The law of torts recognises many defences to liability. While some of these defences have been explored in detail, scant attention has been given to the theoretical foundations of defences generally. In particular, no serious attempt has been made to explain how defences relate to each other or to the torts to which they pertain. The goal of this book is to reduce the size of this substantial gap in our understanding of tort law. The principal way in which it attempts to do so is by developing a taxonomy of defences. The book shows that much can be learned about a given defence from the way in which it is classified. This new paperback edition contains a substantial preface in which the author responds to critics. Reviews 'James Goudkamp's book can rightly claim to be the first serious attempt to examine tort law defences systematically and it is a very important addition to the private law canon ... [His] analysis is consistently thought-provoking ... [T]his book will provide the framework for future analysis of all private law defences'. Graham Virgo, The Cambridge Law Journal 'This book ... is the first sustained attempt in the modern law to explore the theoretical foundations of the defences to liability recognised by the law of tort and their interrelationship ... [It is] an instant classic'. Ken Oliphant and Annette Morris, Yearbook of European Tort Law 'James Goudkamp's Tort Law Defences fills a startling gap in tort law scholarship... [It] provides an impressive foundation for the future study of defences, and will undoubtedly become the standard against which all other works are measured'. Erika Chamberlain, Canadian Business Law Journal

How the medieval right to appoint a parson helped give birth to English common law Appointing a parson to the local church following a vacancy-an "advowson"-was one of the most important rights in medieval England. The king, the monasteries, and local landowners all wanted to control advowsons because they meant political, social, and economic influence. The question of law turned on who had the superior legal claim to the vacancy-which was a type of property-at the time the position needed to be filled. In tracing how these conflicts were resolved, Joshua C. Tate takes a sharply different view from that of historians who focus only on questions of land ownership, and he shows that the English needed new legal contours to address the questions of ownership and possession that arose from these disputes. Tate argues that the innovations made necessary by advowson law helped give birth to modern common law and common law courts.

A woman both in the eye of law and the society is not merely a person either in the gender or the existence. She has an inherent personality since birth called 'womanhood'. Unfortunately, a woman, in our country, belongs to a class or group of society who are in a disadvantaged position on account of several social barriers and impediments and have, therefore, been the victim of tyranny at the hands of men with whom they, fortunately, under the Constitution enjoy equal status. Women have the right to life and liberty; they also have the right to be respected and treated as equal citizens. Their honor and dignity cannot be touched or violated. They also have the right to lead an honorable and peaceful life. They must have the liberty, the freedom and, of course, independence to live the roles assigned to them by Nature so that the society may flourish as they alone have the talents and capacity to shape the destiny and character of men anywhere and in every part of the world. India needs to fast justify its reputation as a leading Civilization of the World and this book will contribute to this journey.

It has been generally believed among different sections and groups of the society that legal education is only for the law students, lawyers etc. But have you ever thought that how important role can basic legal education plays in our daily life. It is very necessary for every person to have certain knowledge of Law, otherwise it would become very difficult for him to tackle several problems, from consumer protection to fundamental rights. One of the reasons for popular dissatisfaction with the administration of justice is the uncertainty of law which sometimes results in miscarriage of justice. The multiplicity of interpretations, the inadequacies of legislative drafting, ambiguities in policies and the variety of languages in which transactions are made add to the confusion and make repeated litigation inevitable. This book "Law for the Common Man" will be of immense help for layman to understand the legal issues in simple and effective manner. This book will be of immense help to make people aware about their rights and duties.

"The ornament of the Common Law." Lyttleton, His Treatise of Tenures, in French and English. A New Edition, Printed From the Most Ancient Copies, And Collated With the Various Readings of the Cambridge MSS. To Which Are Added The Ancient Treatise of the Olde Tenures, And the Customs of Kent. Originally published: London: S. Sweet, 1841. lv, 1], 727 pp. Paperback. New.
With index. Parallel text in Law-French and English. Written during the reign of Edward IV 1442-1483], Littleton's Tenures was much admired for its learning and style. It is concerned with the doctrines of old English Common Law regarding the tenures of real estate as well as issues related to real property. This venerable work, which Coke called "the ornament of the Common Law, and the most perfect and absolute work that ever was written in any humane science," is a considered a landmark because it renounced the principles of Roman law in favor of a set of guidelines and doctrines drawn from the Year Books, and when necessary, hypothetical cases.
Sir Thomas Littleton 1402-1481] was a King's Serjeant, Judge of Assize and Justice of the Common Pleas.
T.E. Tomlins 1804-1872] was a notable legal writer and antiquarian. His is best known for his Popular-Law Dictionary (1838). (He is confused sometime with his uncle, Sir Thomas Edlyne Tomlins, the prolific legal writer and editor of the later editions of Jacob's Law-Dictionary.)

As a special administrative region of China, Hong Kong has its own legal system rooted in the common law. Reforms to this system take into account Hong Kong's unique conditions as an international city and draw widely on practices around the world. Since 1980 recommendations from a Law Reform Commission, chaired by the Secretary for Justice, have resulted in comprehensive revisions in key areas of law, ranging from commercial arbitration and interception of communications to divorce and copyright.

Recently, however, the government has been slow to act on the Commission's recommendations. Questions have also arisen about whether the Commission -- under-resourced, part-time, and government-led -- can really meet the needs of an increasingly sophisticated society. Is law reform itself also in need of reform? This collection of essays by distinguished experts from around the world seeks answers to the question. The book explores the varied experience of law reform in Hong Kong and other common law jurisdictions and makes recommendations for strengthening the process of law reform both in Hong Kong and elsewhere.

The Best Edition of this Classic History: A Comprehensive Legal History of England from the Anglo-Saxon Period through the 19th Century. Theodore Frank Thomas Plucknett 1897-1965] received his LL.B. from the University of Cambridge in 1920. He was a Fellow of the British Academy, Professor of Legal History, University of London, and Assistant Professor of Legal History at Harvard University. He was also the author of Early English Legal Literature (1958) and Edward I and Criminal Law (1960). "Professor Plucknett has such a solid reputation on both sides of the Atlantic that one expects from his pen only what is scholarly and accurate... Nor is the expectation likely to be disappointed in this book. Plucknett's book is not...a mere epitome of what is to be found elsewhere. He has explored on his own account many regions of legal history and, even where the ground has been already quartered, he has fresh methods of mapping it. The title which he has chosen is, in view of the contents of the volume, rather a narrow one. It might equally well have been A Concise History of English Law... In conjunction with Readings on the History and System of the Common Law by Dean Pound...this book will give an excellent grounding to the student of English legal history." --Percy H. Winfield. Harvard Law Review 43 (1929-30) 339-340. " T]his book, comprehensive yet not elementary, clear yet inviting further study on the part of the reader, remains an excellent introduction to legal history and the study of law."-- Harvard Law Review 50 (1937-38) 1012. SELECTED CONTENTS BOOK ONE A General Survey of Legal History Part I The Crown and the State Part II The Courts and the Profession Part III Some Factors in Legal History Book TWO Special Part Part I Procedure Part II Crime and Tort Part III Real Property Part IV Contract Part V Equity Part VI Succession Index

(Illustrated: Contains extensive images and photographs, with scholarly explanations, including Holmes's handwritten notes in the margins of his book and the original admission ticket to his 1880 lectures.) Modern, accurate, and legible edition of the classic work by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., analyzing the concept of rules and the development of common law in the United States and England over ten centuries. Presented in a clear and affordable format, yet with original pagination embedded to allow accurate citation or uniform references for classroom use. Includes photographs and rare images, Holmes's original Index, Preface and detailed Contents (features missing in many prior editions), and readable typeface. Holmes wrote this work from his famous 1880 series of lectures in Boston on the life of the law, the use of history, and the basics of torts, contracts, crime, and property law. Law, he wrote, is a response to the felt necessities of the time. And in the process he wrote a book that is considered timeless. This modern edition of the classic book features an explanatory introduction and biographical summary by Steven Alan Childress, J.D., Ph.D., a senior law professor at Tulane University.

The early American legal system permeated the lives of colonists and reflected their sense of what was right and wrong, honorable and dishonorable, moral and immoral. In a compelling book full of the extraordinary stories of ordinary people, Elaine Forman Crane reveals the ways in which early Americans clashed with or conformed to the social norms established by the law. As trials throughout the country reveal, alleged malefactors such as witches, wife beaters, and whores, as well as debtors, rapists, and fornicators, were as much a part of the social landscape as farmers, merchants, and ministers. Ordinary people "made" law by establishing and enforcing informal rules of conduct. Codified by a handshake or over a mug of ale, such agreements became custom and custom became "law." Furthermore, by submitting to formal laws initiated from above, common folk legitimized a government that depended on popular consent to rule with authority.

In this book we meet Marretie Joris, a New Amsterdam entrepreneur who sues Gabriel de Haes for calling her a whore; peer cautiously at Christian Stevenson, a Bermudian witch as bad "as any in the world;" and learn that Hannah Dyre feared to be alone with her husband and subsequently died after a beating. We travel with Comfort Taylor as she crosses Narragansett Bay with Cuff, an enslaved ferry captain, whom she accuses of attempted rape, and watch as Samuel Banister pulls the trigger of a gun that kills the sheriff's deputy who tried to evict Banister from his home. And finally, we consider the promiscuous Marylanders Thomas Harris and Ann Goldsborough, who parented four illegitimate children, ran afoul of inheritance laws, and resolved matters only with the assistance of a ghost. Through the six trials she skillfully reconstructs here, Crane offers a surprising new look at how early American society defined and punished aberrant behavior, even as it defined itself through its legal system."

The early American legal system permeated the lives of colonists and reflected their sense of what was right and wrong, honorable and dishonorable, moral and immoral. In a compelling book full of the extraordinary stories of ordinary people, Elaine Forman Crane reveals the ways in which early Americans clashed with or conformed to the social norms established by the law. As trials throughout the country reveal, alleged malefactors such as witches, wife beaters, and whores, as well as debtors, rapists, and fornicators, were as much a part of the social landscape as farmers, merchants, and ministers. Ordinary people "made" law by establishing and enforcing informal rules of conduct. Codified by a handshake or over a mug of ale, such agreements became custom and custom became "law." Furthermore, by submitting to formal laws initiated from above, common folk legitimized a government that depended on popular consent to rule with authority.

In this book we meet Marretie Joris, a New Amsterdam entrepreneur who sues Gabriel de Haes for calling her a whore; peer cautiously at Christian Stevenson, a Bermudian witch as bad "as any in the world;" and learn that Hannah Dyre feared to be alone with her husband and subsequently died after a beating. We travel with Comfort Taylor as she crosses Narragansett Bay with Cuff, an enslaved ferry captain, whom she accuses of attempted rape, and watch as Samuel Banister pulls the trigger of a gun that kills the sheriff's deputy who tried to evict Banister from his home. And finally, we consider the promiscuous Marylanders Thomas Harris and Ann Goldsborough, who parented four illegitimate children, ran afoul of inheritance laws, and resolved matters only with the assistance of a ghost. Through the six trials she skillfully reconstructs here, Crane offers a surprising new look at how early American society defined and punished aberrant behavior, even as it defined itself through its legal system."

A new take on Holmes' classic study of law and judicial development of rules. "The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience." Annotated throughout with simple clarifications-decoding and demystifying it for the first time-to make it accessible to a new generation of readers. Features new Foreword and extensive notes by Steven Alan Childress, J.D., Ph.D., law professor at Tulane. Includes correct footnote numbers and original page numbers for citing. Contains rare photographs and insightful biographical section as well. As lamented by Holmes' premier biographer in 2006, The Common Law "is very likely the best-known book ever written about American law. But it is a difficult, sometimes obscure book, which today's lawyers and law students find largely inaccessible." No longer. With insertions and simple definitions of the original's language and concepts, this version makes it live for college students (able to "get it," at last, with legal terms explained), plus law students, lawyers, and anyone wanting to understand his great book. No previous edition has offered annotations. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. compiled his master work in 1881 from lectures on the origins, reasoning, and import of the common law. It jump-started Legal Realism and established law as a pragmatic way to solve problems and make policy, not just a bucket of rules. It has stood the test of time as one of the most important and influential studies of law. This book is interesting for a vast audience-including historians, students, and political scientists. It is also an often-recommended read before law school or in the 1L year. High quality edition from Quid Pro's Legal Legends Series. Paperback edition now in its second printing. Also available in hardcover and ebook formats.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. compiled this master work in 1881 from his famous lectures in Boston on the origins, reasoning, and import of the common law. "The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience." It jump-started legal realism and established law as a pragmatic way to solve problems and make policy, not just a collection of rules. It has stood the test of time as one of the most important and influential studies of law and the development of legal rules. This book is interesting for a vast audience, and considered one of the most original books on U.S. law, for historians, students, political scientists, and those who follow the concept of rules. It is also a recommended read before law school. A new edition of Holmes' classic study of the judicial development of law. Includes 2010 Foreword by Steven Alan Childress, J.D., Ph.D., law professor at Tulane. Embeds correct footnote numbers and original page numbers for citing. Carefully reproduced from the original book but in a modern, readable format. Quid Pro's Legal Legends Series offers high-quality editions of legal scholarship, in print and digital formats. In addition, each book contains a scholar's new Foreword and biographical summary, to place the work in historical context and explain it to the reader.

More than any other defence in the criminal law, the insanity defence has, and continues to be, the subject of heated debate. Yet too little is known about how the insanity defence operates in different jurisdictions, including in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In this book, Mackay and Brookbanks, and their team of expert contributors, explore the theory and practice around the insanity defence and analyse its diverse influence and manifestations across a wide range of common law and civil law jurisdictions. Typically, the insanity defence, as exemplified in the M'Naghten Rules, represents a foundational aspect of criminal responsibility, although in some jurisdictions it serves only to define degrees of mental capacity. However, what all jurisdictions have in common is the high and increasing incidence of mental illness and impairment challenging existing constructions of an exculpatory rule. This book explores in detail the origins and operation of the M'Naghten Rules as well as the eclectic nature of the insanity defence, its highly variable linguistic expression, and the diverse social policy mandates it seeks to embrace. The Insanity Defence will reinvigorate the debate about the defence by discussing both its theoretical basis and exploring how different jurisdictions approach the insanity plea, not only in relation to an appropriate test and how it operates, but also from the perspective of disposal and how those who use the insanity defence successfully are dealt with. This book will be of interest to researchers, academics, and advanced students with an interest in criminal law internationally, as well as to those involved in the development of policy and legislation.

The book highlights the interconnections between three framing concepts in the development of modern western law: religion, race, and rights. The author challenges the assumption that law is an objective, rational and secular enterprise by showing that the rule of law is historically grounded and linked to the particularities of Christian morality, the forces of capitalism dependent upon exploitation of minorities, and specific conceptions of individualism that surfaced with the Reformation in the sixteenth century, and rapidly developed in the Enlightenment in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Drawing upon landmark legal decisions and historical events, the book emphasizes that justice is not blind because our concept of justice changes over time and is linked to economic power, social values, and moral sensibilities that are neither universal nor apolitical. Highlighting the historical interconnections between religion, race and rights aids our understanding of contemporary socio-legal issues. In the twenty-first century, the economic might of the USA and the west often leads toward a myopic vision of law and a belief in its universal application. This ignores the cultural specificity of western legal concepts, and prevents us from appreciating that, analogous to past colonial periods, in a global political economy Anglo-American law is not always transportable, transferable, or translatable across political landscapes and religious communities. 'Darian-Smith's new book is an example of what is most exciting about new scholarship in the humanities. It works across disciplinary and methodological boundaries in its attempt to deal with one of our most pressing current social problems - determining the consequences of the sometimes violent interaction of race, religion and law in times of social crisis. Darian-Smith explodes the myth of secularism in modern society, and the illusion of post-racialism, in her unblinking analysis of present dilemmas. Once you read this book you will never again think that the western concept of individual rights is sufficient to resolve the contradictions of modern existence. This is a genuinely important step forward in western scholarship' - Stanley Katz, President Emeritus of the American Council of Learned Societies and Professor, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University. 'Eve Darian-Smith takes us on an amazing journey covering four centuries that brilliantly illuminates the continuously evolving interplay of law, religion, and race in the Anglo-American experience. This wonderfully readable book is imaginatively organized around a series of eight landmark 'law moments' that ingeniously show how legal rights are always being subtly shaped by culturally prevailing ideas about religion and race, a process that still goes on in our supposedly 21st century secular world that claims to be free of racism' - Richard Falk, Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Law Emeritus, Princeton University. 'In this volume, Eve Darian-Smith offers a passionate, wide-ranging analysis of the complex, historically-vexed relations among religion, race, and rights over the past four plus centuries. The book begins, in 1571, with Martin Luther and ends, at the dawn of the new century, with the discriminatory labor practices of Walmart, the recent crusades of George Bush and his theocons, and the resurgence of religious faith. By way of a well-chosen sequence of 'legal landmarks' - each an historical drama in its own right, each a piece of theater in which judicial processes take center stage - Darian-Smith develops a compelling, complex critique of the law, of its inherent ambiguities, its violence, its possibilities. And its historical entailment in political, economic, social and ethical forces well beyond itself, forces that, repeatedly, have opened up a yawning gap between its ideological (self)representation and the realities of its everyday practice. This is an ambitious work of scholarship, one which, by virtue of brush strokes at once deft and broad, challenges us to understand the legal underpinnings of our world in new ways' - Jon Comaroff, University of Chicago.

A decisive influence on sociological jurisprudence, legal realism and the general development of Anglo-American law in the twentieth century. Rejecting the reigning positivist ethos of the nineteenth century, Holmes proposed that the law was not a science founded on abstract universal principles but a body of practices that responded to particular situations. This functionalist interpretation led to his radical conclusion that law was not discovered, but invented. This theme is announced at the beginning of Lecture I: The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience. The Common Law was easily the most distinguished book on law by an American published between 1850 and 1900. Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law It is a book of large proportions, from whichever side approached. (...)We cannot close without expressing again our admiration of a book which is so ingenious and so temperate; so rich in learning, thought, argument, and brilliant intuitions. American Law Review Holmes's] brilliant exposition, as effective on English scholarship and legal thinking as on American, of the true nature of law both as a development from the past and an organism of the present, blew fresh air into lawyer's minds encrusted with Blackstone and Kent. Percy Winfield, Chief Sources of English Legal History One of the greatest jurists of the twentieth century, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. 1841-1935] was educated at Harvard College and Harvard Law School. Admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1867, he was equally active as a practitioner and scholar. He edited the American Law Review (1870-78), produced an edition of James Kent's Commentaries on American Law (1873) and delivered the lectures that formed the basis of The Common Law. Published in 1881, this book established Holmes's reputation. After teaching briefly at Harvard Law School he was appointed Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in 1882. Chief Justice of that court from 1899 to 1902, he was then appointed Associate Justice of U.S. Supreme Court, a position he held until the end of his life. Known as The Great Dissenter in the early years of his career because of his frequent opposition to the Court's conservatism, he went on to become of the most influential justices in its history. His opinions are cited frequently today and are highly esteemed for their intellectual depth and elegant composition.

Common law is explored as the alternative to natural rights as a means of restricting state power. The separation of powers is weighed in the balance and found wanting as a brake on state power. The underlying root of this inability is discovered in the philosophy of natural rights. Natural rights gave birth to the separation of powers, but neither the former nor the latter has been able to restrain government. This failure is highlighted in detail, and the alternative means to the same end, the common law, is brought to the fore.

Many countries use and apply the common law. The common law world largely operates through statutes enacted by a country's democratic legislature. These statutes are drafted and interpreted according to a uniform system of rules, presumptions, principles and canons evolved over centuries by common law judges.
In this book, Francis Bennion distills forty years of his prolific writings on statute law and statutory interpretation to provide valuable guidance on statutory interpretation applicable to all common law jurisdictions.

The Common Law is a book about common law in the United states, including torts, property, contracts and crime, written by Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. This classic is a must read for anyone wishing to understand American Common Law from an historical perspective. Simply one of the most important books ever written on American Law.

Global fresh water scarcity and empirical studies on the bad quality of water in Europe made the Community aware of the need to protect this vital resource. Since water has no frontiers, the Member States decided to endeavour a common approach in its protection. It is the aim of this treatise to show the Community's policy and legislation in water protection, which has been evolving since its origins in the Seventies throughout the last decades. The most ambitious approach which has been undertaken by the Community in this field of law lately, is the Water Framework Directive. Its provisions and its implementation into national law by the Member States (Austria, France) are at the centre of this treatise. Common challenges and the way the Member States deal with them are presented. The common approach results fruitful which is important, since - in the end - a stringent transposition of the existing and future rules set by the Community on behalf of water protection will respond to the claim future generations have on fresh water.

Are you sick and tired of the government interfering with your life? Have you had enough of being railroaded by the system? Have you ever wondered if there really is a way to protect your freedom and your privacy from predatory public servants? Well there is TITLE 4 FLAG SAYS YOU'RE SCHWAG The Sovereign Citizen's Handbook is the ultimate legal self-defense strategy guide If you are looking for the peaceful solution to "the government problem," your quest is complete. If you want to know how to prove your case in court without going to law school, this book will show you how If you are serious and really want to know how to cut "the government" out of your life forever, this book is the essential sovereignty checklist So fire your public pretender and get the latest and greatest version of TITLE 4 FLAG SAYS YOU'RE SCHWAG The Sovereign Citizen's Handbook Dispelling the mystery of law and the legal process. (c)H.I.R.M. J.M. Sovereign: Godsent breaks it down in plain American English, revealing the most coveted secrets of American Law, Litigation, Sovereignty and Personal Privatization "This is the most ground-breaking, easy to understand guide to freedom I have ever read. It's clear, concise, and to the point, and it is no joking matter. This is information that everyone NEEDS to know, right now. You really helped me to understand concepts in different ways, and covered a lot of things that I had overlooked or remained completely unaware of. Excellent research. Thank you for your courage and for sharing your knowledge for the benefit of mankind." - David-William II: Griffin-Author: "The Lucifer Machine" "The book and package is wild and woolly and more engaging and convincing than the overly serious, almost paranoid writings of Abby Hoffman in Steal this Book" - Ron.V. Ph.D. Ret. Director of Special Education Includes special chapter on "Having Ninja Babies" "

Why do appellate courts always have an odd number of judges? And what does the answer tell us about changing concepts of law? How can common law be unconstitutional? Why does the power of judges depend on accurate court reporting?

Because legal education today has come to focus so much on teaching students "how to think like lawyers," some subjects do not fit comfortably in law school curricula. John Orth, a distinguished senior law scholar, here explores some of these neglected but important topics. His insightful volume invites students of the law to look at the origins of accepted legal practices as a means of gaining insight into the judicial role and the evolution of common law.

In six carefully reasoned and clearly argued articles-four never before published--Orth presents the familiar in a fresh light. He considers, in addition to the questions already mentioned, how the centuries-old common law tradition interacts with statutory law-making, why claims that individual rights are grounded in common law are suspect, and how the common law uses what it learns about the past.

In considering these questions related to common law and its remarkable longevity, Orth illuminates both its interaction with written constitutions and its longstanding preoccupation with procedure and property. And by questioning the assertion that individualism was the cornerstone of common law, he deftly resolves an objection that liberal scholars sometimes raise concerning common law--its connection to the Lochner era of Supreme Court jurisprudence. Together, these essays show that common law is constantly in motion, using and reusing techniques that have kept it viable for centuries.

How many judges does it take to make a supreme court? As Orth observes, the institutional novelty of odd numbers of judges provided a means to break ties but did nothing to guarantee acceptance of their decisions. By demonstrating that what seems obvious about the law today was not always so, he cogently addresses changing perceptions of law and invites its future practitioners not only to think like lawyers but also to be more fully grounded in the law.

John Phillip Reid is widely known for his groundbreaking work in American legal history. A Law of Blood, first published in the early 1970s, led the way in an additional newly emerging academic field: American Indian history. As the field has flourished, this book has remained an authoritative text. Indeed, Gordon Morris Bakken writes in the foreword to this edition that Reid's original study "shaped scholarship and inquiry for decades." Forging the research methods that fellow historians would soon adopt, Reid carefully examines the organization and rules of Cherokee clans and towns. Investigating the role of women in Cherokee society, for example, he found that married Cherokee women had more legal authority than their counterparts in Anglo-American society. In particular, Reid explores the Cherokees' revolutionary attitudes toward government and the unique relationship between the members of the tribe and their law. Before the first European contact, the Cherokee Nation had already developed a functioning government, and by the early nineteenth century, the first Cherokee constitution had been enacted.

In the eighteenth century, the English common law courts laid the foundation that continues to support present-day Anglo-American law. Lord Mansfield, Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench, 1756-1788, was the dominant judicial force behind these developments. In this abridgment of his two-volume book, "The Mansfield Manuscripts and the Growth of English Law in the Eighteenth Century," James Oldham presents the fundamentals of the English common law during this period, with a detailed description of the operational features of the common law courts. This work includes revised and updated versions of the historical and analytical essays that introduced the case transcriptions in the original volumes, with each chapter focusing on a different aspect of the law.

While considerable scholarship has been devoted to the eighteenth-century English criminal trial, little attention has been given to the civil side. This book helps to fill that gap, providing an understanding of the principal body of substantive law with which America's founding fathers would have been familiar. It is an invaluable reference for practicing lawyers, scholars, and students of Anglo-American legal history.