Reviews (2)

Required reading
This book should be required reading for all Civics teachers, lawyers, and judges especially the Supreme Court.

Blends Native American issues with overall racism issues
Robert A. Williams Jr.'s LIKE A LOADED WEAPON: THE REHNQUIST COURT, INDIAN RIGHTS, AND THE LEGAL HISTORY OF RACISM IN AMERICAblends Native American issues with overall racism issues, using these issues to consider how racist language are still used in Indian law to deny rights. Racist language has long legalized a form of racial superiority of whites in America, Williams argues: his background as law professor and American Indian studies professor allows for a unique dual perspective. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Civil rights    2. Courts - General    3. Courts - Supreme Court    4. Ethnic Studies - Native American Studies    5. History    6. Indians of North America    7. Law    8. Law and legislation    9. Legal History    10. Legal Reference / Law Profession    11. Race discrimination    12. Racism    13. United States    14. Courts & procedure    15. Jurisprudence & General Issues    16. Law / Courts    17. USA   

Reviews (4)

An interesting read with some problems
My actual rating would be 3.5 if possible because the book is somewhere between good and very good. I've long been interested in the relationship between the Civil War and the Constitution. At its base the Civil War was a constitutional struggle between two ideologies: the compact theory and the popular theory of the nature of the Constitution. Ultimately this conflict could not be resolved through politics and war became necessary.
Highly Recommended
The Civil War was, at its heart, a constitutional struggle.Although it was fought out on bloody battlefields, the causes for which the opposing armies risked their lives were starkly different views of fundamental legal principles.As the war raged on, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis came to symbolize the two sides of the constitutional debate, but their voices were only parts of a great chorus that, at various times, included Hamilton and Jefferson, Wilson and Madison, Clay, Calhoun, Webster, Jackson, Douglas, and even the irresolute James Buchanan.The overriding constitutional question, of course, was whether a state could lawfully secede from the Union.But this great question was intertwined with other fundamental questions:Did the Constitution create a national government for the benefit of "the people of the United States" or a mere league or compact of independent states?To what extent did the Constitution protect slavery and slave owners against the anti-slavery agitation of northerners?What action, if any, could the United States government (and particularly its chief executive) properly take in response to the military challenge of secession? Popular legal history at its best
"Lincoln's Constitution" first examines the Constitution as Lincoln found it at the beginning of his administration, with emphasis on state - federal relations, including the right of secession. Like most modern legal scholars, Prof. Faber clearly sides with Lincoln on this (and most other constitutional issues), but he is also careful to show that believers in states' rights and secession had good historical reasons for their views. With this background, the author then examines the Constitutional issues Lincoln faced in dealing with the unprecedented challenge of waging the Civil War. Here the focus shifts to presidential war powers and civil liberties in time of war. The author points out where Lincoln was right (in light of later precedents) and where he was wrong. Again, the views of both his supporters and his critics are fully examined. Finally, Faber clearly explains the relevance of all these issues for citizens of our own time.Read more

Subjects:  1. Constitutional    2. General    3. History    4. History - U.S.    5. History: World    6. Legal History    7. United States - Civil War    8. Constitutional & administrative law    9. History / General    10. USA   

Subjects:  1. Attorneys general    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Civil rights    4. Historical - U.S.    5. History    6. History & Theory - General    7. Legal History    8. Military    9. Political Science    10. Politics/International Relations    11. United States    12. United States - 20th Century    13. War on Terrorism, 2001-    14. Biography: general    15. POLITICS & GOVERNMENT    16. USA   

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Espionage    3. Espionage, Soviet    4. General    5. History    6. History - U.S.    7. History: American    8. Legal History    9. Soviet Union    10. Spies    11. Trials (Espionage)    12. True Crime / Espionage    13. United States    14. United States - 20th Century    15. United States - 20th Century (1945 to 2000)    16. American history: from c 1900 -    17. Espionage & secret services    18. History / United States / 20th Century    19. Inter-war period, 1918-1939    20. Second World War, 1939-1945    21. USA    22. c 1945 to c 1960   

Subjects:  1. Constitutional    2. Law    3. Legal History    4. Legal Reference / Law Profession    5. Western Europe - General    6. Jurisprudence & General Issues    7. Law / Constitutional    8. Laws of Other Jurisdictions & General Law    9. Western Continental Europe    10. c 1500 to c 1600    11. c 1600 to c 1700   

Reviews (1)

important
You may have heard of military courts-martial, which in U.S. practice have evolved into something parallel to other U.S. courts, with independent judges and defense counsel, rules of evidence and procedure, military courts of appeal, and rooted in case law and applicable Constitutional law. The tribunals -- "military commissions" -- were different: an extraordinary and special proceeding with none of those guarantees, and, until 9/11, a freak wartime event last seen in WWII (Mr. Fisher's recent and excellent "Nazi Saboteurs on Trial" addresses one such case). Now the Bush Administration has revived the military commissions and this book is a timely (mid-2005) re-telling of the history and practice of these tribunals. I've written and researched on this topic and find Mr. Fisher's book is possibly the best single volume on the subject. His prose is clear to the layperson, he is brilliant in putting the tribunals in context, and is quick to find parallels in the detention (WWII + post-9/11) case law.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Constitutional    2. History    3. Law    4. Legal History    5. Legal Reference / Law Profession    6. Military    7. Military courts    8. United States    9. United States - General    10. Criminal law    11. USA    12. War crimes   

Reviews (1)

fascinating narrative, superbly researched
I picked up this book while writing a review of Rebecca Wittmann's on the same subject, and found that I couldn't put this one down. Pendas used a wide array sources and secondary literature as the basis for this book, and he has a knack for clear and engaging narrative. Telling anecdotes, like the dramatic arrest of former Auschwitz commandant Baer in 1960, andthe Frankfurt court's visit behind the Iron Curtain in Auschwitz in December 1964, make this book well worth the purchase price. My detailed review can be found on my university web site. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Auschwitz Trial, Frankfurt am    2. Auschwitz Trial, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 1963-1965    3. Europe - General    4. Europe - Germany    5. Frankfurt am Main    6. Germany    7. History    8. History - General History    9. History: World    10. Holocaust    11. Legal History    12. Trials (Genocide)    13. War crime trials    14. History / Europe / General    15. Jurisprudence & General Issues    16. The Holocaust    17. c 1960 to c 1970   

Reviews (2)

Can Be Summarized in Two Sentences
Here's what the book is about: One, some nonwhite racial groups under some conditions can actually (gasp) dominate other nonwhite racial groups. Two, some nonwhite racial groups should apologize to make other nonwhite racial groups feel better. a nice book if you are interested
Yamamoto looks at the history and significance of government's apologizing for past racist acts.It covers a span of topics from black slavery, Japanese interment, to Native Hawaiian colonialism.Though written by a law professor, the text is not case-heavy and could be digested by most every reader.It discusses some interesting concerns about person-of-color unity as well.Those interested in Asian/Pacific Islander studies may be particularly interested in this book.Some people may find the text too simple, especially those who view governmental apologies as ineffective.However, this book was a decent read generally. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Discrimination & Racism    2. History: American    3. Legal History    4. Minority Studies - Race Relations    5. Race And Ethnic Relations    6. Social Science    7. Sociology    8. U.S. - Political And Civil Rights    9. CIVIL RIGHTS_UNITED STATES    10. Human rights    11. Multicultural studies    12. Political Science / Civil Rights    13. Social issues    14. UNITED STATES_RACE RELATIONS    15. USA   

Subjects:  1. Abortion & Birth Control    2. Law    3. Legal History    4. Public Policy - Social Policy    5. Sociology    6. History / United States / General   

Editorial Review

Edward Lazarus, a former Supreme Court clerk to Justice Harry Blackmun, spills the beans on an institution that values silence. Nobody is supposed to understand what happens behind the scenes of the high court--that's why the justices rarely speak to the media--but Lazarus tells all he knows from his time as a top aide to Blackmun in the Supreme Court's 1988 term. There's a lot of legal theory and history, but it's well presented and usually focuses on touchstone issues in U.S. politics; cases involving abortion, the death penalty, and racial preferences receive sustained treatment in these pages. There are gossipy bits, too, revealing unflattering details about several current justices. Sure to be one of the more controversial books of the year. Read more

Reviews (51)

Excellentbut challenging
Closed Chambers is highly entertaining and gracefully written, but it is not for the average reader. Lazarus discusses so many cases and jurists that it's hard to keep track of everything. This is especially true about the death penalty section of the book, which is by far the most tedious. This is why I gave it 4 stars and not 5.
Excellent read for the non-lawyer
I enjoyed this book quite a bit.I wouldn't take everything Lazarus says as gospel truth.It's clear from reading various reviews that some of his facts are wrong, and the vast majority of the book is based on research and even things he's just heard, rather than things he witnessed.But I find myself thinking about the book often and I think it's a valuable read for anyone who wants a better understanding of our legal system.

Insightful, lucid, still topical
Perhaps the best, most well thought out, and easiest to read account of what the supreme court is all about. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Clerks of court    2. Courts - General    3. Courts - Supreme Court    4. Government - Judicial Branch    5. History    6. History: American    7. Judicial process    8. Legal History    9. Legal Reference / Law Profession    10. Political questions and judicial power    11. United States    12. United States - General    13. History / United States / General   

Subjects:  1. Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice    2. Authors and publishers    3. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    4. General    5. Great Britain    6. History    7. History - General History    8. History: World    9. Legal History    10. Libel and slander    11. Literary Criticism    12. Modern - 18th Century    13. Piracy (Copyright)    14. History of specific subjects    15. Jurisprudence & General Issues    16. Literary studies: general    17. United Kingdom, Great Britain    18. c 1700 to c 1800    19. c 1800 to c 1900   

Subjects:  1. 1924-2005    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Courts - Supreme Court    5. General    6. Judges    7. Law    8. Lawyers & Judges    9. Legal History    10. Rehnquist, William H.,    11. Supreme Court    12. United States    13. United States.    14. Constitutional & administrative law    15. Jurisprudence & General Issues    16. Law / Jurisprudence    17. USA   

Subjects:  1. Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice    2. Bank loans    3. Community Reinvestment Act of    4. Community development    5. Housing & Urban Development    6. Law    7. Law and legislation    8. Legal History    9. Legal Reference / Law Profession    10. United States   

Reviews (1)

The Way They Were
With numerous deftly chosen stories of husbands and wives and their contact and experience of the law from the Colonial Era to the present, Hartog describes the slow development of our modern conception of individual rights.This is for the most part the story of wives' evolution from the state of coverture (where the husband was sovereign) to that of an equal partnership of two individuals.Along the way, Hartog develops some striking insights such as his conception of frontier states competing in a "divorce market" for divorcing couples in order to draw potential settlers to their states.Other states, such as California, wrote liberal laws that promised equal treatment for wives as a way to entice women settlers to there -- a kind of rights marketplace.His great achievment is to evoke over the course of U.S. history, the changing expectations and the responsibilities of husbands and wives as to what constitutes a proper marriage.At the same time, he discusses societal ideals embedded in the law, and the pragmatic judges who refashioned those ideals to better reflect the evolving relationships of husbands and wives.He shows that the institution of marriage, ostensibly the most intimate and private and natural of all personal relationships, has close and obtrusive links to conceptions of public governance and individual rights. Too, he show that the two "institutions," which seem so different from one another -- marriage, (private and personal), as compared to the state (public and bureaucratic) -- modify and reinforce each other through the agency of the judiciary.Thoughtful, illuminating, substantial, this is a long pleasant walk through the past with a very engaging, studious and knowledgeable, but never pedantic, friend. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. General    2. History    3. History - General History    4. History: American    5. Modern - 19th Century    6. Jurisprudence & philosophy of law    7. Law / Legal History    8. Private, property, family law    9. Social history    10. USA    11. c 1800 to c 1900   

Subjects:  1. Christianity    2. Christianity - History - General    3. Domestic Relations - General    4. Domestic relations (Canon law)    5. Family Law - General    6. History    7. Law    8. Legal History    9. Legal Profession    10. Legal Reference / Law Profession    11. Marriage    12. Marriage (Canon law)    13. Reference    14. Religious aspects    15. To 1500    16. Reference works   

Editorial Review

Although, in the eyes of many, the law "moves slowly and sluggishly" behind society's advances, Lawrence M. Friedman, in Read more

Reviews (14)

succinct
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.
American Law in context
This pocket book by Lawrence Friedman is a beautifully crafted short history of American Law and the politics behind. It is neither a reference book nor an introduction to U.S. legal history, but a discourse (or journey) on the evolution of law in America. It is very evocative and generates a craving for more (for that there is a nice commented bibliography). Friedman finds space to comment the system ("In a common law system, the judges who write the opinions are crucial and important figures. To be more precise, the law gets made by appellate judges"),its procedures (The overwhelming majority of cases are never appealed to a higher courtindeed, the overwhelming majority of controversies never get to the courts at all") and its inhabitants ("Americans, it is said, are more rights conscious than most citizens of other countries; more prone to sue for damages"). If those appears personal views, instead they are thoroughly thought, but supporting evidence should be found elsewhere.While this book is less than 200 pages, the number of issues dealt in the book is impressive, from slavery to punishment, from privacy to how insurance companies and other businesses have waged a campaign against excessive tort liability (famous fabricated horror stories: the psychic who got a million dollars for losing her psychic power; the woman who got millions for spilling hot coffee on herself ; the burglar who was hurt while burglarizing somebody's house, and sued the owners). A highly recommended book for all.
Too much politics, not enough law
This book started out promisingly, and the first part of it is an interesting introduction to American law.Unfortunately, the last half of the book is almost exclusively about politics and administration.He spends whole sections on things like New Deal agencies and Great Society programs.Certainly, these were "laws" passed by Congress, but they don't tell us anything about the justice system.If you want to learn about the American legal system, I'd suggest Law 101 instead.It's not historically based, but you'll learn a lot more about how the system functions, and the principles on which it is based, than from this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. History    2. History - General History    3. History - U.S.    4. History: American    5. Legal History    6. Legal System    7. United States - General    8. History / United States / General   

Reviews (1)

Good overview of post New Deal constitutional development
Prof. Keck has written an interesting book on Constitutional Law since the New Deal, focusing on the debate over the proper scope of judicial review in the Supreme Court(ie: should judges be activist and make their own substantive appreciations on policy questions or should they faithfully defer to other supposedly more democratic branches of government). The author nicely weaves this story with another one, that of the rise of judicial conservatism and judicial activism on the right that has been going on for more than twenty five years now. In so doing, the book sheds light on the conservative fallacy that conservative judges are more deferent to elected branches than liberal judges. However, the book does not really inquire into the structural featuresof American constitutionalism that make the practice of judicial review such a double edged sword forliberals and conservatives alike and does not tell much about collective decision making on the Court.Still well worth reading for its clarity and relatively broad historical sweep. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1924-    2. Conservatism    3. Courts - Supreme Court    4. General    5. Law    6. Legal History    7. Legal Reference / Law Profession    8. Political Ideologies - Conservatism & Liberalism    9. Political Science    10. Political aspects    11. Politics/International Relations    12. Rehnquist, William H.,    13. Supreme Court    14. United States    15. Political Science / General   

Reviews (2)

Important Work of Historical Detection with Much Food for Thought for the Future
It is not granted to every historian to discover a trunkful of old documents up in an attic somewhere.The fact that the Illinois-Wabash papers, which fortuitously fell into the capable hands of this particular historian, were located in a basement instead, hardly alters the aura surrounding this discovery, nor does it affect the drama of the issues involved. In sifting through the evidence brought to light by this remarkable find, Lindsay G. Robertson has provided more than a mere tale of "olden days" which might be of interest to a cloistered few: he has produced a revolutionary document which may have far-reaching consequences on the "history" of the future, as well as on our reading of the past.
Intrigue, Indians & History - Told like a Novel
The story told in Conquest by Law could be the Enron scandal of the 19th Century...the irony is that it is all true and that you wouldn't have imagined it in your wildest dreams. We are used to a context in which the Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court of the land. It is implicit today that when the Supreme Court says what the law "is"...that is it, 'the final word'! However, when this story began there was no such confidence and no history of Supreme Court precedent! The Supreme Court was just another forum for speculation and that is what the protagonists do in Conquest by Law.
Read more

Subjects:  1. History    2. History - General History    3. History - U.S.    4. History: American    5. Illinois    6. Indian land transfers    7. Indians of North America    8. Land tenure    9. Land titles    10. Legal History    11. Native American    12. Trials, litigation, etc    13. United Illinois and Wabash Lan    14. United States    15. United States - 19th Century    16. American history: c 1800 to c 1900    17. History / United States / 19th Century    18. Indigenous peoples    19. Law | Legal History    20. Property, real estate, land & tenancy law    21. USA   

Subjects:  1. Native Americans - Northwest    2. Legal Reference / Law Profession    3. Water development projects    4. Native American    5. Montana - Local History    6. Milk River (Mont. and Alta.)    7. Ethnic Studies - Native American Studies    8. Legal History    9. Management of land & natural resources    10. North America    11. USA    12. History    13. United States - State & Local - General    14. Claims    15. Montana    16. History: American    17. Water rights    18. Indians of North America   

Subjects:  1. Courts - General    2. Courts - Supreme Court    3. Government - Federal    4. Judicial opinions    5. Law    6. Legal History    7. Legal Reference / Law Profession    8. Sociology    9. U.S. Supreme Court    10. United States    11. Civil law (general works)    12. Courts & procedure    13. Law / Constitutional    14. Law | Constitutional Law    15. USA