too brief on specifics, but the lay reader will find it useful in putting perspective on common legal questions of the present.