Why do some people take a neighbor to court over a barking dog or some other nuisance while others accept the pains and losses associated with defective products or discrimination without seeking legal recourse? Patricia Ewick and Susan S. Silbey collected accounts of the law from more than four hundred people of diverse backgrounds in order to explore the different ways that people use and experience it. Their fascinating and original study identifies three narratives of law common to the stories people tell. One is based on the perception that the law is magisterial and remote. Another views the law as a game with rules that can be manipulated to one's advantage. A third describes the law as an arbitrary power that can be actively resisted. Drawing on these extensive case studies, Ewick and Silbey interweave individual experiences with an analysis that constructs a coherent and compelling theory of legality. A groundbreaking study of law and narrative, The Common Place of Law shows an institution as it is lived: strange and familiar, imperfect and ordinary, and at the center of daily life.

The Continuity of Legal Systems in Theory and Practice examines a persistent and fascinating question about the continuity of legal systems: when is a legal system existing at one time the same legal system that exists at another time? The book's distinctive approach to this question is to combine abstract critical analysis of two of the most developed theories of legal systems, those of Hans Kelsen and Joseph Raz, with an evaluation of their capacity, in practice, to explain the facts, attitudes and normative standards for which they purport to account. That evaluation is undertaken by reference to Australian constitutional law and history, whose diverse and complex phenomena make it particularly apt for evaluating the theories' explanatory power. In testing whether the depiction of Australian law presented by each theory achieves an adequate 'fit' with historical facts, the book also contributes to the understanding of Australian law and legal systems between 1788 and 2001. By collating the relevant Australian materials systematically for the first time, it presents the case for reconceptualising the role of Imperial laws and institutions during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and clarifies the interrelationship between Colonial, State, Commonwealth and Imperial legal systems, both before and after Federation.

In this now classic text, December Green and Laura Luehrmann show how history, economics, and politics converge to create the realities of life in the Global South. The authors offer an innovative blend of theory and empirical material as they introduce the politics of what was once called the “third world.� They consistently link theoretical concepts to a set of eight contemporary case studies: China, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, and Zimbabwe. Features of the fourth edition, revised and updated from cover to cover, include: • An entirely new case study, Egypt. • Analysis of the status of regime transitions around the world. • A “report card� on the Millennium Development Goals. • Attention to the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development and the New Development Bank. • More discussion of contentious politics, social mobilization and everyday forms of resistance. • New material on such continuing challenges as migration, human trafficking, weapons proliferation, pandemic diseases, and the impact of climate change. • An assessment of continuity and change in `international relations, with particular attention to policies during the Obama presidency and the significance for the Global South of the new US administration. The result is a text that has been successfully designed to challenge students’ preconceptions, arouse their curiosity, and foster critical thinking.  

Brad's passion for nursing home abuse cases stems from a personal tragedy that happened to a member of his family. Brad's goal in his work and for this book is to prevent the same type of tragedy from happening to others. This step by step guide provides practical guidance for families with relatives in nursing homes.

Law Of Persons, now in its sixth edition, has become a standard text on the South African law of persons. The book was first published in 1995, just after the dawn of South Africa’s first democratic dispensation. The book constitutes a general and fully referenced source on the law of persons, and reflects the transformation of the law of persons in line with the values entrenched in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, with specific reference to the Bill of Rights.

First-year students will derive the most benefit from Law of Persons if the book is used in conjunction with the Law of Persons Sourcebook.

Contents Include:

• Table of Cases
• Table of Statutes
• Definition of concepts
• Beginning of legal subjectivity
• Domicile
• Effect of age on status
• Children of unmarried parents
• Diverse factors which influence status
• Termination of legal subjectivity
• Index