If your adult child becomes incapacitated or dies, you do not automatically gain custody of your grandchildren. Sometimes, depending on the age of the children and whether or not they are adoptable will determine who gets custody. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal bonus monies are given to states each year when they exceed the number of adoptions from the previous year. Your grandchild may be needed to help reach the numbers necessary for your state to receive its bonus.

Previous works on Southern African law have been directed primarily to lawyers and students of law within Southern Africa; this is the first major text on the topic written for use in common law countries. The book identifies and describes judgments in Southern Africa courts that are significant for their treatment of conflicts and tort issues and can serve as authorities or models in common law jurisdictions. The most important legislative reforms in related subjects are also described. The text provides lawyers in common law countries access to the Southern African cases and statutes most pertinent to questions of conflict of laws and torts that arise in common law jurisdiction. The judgments surveyed span the years 1947 to the present. Most are from South Africa and Zimbabwe (before and after independence), Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, and South West Africa/Namibia; the South African national states are also represented. Helpful English-language commentaries on cases and statutes discussed in the text are cited in the notes. Quick reference tables of cases and statutes, and indexes of principal works cited and abbrevations complete this useful guide. This invaluable sourcebook will allow lawyers and scholars in common law countries to benefit from recognition and appropriate use of Southern Africa's contributions to the common law in torts and conflict of laws.

Should judges in United States courts be permitted to cite foreign laws in their rulings? In this book Jeremy Waldron explores some ideas in jurisprudence and legal theory that could underlie the Supreme Court's occasional recourse to foreign law, especially in constitutional cases. He argues that every society is governed not only by its own laws but partly also by laws common to all mankind (ius gentium). But he takes the unique step of arguing that this common law is not natural law but a grounded consensus among all nations. The idea of such a consensus will become increasingly important in jurisprudence and public affairs as the world becomes more globalized.

Many advocates of euthanasia consider the criminal law to be an inappropriate medium to adjudicate the profound ethical and humanitarian dilemmas associated with end of life decisions. Euthanasia, Death with Dignity and the Law examines the legal response to euthanasia and end of life decisions and considers whether legal reform is an appropriate response to calls for euthanasia to be more readily available as a mechanism for providing death with dignity. Through an analysis of consent to treatment, living wills and autonomous medical decision making, euthanasia is carefully located within its legal, medical, and social contexts. This book focuses on the impact of euthanasia on the dignity of both the recipient and the practitioner while emphasizing the legal, professional, and ethical implications of euthanasia and its significance for the exercise of clinical discretion. It will provide a valuable addition to the euthanasia debate.

As the Baby Boomer generation ages and the sandwich generation is stressed between caring for children and caring for parents, questions are cropping up all across the nation: How can I protect the nest egg I've worked so hard to create? What happens to my assets if I die unexpectedly? Will I be able to afford long-term care?

In "Asset Protection Planning for Seniors," attorney Michael A. Babiarz shares numerous examples of the real-life problems that aging Americans face today.

This is not another confusing form book or technical manual. "Asset Protection Planning for Seniors" is a simple, helpful guide, filled with examples aimed at addressing the basic concerns of older Americans-you

Stop worrying and start learning about: Nursing homes Medicaid planning Wills Trusts Probate Avoiding family problems Protecting inheritance Powers of attorney

The leading case of The Mayor, Alderman and Burgesses of the Borough of Bradford v Pickles was the first to establish that it is not unlawful for a property owner to exercise his or her property rights maliciously and to the detriment of others, or the public interest. Though controversial at the time, today it is often invisible and taken for granted. This book explores why the common law, in contrast to civil law systems, developed in this way.

This book deals with adoption laws and practices in small island developing states in the Pacific. It commences with an introductory chapter giving an overview of relevant laws and practices and pulling together the common themes and issues raised in the book. Each of the following chapters deals with adoption law and practice in a small South Pacific country. The countries in question all have plural legal systems, with systems of adoption and its closest customary law equivalent operating side by side. In most cases, there is an insufficiently developed relationship between the two systems, which has resulted in a number of problems. Additionally, international law adds another layer of complexity. Size and remoteness in the small states under discussion have a profound impact on local practices.

This book contains original essays by a distinguished group of jurists from six different European countries confronting the increasing range of legal and philosophical issues arising from the relationship between privacy and the criminal law. The collection is particularly timely in light of the incorporation into English law of the European Convention on Human Rights. It compares legal cultures and underlying assumptions with regard to the private sphere,personal autonomy and the supposed justifications for State interference through criminalization and the implementation of substantive criminal law. The book moves from treatment of general ideas like the relationship between sovereignty, the nation-state and substantive criminal law in the new European context, (with its concomitant aspiration towards the establishment of transnational morality) to more detailed consideration of specific areas of substantive law and procedure, viewed from a range of perspectives. Areas considered include euthanasia, surrogacy, female genital mutilation and sado-masochism.

It has become increasingly difficult to speak or even think social or legal justice in an age when words have left their moorings. Perhaps images are more stable than words; maybe images and imagery possess a certain viscosity,even a sensory quality, which prevents them from evaporating. This 'maybe' is what this book is about. The contributors to this collection explore the issue of how the Imaginary (images, imagery, imagination) has a role in the production and reproduction of 'visions' of legal and social justice. It argues that 'visions' of justice are inevitably bounded. Boundaries of 'visions' of justice, however, are also 'imaginary'. They emerge within imaginary spaces, and, as they are 'imaginary', they are inherently unstable. The book captures an emerging interest (in the humanities and social sciences) in images and the visual, or the Imaginary more broadly. This collection will appeal to scholars and students of social and legal theory, visual culture, justice and governance studies, media studies, and criminology.

This book engages the diverse meanings and interpretations of Islamic and Western law which have affected people and societies across the globe, past and present, in correlation to the epistemological groundings of those meanings and interpretations. The volume takes a distinctively comparative approach, advancing dialogue on crucial transnational and global debates over the history of Western and Islamic approaches to law, politics and society and their relevance for today. It discusses how fundamental concepts are understood and even translated from one historical or political context or one semantic domain to another. The book provides focused studies of key figures and theories in a manageable, accessible format useful for specialized academic courses and research as well as general audiences.

An historical analysis of the development and reform of the law of prior obligations as expressed in preexisting duty rule and past consideration rule. Teeven's principal focus is on the judicial rationalization of common law reforms to partially remove the bar to enforcement of promises grounded in the past. This study traces American deviations from English common law doctrine over the past two centuries in developing theories to overcome traditional impediments to recovery presented by the law of prior obligations. It also explores ideas for further reforms found buried in past case law. The growing unease with both the dashing of legitimate consensual expectations and the perceived unfairness to naive, ill-informed, and otherwise disadvantaged parties served as the impetus for liberalization of the exclusive contract bargain test. The resultant reforms adhered to the modern realist emphasis on fairness. The expansion of contractual liability to include promises looking to the past encompasses some of the most important reforms of the consideration contract since its genesis. As a consequence, contractual liability can no longer be defined solely in terms of bargain consideration since contract law now includes a broader range of promissory liability.

Restorative Justice has emerged around the world as a potent challenge to traditional models of criminal justice,and restorative programmes, policies and legislative reforms are being implemented in many western nations. However, the underlying aims, values and limits of this new paradigm remain somewhat uncertain and those advocating Restorative Justice have rarely engaged in systematic debate with those defending more traditional conceptions of criminal justice. This volume, containing contributions from scholars of international renown, provides an analytic exploration of Restorative Justice and its potential advantages and disadvantages. Chapters of the book examine the aims and limiting principles that should govern Restorative Justice, its appropriate scope of application, its social and legal contexts, its practice and impact in a number of jurisdictions and its relation to more traditional criminal-justice conceptions. These questions are addressed by twenty distinguished criminologists and legal scholars in papers which make up this volume. These contributions will help clarify the aims that Restorative Justice might reasonably hope to achieve, the limits that should apply in pursuing these aims, and how restorative strategies might comport with, or replace, other penal strategies. Contributors: Andrew Ashworth, Anthony E Bottoms, John Braithwaite, Kathleen Daly, James Dignan, R A Duff, Carolyn Hoyle, Barbara Hudson, Leena Kurki, Allison Morris, Kent Roach, Julian V Roberts, Paul Roberts, Mara Schiff, Joanna Shapland, Clifford Shearing, Daniel van Ness, Andrew von Hirsch, Lode Walgrave, Richard Young.

"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. Hardcover. 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.)

Offers a comprehensive overview of the legislation and legal issues surrounding animals. Written by Jordan Curnutt, Animals and the Law covers everything from the Silver Spring monkeys, subjects in the first U.S. lab raided by police where criminal charges were filed against a scientist conducting federally funded research, to sex with animals. Among the subjects reviewed are kosher and Halal food restrictions, mad cow disease and cattle cannibalism, animals in laboratories, and as entertainment-in circuses, zoos, rodeos, horse racing, cockfighting, and more. Also included are appendixes of animal organizations, cases, statutes and regulations, and an extensive bibliography. Includes a list of major animal organizations actively engaged in legal matters on a national level Includes tables of cases, authorities, statutes, and regulations

"Works such as A Law of Her Own expose the injustices in our society, provide different perspectives, and stimulate discussion. . . . Forell and Matthews' contribution to the debate should not be overlooked."
--"Law & Life"

Despite the apparent progress in women's legal status, the law retains a profoundly male bias, and as such contributes to the pervasive violence and injustice against women.

In A Law of Her Own, the authors propose to radically change law's fundamental paradigm by introducing a "reasonable woman standard" for measuring men's behavior. Advocating that courts apply this standard to the conduct of men-and women-in legal settings where women are overwhelmingly the injured parties, the authors seek to eliminate the victimization and objectification of women by dismantling part of the legal structure that supports their subordination.

A woman-based legal standard-focusing on respect for bodily integrity, agency, and autonomy-would help rectify the imbalance in how society and its legal system view sexual and gender-based harassment, rape, stalking, battery, domestic imprisonment, violence, and death.

Examining the bias of the existing "reasonable person" standard through analysis of various court cases and judicial decisions, A Law of Her Own aims to balance the law to incorporate women's values surrounding sex and violence.

Gershon Brin examines the development of biblical law, suggesting that it may be due to different authors with different legal outlooks, or that the differing policies were required in response to different social needs, etc. Biblical laws appearing in the Dead Sea Scrolls literature are treated in a separate unit. Study of this subject can shed light both on the biblical laws as such, as well as on the manner of their reworking by the Judaean Desert sect. Brin also discusses here questions of the style, the idea, and the historical and ideological background underlying the reworking of these laws in Qumran. The second part of the book presents a comprehensive picture of the issues involved in the laws of the first-born, a subject that has legal, social and religious implications.

China's explosive transformation from a planned economy to a more market-oriented one over the past three decades owes much to the charismatic reformer Zhu Rongji. As China's premier from 1998 to 2003, Zhu displayed a pragmatism and strong work ethic that have been key forces in China's drive to greater modernization and global stature. During this time, Zhu embarked on a plan to reduce the size of government and reform the heavily indebted banking system and state-owned enterprises as well as to overhaul the housing and health care systems. His sweeping efforts ranged from lobbying for the establishment of stock exchanges to revitalizing agriculture through the introduction of a modern grain market. The ramifications of these reforms are still being felt throughout China and the globe, and The Road to Reformprovides a real-time look at these plans as they were being formulated during the 1990s to the early 2000s. The second of a two-volume collection containing more than 100 speeches and personal papers by Zhu, this volume is a revealing and insightful look at Zhu's thinking and will lead to greater understanding of one of the world's two largest economic powers.

The Bible is not written as a handbook for lawyers, politicians and civil servants setting out a theology of human law. Its concern is the dealings of God with human beings and of human beings with God. What then does the Bible have to say about human laws and legal systems? Looking back to the Old Testament, to the Mosaic Law, the biblical model of kingship and the prophetic call to justice, barrister David McIlroy presents a Christian perspective on the biblical view of law and justice. He also examines the claims and teachings of Christ as King, specifically contrasting these with Caesar, a king of the world. The book then concludes with a reflection on the place of human laws in the light of the Last Judgment. A Biblical View of Law and Justice seeks to wrestle with the biblical message of justice, giving Christian lawyers, civil servants and politicians a renewed vision and understanding of the potential of their work in the post-Christendom world.

Geoffrey Samuel's distinctive approach is to present the English common law in the light of its history and its dominant ideas. A student will learn not only what are the major rules of private law and civil law procedure, but will grasp the spirit of the common law. He will thus learn why they exist in a particular form and how common lawyers make them work. Civilian terms are used to provide a guide for the student from a civil law system to understand the initially strange terms and approaches of the common lawyer. This book is clear and insightful. It should be read particularly by Masters students and those embarking on a doctorate involving study of the common law.' - John Bell, Pembroke College, UK'To write a good introduction to the common law aimed mainly at civil lawyers is a real challenge. One needs not only to master the common law, its history and its sociological backgrounds, but also to understand how the prospective readers think in their own civilian legal systems. With his longstanding teaching activities in civil law countries, his obvious deep knowledge of the historical roots of civil and common law, Geoffrey Samuel offers here a book which should be pressed into every hands across the civil law world. Finally, we get here an introduction to the common law truly written for civilian lawyers and students, which is easy to understand and thoughtful. A brilliant piece for which the author should be praised.' - Pascal Pichonnaz, University of Fribourg, Switzerland 'Common law has remained enigmatic for lawyers from the civil law legal culture. This book presents a wonderfully compact introduction to the English common law and explains concisely why it is as it is today. Geoffrey Samuel offers insightful and scholarly first-rate representation of those characteristics which stand out for the civil law lawyer. Clarifying and supporting diagrams are especially helpful for non-common law lawyers. Samuel's A Short Introduction to the Common Law is highly recommended for anyone looking for clear and fluently written basic insight into the common law and its historical foundation.' - Jaakko Husa, University of Lapland, Finland This book provides a short, accessible introduction to the English common law tradition, in particular to the civil process. It adopts an approach which explains the historical development of the common law institutions and procedures whilst also setting them in perspective through a comparative outlook. Aspects of the common law are contrasted on occasions with structural or functional equivalents (or near equivalents) in the civil law. The key topics covered include: the English civil courts (and other dispute resolution institutions and alternatives), civil procedure, remedies, sources of law, legal reasoning, legal education, legal theories, legal institutions and concepts and legal categories. In addition to textual description and analysis, the book makes frequent use of visual diagrams to explain and to illustrate aspects of the common law. Providing both an overview of the English common law and an insight into the legal mentality of common lawyers, the book will appeal both to first year law students as well as to continental jurists who are investigating the common law for the first time. Contents: Preface Introduction 1. Development of the English Courts 2. Development of the English Procedural Tradition 3. English Law Remedies 4. English Legal Education and English Legal Thought (1): Sources and Methods 5. English Legal Education and English Legal Thought (2): Academic Theories 6. Legal Institutions and Concepts in the Common Law (1): Persons and Things 7. Legal Institutions and Concepts in the Common Law (2): Causes of Action and Obligations Concluding Remarks Bibliography Index

This is the first comprehensive bibliography of the major readings in English, Spanish, and Portuguese relating to the legal systems of Latin America and to the political, economic, and social developments that helped to shape them. Snyder's bibliography is arranged according to a convenient and detailed outline of issues and subject areas. References appear under three principle categories: the influence of history and tradition; the interplay of politics, economics, ideology, and convention in the evolution of legal thought and legal systems; and the legal implications of Latin American responses to colonial dependency and to the challenges of development.

In his collection George extends the critique of liberalism he expounded in Making Men Moral and also goes beyond it to show how contemporary natural law theory provides a superior way of thinking about basic problems of justice and political morality. It is written with the same combination of stylistic elegance and analytical rigour that distinguished his critical work. Not content merely to defend natural law from its cultural despisers, he deftly turns the tables and deploys the idea to mount a stunning attack on regnant liberal beliefs about such issues as abortion, sexuality, and the place of religion in public life.