This concise primer offers an introduction to U.S. law from a comparative perspective, explaining not only the main features of American law and legal culture, but also how and why it differs from that of other countries. Gerrit De Geest initially focuses on the core characteristics of American law, such as the predominance of judge-made law, the significance of state law and the vital role that juries play in the legal process. De Geest then moves on to provide a succinct analysis of U.S. legal culture, before summarizing the principal differences in law and legal cultures around the world. Key features include: A thorough introduction to the main elements of U.S. law for international students A concise, accessible style illustrated with lively anecdotes and discussion of relevant foundational cases Explanation of the historical and cultural roots of law in the U.S. and other countries to provide context for differences. Students beginning LLM programs in the U.S., in particular international students, will find this primer invaluable reading. It will also be of interest to pre-law and comparative law students.

He reviled the rich for their cupidity and they found his rhetoric repulsive. Plebians believed him their champion and patricians knew he was their bete noire, remarks Halford Ryan in his eloquent foreword to this definitive survey of Clarence DarroW's development as orator and unique American myth. As a writer, lecturer, debater, and trial lawyer Darrow spoke for the have-nots and cultivated an image of mythic proportions as the underdog's advocate. Many of the more than 2,000 trials in which he was active reflected the major social and philosophical issues of the last quarter of the nineteenth and first third of the twentieth centuries in America. Read today, DarroW's speeches still ring true both as political statements and as models of persuasive pleading and pathos--reason enough to study the work of this uncommon advocate who stood perpetually opposed to the great and powerful of the earth. Richard J. Jensen has written a clearsighted volume that documents how Darrow created and then enlarged his personal myth through speeches, writings, and actions. Each chapter focuses on particular segments of that creation. Half of the book consists of authoritative texts of several of DarroW's most influential and rhetorically brilliant speeches, and a speech chronology simplifies the work of researchers.

The study opens with a brief biography, an overview of DarroW's rhetoric, along with the forces that affected it, and some initial comments on the elements that make up the myth. The next chapter, Schoolmaster of the Courtroom, chronicles the origins of DarroW's image as a defender of the downtrodden and his early trials in defense of labor unions and their leaders. What is considered to be one of the most famous speeches in American legal history, that given by Darrow at the conclusion of the 1924 Leopold and Loeb trial, is the focus of Chapter Three. Chapter Four centers on the Scopes Trial, perhaps the most famous trial in recent American history, during which the dramatic confrontation with William Jennings Bryan occurred. The penultimate chapter explains the arguments Darrow used to defend the poor, radicals, Blacks, and other less fortunate members of society. Finally, DarroW's rhetoric as a writer and as an active speaker and debater on the lecture circuit is examined. Part II contains the authoritative texts of seven speeches including those given during the Leopold and Loeb Trial and the Scopes Trial, among others. The Chronology of Speeches, Bibliography, and Index close the volume. The speeches along with Jensen's intelligent, readable analysis and criticism will be an important resource for those teaching and studying Legal Rhetoric and the History of Public Address.

This book provides a systematic elaboration of Chinese Private International Law, reveals the general techniques concerning conflict of laws in China, explains the detailed Chinese conflict rules for different areas of law, and demonstrates how international civil litigation is pursued in China. Clearly structured and written by a native Chinese scholar specializing in the field, the book's easy-to-read style makes it accessible to a broad readership, while its content makes it a useful reference guide, especially for jurists and researchers.

There are more than 600 Federal district judges serving today, and they decide some 230,000 civil cases each year. About 90% of the decisions they reach are final. Lyles argues that these lower court judges not only influence the flow of information to the judicial hierarchy, but they formulate questions that influence how higher courts, including the Supreme Court, respond. As such they are key elements in the formulation and implementation of public policy. To cite a few examples, they desegregate school districts, run mental institutions and prisons, break up monopolies, and reapportion legislatures. Lyles begins by examining the structure and function of federal courts and detailing the history, operation, and purpose of the district courts. He then turns to the selection, nomination, and appointment of district judges. Lyles then analyzes the extent to which presidents might advance policy objectives through their judicial appointments to the district courts. After examining how African-American, Latino, and white judges, male and female, view their roles as policy actors, Lyles concludes with a discussion of the implications of the study. Important for students and scholars of contemporary public policy and the court system.

This book demonstrates the use of the personal computer as an integral component of legal decision making. Nagel begins with an overview of the use of microcomputers as a tool in the legal decision-making process. He reviews in detail the currently available decision-aiding software. Several important areas of decision-making are covered, including predicting the outcome of future cases in light of previous relevant cases and present facts; litigation choices such as whether to go to trial or to settle; allocating attorney resources; and negotiating and mediating. The book can help one's law practice more profitable, less time-consuming, and more competitive.

This book brings together the expertise of two authors involved in initiating the development of Online Family Dispute Resolution (OFDR), while also examining the unique Australian system. The family arena generally comprises property or child-related disputes arising between parents, whether married or not, and whether the parties have lived together or not. A special feature of Australia's OFDR system is that it deals with children's issues rather than focusing on property distribution. The book first discusses how technological innovations have transformed dispute resolution services to families. It explores the need for OFDR and how such systems can potentially be implemented. In turn, the coverage shifts to screening tools used prior to a Family Dispute Resolution session to ensure that online systems are appropriate for the case under dispute and the people involved. Readers will then learn about the necessary training required - for administrators, practitioners and clients alike - for OFDR to be successful. In addition, the book offers a comprehensive evaluation of the system and reflects on the lessons learned to date. In closing, it suggests ways in which OFDR could be further developed and applied to family disputes around the world.

This is the first book that critically examines the reform of the Appellate Body (AB) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in light of the current crisis resulting from the U.S. blocking of the appointment of its members. The reform of the AB is critical, as the appointment crisis could lead to the demise of "the jewel in the crown," which may even cause the dismantling of the WTO as a whole. This book covers various aspects of the crisis and its reform. Specifically, as the crisis cannot be fully understood without reviewing the role of the AB from the broader perspectives of the other functions of the WTO, the book examines the reform of the AB from the broader perspectives of the WTO governance. Additional focus is on the reform of the AB in relation to its specific functions. Available options are provided to address the AB crisis, as well as discussion of wider implications beyond the WTO. Contributed by world-renowned academics, experts, and practitioners in the field of international economic law, this volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the AB crisis and its solutions.

Asked if the country was governed by a republic or a monarchy, Benjamin Franklin replied, "A republic, if you can keep it." Since its founding, Americans have worked hard to nurture and protect their hard-won democracy. And yet few consider the role of constitutional law in America's survival. In Unfit for Democracy, Stephen Gottlieb argues that constitutional law without a focus on the future of democratic government is incoherent-illogical and contradictory. Approaching the decisions of the Roberts Court from political science, historical, comparative, and legal perspectives, Gottlieb highlights the dangers the court presents by neglecting to interpret the law with an eye towards preserving democracy. A senior scholar of constitutional law, Gottlieb brings a pioneering will to his theoretical and comparative criticism of the Roberts Court. The Roberts Court decisions are not examined in a vacuum but instead viewed in light of constitutional politics in India, South Africa, emerging Eastern European nations, and others. While constitutional decisions abroad have contributed to both the breakdown and strengthening of democratic politics, decisions in the Roberts Court have aggravated the potential destabilizing factors in democratic governments. Ultimately, Unfit for Democracy calls for an interpretation of the Constitution that takes the future of democracy seriously. Gottlieb warns that the Roberts Court's decisions have hurt ordinary Americans economically, politically, and in the criminal process. They have damaged the historic American melting pot, increased the risk of anti-democratic paramilitaries, and clouded the democratic future.

This book focuses on four topical and interconnected, innovative pathways to civil justice within the context of securing and improving access to justice: the use of Artificial Intelligence and its interactions with judicial systems; ADR and ODR tracks in privatising justice systems; the effects of increased self-representation on access to justice; and court specialization and the establishment of commercial courts to counter the trend of vanishing court trials. Top academics and experts from Europe, the US and Canada address these topics in a critical and multidisciplinary manner, combining legal, socio-legal and empirical insights. The book is part of 'Building EU Civil Justice', a five-year research project funded by the European Research Council. It will be of interest to scholars and policymakers, as well as practitioners working in the areas of civil justice, alternative dispute resolution, court systems, and legal tech. The chapters "Introduction: The Future of Access to Justice - Beyond Science Fiction" and "Constituting a Civil Legal System Called "Just": Law, Money, Power, and Publicity" are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This work focuses on the EU's participation in the Dispute Settlement Proceedings (DSP) of the WTO for matters of non-conferred competences. The underlying thesis is that the joint membership of the EU and its Member States is fallacious, in that it could cause the EU to become responsible for violations of the WTO regulations on the part of the Member States. Such fallacies are rooted in the blurred nature of the distribution of powers in the EU polity.In order to tackle the issue of international responsibility, the analysis is based on the facts of a real-world case. Based on the tenets of public international law, the law of mixed agreements and the EU constitutional principles, the book puts forward a model for the EU's participation in the DSP, and for the reallocation of burdens to the respective responsible entity. This proposition deconstructs the joint responsibility regime and endorses a solution that could address the issue of responsibility in mixed agreements without a declaration of powers.

The pleading and proof of foreign law are often treated as matters of peripheral importance. But, in reality, how foreign law is established, and whether it must be established at all, are central issues in private international law. Whether litigants are free to ignore the foreign elements in a dispute goes to the heart of the conflicts process, and without effective means to establish foreign law the very purpose of that process is subverted. Such issues give rise to particular problems in English law. It is often unclear whether the rules for choice of law are mandatory, and whether the application of foreign law is therefore required. The cost and uncertainty of establishing foreign law may also affect how cases are argued and decided, and may discourage litigants from suing at all. This book, the first to examine the topic from the perspective of English law, offers a radical reappraisal of a long-neglected subject. Fentiman argues that the law is both more complex, and more defensible, than had previously been supposed. He provides a practical guide to the subject and in so doing presents the conflict of laws in a way which is both novel and illuminating.

This book explains the causes, process, and results of group disputes in urban communities (the empirical experiences from Shanghai) in China. It explores the means and characteristics of as well as the differences in conflict resolution in various forms of state-society relations, particularly the ways of dealing with and resolving disputes concerning mass incidents involving government interests in China's current social transformation period. It also analyzes how people's mediation organizations interact with the local government when managing and defusing collective disputes. Combining the relevant theories and five conflict resolution measurement models created by Blake and Mouton (1964), this book explains the current interaction model and cooperation mechanism between the state and social organizations in China. To do so, it examines the role of the Lin Le People's Mediation Workroom in dealing with community collective disputes and the respective action strategies and constraints. The book argues that the current state-social relations in China are not centered on society or the state, but on "state-led social pluralism."

Anatomy of a Trial. Volume V, Trying Cases to Win. Description (3900 characters maximum): Originally published: New York: Aspen Publishers, 1999. Reprinted 2013 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. xviii, 584 pp. The trial process is the sum of its parts-opening argument, direct and cross examination, and summation. In Trying Cases to Win, nationally known trial lawyer Herbert J. Stern provides an overall blueprint for conduct in the courtroom as he guides the reader through each of these segments. Rather than a collection of anecdotal war stories from various trials, Stern outlines the nuts and bolts of the right-and wrong-approach, processes and strategies for every component needed for trial success. Each volume is available separately.
In this volume, Anatomy of a Trial, Stern and his co-author, Stephen A. Saltzburg, bring the principles of the other volumes in the Trying Cases to Win series into action. They offer a line-by-line review of all of the parts of a trial while looking at the importance of emotion in the decision process and its relationship to the facts presented. This detailed analysis, from the viewpoints of the attorney and the jury, demonstrates good and bad advocacy in every stage of the trial.
Contents:
1. Opening Instructions;
2. The Opening Arguments;
3. The First Witness;
4. The Second Witness: Nick Craggs;
5. The Sweeney Deposition;
6. The First of "The Blues" Witnesses: Brian Sullivan;
7. The Alleged Villain: Helen Hardy;
8. Concluding the Plaintiff's Case and Motions;
9. The Defendant's First Witness: Mr. Maresca;
10. The Trustee Witnesses;
11. Ms. Hardy Returns;
12. The Ruling on Defendants' Motion;
13. Ms. Hardy Continues and the Defense Rests;
14. Final Motions, Closing Argument, and Verdict;
15. Epilogue;
Index. Author Bio (3900 characters maximum): Herbert J. Stern is a highly regarded trial lawyer and accomplished teacher of trial techniques. A partner and founding member in the New Jersey law firm of Stern & Kilcullen, Stern is a former Federal Judge, having served as United States district judge for the District of New Jersey from 1974 to 1987. He established his reputation as an advocate while serving as a trial attorney with the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the United States Department of Justice from 1965 to 1969 and as United States attorney for the District of New Jersey from 1970 to 1974 when he won a national reputation for unprecedented convictions of numerous public officials. He was founder and Co-Director of the Advocacy Institute at the University of Virginia School of Law from 1980 to the present. He was Special Counsel for Hon. Lawrence Walsh, Independent Counsel, Iran-Contra Prosecution, 1988. Judge Stern was the subject of the book, Tiger in the Court (Chicago: Playboy Press, 1973). He is the author of Judgment in Berlin (New York: Universe Books, 1984) which was made into a major motion picture with Sean Penn, and Martin Sheen playing Judge Stern; and, most recently, Diary of a DA: The True Story of the Prosecutor Who Took On the Mob, Fought Corruption, and Won (New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2012). Review 1 (3900 characters maximum): ... a crowning achievement in a career devoted to helping all lawyers, from beginners to veterans, become more knowledgeable in the art of advocacy. Source: -- Arthur J. Greenbaum, Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, PC, New York, NY

Contrasting arbitration of securities disputes with litigation in the courts, this book reviews the interaction of federal securities laws and arbitration in light of caselaw. This review culminates in the recent U.S. Supreme Court cases supporting the validity of predisputed arbitration agreements even when there are claims of fraud and violations of federal securities law. The common law view of arbitration and the Federal Arbitration Act of 1925 are discussed, as are the arbitration process and forums within the securities industry. Procedures (e.g. evaluating the merits of a claim, presenting a securities case to arbitration panels throughout the nation, and appealing an arbitration award) are also examined. It is the only book to date to discuss the new AAA Securities Arbitration Rules.

Ideal for lawyers and securities industry professionals, the book discusses the theories for brokerage firm liability such as securities fraud, churning, the Know Your Customer rule, suitability, problems with trades (e.g. failure of execution or orders), and improper record keeping. It also discusses the use of arbitration to resolve disputes between those working in the industry and reviews the requirements for statements of claims in an arbitration process. Methods of evaluation, statutes, and forms are provided, which will be helpful to both the individual and the lawyer contemplating prosecuting a securities claim in arbitration versus litigation.

The book provides a comprehensive and practical overview of arbitration in the People's Republic of China. The process of arbitrating a dispute is described from the perspective of a non-Chinese individual or business. Readers are guided through the typical course of events in an arbitration process. By avoiding both excessive technicality and undue simplification, the book appeals to both law professionals and business managers, and is useful for practitioners and non-experts alike. Recent developments in Chinese law on the matter, up to the first quarter of 2015, has been taken into account in order to provide readers with a pragmatic, up-to-date presentation of the topic. For the same reasons, illustrative reference is made to the Shanghai FTZ Arbitration Rules. The relevant provisions are noted throughout the text; the three appendices at the end of the book allow for easy referencing of the main legislation and regulations. The appendices include English versions of the most important PRC Statutes and Interpretations of Statutes on arbitration, the Arbitration Rules of the main Chinese arbitration institutions and the official Model Arbitration Clauses suggested by those institutions.

This book provides theoretical and practical insights for effective decision making in situations that involve various types of conflict cleavages. Embedding historical analysis, negotiation analysis, political scientific analysis and game theoretical analysis in an integrated analytical framework allows a comprehensive perspective on various dilemmas and self-enforcing dynamics that inhibit decision making. The conceptualization of strategic facilitation highlights the value of leadership, chairmanship and the role of threshold states in facilitating decision making as the global climate change negotiations unfolds.

This monograph addresses a contested but under-discussed question in the field of criminal sentencing: should an offender's remorse affect the sentence he or she receives? Answering this question involves tackling a series of others: is it possible to justify mitigation for remorse within a retributive sentencing framework? Precisely how should remorse enter into the sentencing equation? How should the mitigating weight of remorse interact with other aggravating and mitigating factors? Are there some offence or offender characteristics that preclude remorse-based mitigation? Remorse is recognised as a legitimate mitigating factor in many sentencing regimes around the world, with powerful effects on sentence severity. Although there has been some discussion of whether this practice can be justified within the literature on sentencing and penal theory, this monograph provides the first comprehensive and in-depth study of possible theoretical justifications. Whilst the emphasis here is on theoretical justification, the monograph also offers analysis of how normative conclusions would play out in the broader context of sentencing decisions and the guidance intended to structure them. The conclusions reached have relevance for sentencing systems around the world.

Summation. Volume IV, Trying Cases to Win. Description (3900 characters maximum): Originally published: New York: Aspen Publishers, 1995. Reprinted 2013 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. xviii, 448 pp. The trial process is the sum of its parts-opening argument, direct and cross examination, and summation. In Trying Cases to Win, nationally known trial lawyer Herbert J. Stern provides an overall blueprint for conduct in the courtroom as he guides the reader through each of these segments. Rather than a collection of anecdotal war stories from various trials, Stern outlines the nuts and bolts of the right-and wrong-approach, processes and strategies for every component needed for trial success. Each volume is also available separately.
In this volume, Summation, Stern describes how to prepare and deliver a successful summation that will provide the jury with the final points of the argument.
Contents:
1. Two Modern Views of Summation;
2. The Purpose of Summation;
3. Preparing and Delivering a Summation;
4. Edward Bennett Williams Closes;
5. Judicial Instructions;
6. Ending the Summation;
7. Organizing the Argument;
8. Applications of the Principles to a Case: Colonial, Part I;
9. Do Not Equivocate;
10. Applications of the Principles to a Case: Colonial, Part II;
11. Do Not Answer Attacks-Attack;
12. Applications of the Principles to a Case: Colonial, Part III;
13. Postscript: Colonial's Final Lesson;
14. Impermissible Arguments;
15. damages;
16. Conclusion;
Index. Author Bio (3900 characters maximum): Herbert J. Stern is a highly regarded trial lawyer and accomplished teacher of trial techniques. A partner and founding member in the New Jersey law firm of Stern & Kilcullen, Stern is a former Federal Judge, having served as United States district judge for the District of New Jersey from 1974 to 1987. He established his reputation as an advocate while serving as a trial attorney with the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the United States Department of Justice from 1965 to 1969 and as United States attorney for the District of New Jersey from 1970 to 1974 when he won a national reputation for unprecedented convictions of numerous public officials. He was founder and Co-Director of the Advocacy Institute at the University of Virginia School of Law from 1980 to the present. He was Special Counsel for Hon. Lawrence Walsh, Independent Counsel, Iran-Contra Prosecution, 1988. Judge Stern was the subject of the book, Tiger in the Court (Chicago: Playboy Press, 1973). He is the author of Judgment in Berlin (New York: Universe Books, 1984) which was made into a major motion picture with Sean Penn, and Martin Sheen playing Judge Stern; and, most recently, Diary of a DA: The True Story of the Prosecutor Who Took On the Mob, Fought Corruption, and Won (New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2012). Review 1 (3900 characters maximum): ... a crowning achievement in a career devoted to helping all lawyers, from beginners to veterans, become more knowledgeable in the art of advocacy. Source: -- Arthur J. Greenbaum, Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, PC, New York, NY

This book centres on the war that raged between Eritrea and Ethiopia from 1998 to 2000, a war that caused great loss of life and tremendous devastation. It analyses the war in great detail from an international legal perspective: the nature and the state of the boundary conflict preceding the actual armed conflict, the military actions themselves, the role of the UN peace-keeping mission, the responsibility for the multitude of explosive remnants of the war left behind. Ample attention is paid to the decisions of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission and the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission. This study is not limited to the war and the period immediately following it, it also examines its more extended aftermath prolonging the analysis as far as the more recent improvement in the relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia, away from a situation of 'no war, no peace' that prevailed after the armed conflict ended. The analysis of the war and its aftermath is not only in terms of international legal issues, it has been placed in a wider than strictly legal perspective. The book is a valuable work for academics and practitioners in international law, human rights and humanitarian law in particular, for political scientists, diplomats, civil servants, historians, and all those others seriously interested in the Horn of Africa. Andrea de Guttry is Full Professor of Public International Law at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa, Italy. Harry H.G. Post is Adjunct Professor in the Faculte Libre de Droit of the Universite Catholique de Lille in Lille, France. Gabriella Venturini is Professor Emerita in the Dipartimento di Studi internazionali, giuridici e storico-politici of the Universita degli Studi di Milano in Milan, Italy.

This book analyses the mixed courts of professional and lay judges in the Japanese criminal justice system. It takes a particular focus on the highly public start of the mixed court, the saiban-in system, and the jury system between 1928-1943. This was the first time Japanese citizens participated as decision makers in criminal law. The book assesses reasons for the jury system's failure, and its suspension in 1943, as well as the renewed interest in popular involvement in criminal justice at the end of the twentieth century. Popular Participation in Japanese Criminal Justice proceeds by explaining the process by which lay participation in criminal trials left the periphery to become an important national matter at the turn of the century. It shows that rather than an Anglo-American jury model, outline recommendations made by the Japanese Judicial Reform Council were for a mixed court of judges and laypersons to try serious cases. Concerns about the lay judge/saiban-in system are raised, as well as explanations for why it is flourishing in contemporary society despite the failure of the jury system during the period 1928-1943. The book presents the wider significance of Japanese mixed courts in Asia and beyond, and in doing so will be of great interests to scholars of socio-legal studies, criminology and criminal justice.