A History of American Law, Revised Edition

by Lawrence M. Friedman

• ISBN13: 9780671528072
• ISBN10: 0671528076
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2010-06-15
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Summary

In this brilliant and immensely readable book, the author tells the whole fascinating story of American law from its beginnings in the colonies to the present day.

Author Biography

Lawrence M. Friedman is the Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law at Stanford University

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Preface
Preface to the Second Edition
Prologue

PART I

The Beginnings: American Law in the Colonial Period

Introduction
The Skeleton of Colonial Law: The Courts
The Colonial Judicial System in the 18th Century
Civil Procedure
Land Law
Succession at Death
Criminal Law
Government, Law and the Economy
Commerce and Labor
Slavery
The Poor Laws
Statute and Common Law in the Colonial Period
The Legal Profession
The Literature of the Law

PART II

From the Revolution to the Middle of the 19th Century: 1776-1850

CHAPTER I

The Republic of Bees

Revolutionary Ardor
Constitutions: Federal and State
The Judges
The Organization of Courts
Civil Procedure
The Law of Evidence

CHAPTER II

Outposts of the Law: The Frontier and the Civil Law Fringe

The Frontier
The Civil Law Fringe

CHAPTER III

Law and the Economy: 1776-1850

Laissez-Faire and Its Limits
The Business Corporation

CHAPTER IV

The Law of Personal Status: Wives, Paupers, and Slaves

Marriage and Divorce
Family Property
Adoption
Poor Laws and Social Welfare
Slavery and the Blacks

CHAPTER V

An American Law of Property

The Land: A National Treasure
The Law of Private Land
Boom and Bust: The Law of Mortgages
Succession: Wills and Trusts
Intellectual Property: Patents and Copyrights

CHAPTER VI

The Law of Commerce and Trade

A Federal Question: Admiralty and General Commerce
Sale of Goods
Bankruptcy and Insolvency
Contract

CHAPTER VII

Crime and Punishment: And a Footnote on Tort

Penal Law and Penal Reform
The Substantive Law of Crimes
The Crime of Punishment: The American Prison
A Footnote on Tort

CHAPTER VIII

The Bar and Its Works

The Bar
Organization of the Bar
Legal Education
The Literature of the Law

PART III

American Law to the Close of the 19th Century

CHAPTER I

Blood and Gold: Some Main Themes in the Law in the Last Half of the 19th Century

The New Era
Organic Law
State Constitutions
The West

CHAPTER II

Judges and Courts: 1850-1900

The Judges
Judicial Organization

CHAPTER III

Procedure and Practice: An Age of Reform

Mr. Field's Code
Court Procedure in Court
Codification and Reform

CHAPTER IV

The Land: And Other Property

The Transformation of Land Law
The Public Land
Property Law and the Dynasts
Landlord and Tenant
Mortgages
The Decline of Dower
A Tangle of Tides
Intellectual Property: Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks

CHAPTER V

Administrative Law and Regulation of Business

The Coming of the Bureaucrats
Regulating the Infrastructure: Banks, Insurance, and Railroads
Occupational Licensing: And the Pull of Public Health
The Great Antitrust Act

CHAPTER VI

Torts

CHAPTER VII

The Underdogs: 1850-1900 488

The Dependent Poor
Family Law and the Status of Women
The Races

CHAPTER VIII

The Law of Corporations

Corporation Law: Freedoms and Restraints
A Discordant Addendum: The Municipal Corporation

CHAPTER IX

Commerce, Labor, and Taxation

Contract
Negotiable Instruments
The Law of Sales
The Usury Laws
Insurance
Bankruptcy
Admiralty
Labor and Law
Federal Taxation
State and Local Tax
Death Taxes

CHAPTER X

Crime and Punishment

The Many Faces of Criminal Law
The Statute Law of Crimes
Crime, Crime Rates, Insanity, The Guilty Mind
Punishment and Correction

CHAPTER XI

The Legal Profession: The Training and Literature of Law

The Rise of the Law School
The Literature of the Law
Legal Periodicals and Casebooks

CHAPTER XII

The Legal Profession: At Work

The Nimble Profession
Organization of the Bar
Admission to the Bar

EPILOGUE

American Law in the 20th Century 655

Center and Periphery: Federalism in the 20th Century
Modern American Legal Culture: Pluralism and Instrumentalism
The Struggle for Rights
Civil Rights and Beyond
Law Reform and Unification: The Ivory Tower
The Growth of the Law
Bench and Bar

Bibliographical Essay
Bibliography
Index