Wilhelm Kisch war ein angesehener Rechtswissenschaftler auf den Gebieten Bürgerliches Recht, Zivilprozessrecht, Gewerblicher Rechtsschutz und Versicherungsrecht während vier Epochen deutscher Zeitgeschichte. Die Untersuchung zeichnet vornehmlich auf der Grundlage uneditierten Quellenmaterials sein Leben und Wirken als unpolitischer, nationalgesinnter Professor von der Kaiserzeit über die Weimarer Republik, dem Dritten Reich bis in die Nachkriegszeit nach. Kisch galt als überaus begabter Pädagoge. Er prägte maßgeblich die Entwicklung des Juristischen Seminars an der Universität München sowie der noch heute bestehenden Vereinigung Deutscher Zivilprozessrechtslehrer. Der Schwerpunkt der Studie liegt auf der Untersuchung seines zwischen Anpassung und Ablehnung liegenden Engagements im Nationalsozialismus insbesondere seiner Tätigkeit als Vizepräsident der von Hans Frank gegründeten Akademie für Deutsches Recht und als Schlüsselfigur ihrer Kooperation mit der Universität München in den Anfangsjahren des Dritten Reichs. Trotz seiner freiwilligen Pensionierung und seines frühen Rücktritts als Vizepräsident gelang ihm in der Folgezeit keine deutliche Distanzierung vom Nationalsozialismus.

A ground-breaking study of the lawbooks which were created in the changing social and political climate of post-conquest Wales. The Middle Ages in Wales were turbulent, with society and culture in constant flux. Edward I of England's 1282 conquest brought with it major changes to society, governance, power and identity, and thereby to the traditional system of the law. Despite this, in the post-conquest period the development of law in Wales and the March flourished, and many manuscripts and lawbooks were created to meet the needs of those who practised law. This study, the first to fully reappraise the entire corpus of law manuscripts since Aneurin Owen's seminal 1841 edition, begins by considering the background to the creation of the law from the earliest period, particularly from c.1100 onwards, before turning to the "golden age" of lawmaking in thirteenth-century Gwynedd. The nature of the law in south Wales is also examined in full, with a particular focus on later developments, including the different use of legal texts in that region and its fourteenth- and fifteenth-century manuscripts. The author approaches medieval Welsh law, its practice, texts and redactions, in their own contexts, rather than through the lens of later historiography. In particular, she shows that much manuscript material previously considered "additional" or "anomalous" in fact incorporates new legal material and texts written for a particular purpose: thanks to their flexible accommodation of change, adjustment and addition, Welsh lawbooks were not just shaped by, but indeed shaped, medieval Welsh law.

In 1987, the United States Supreme Court decided a case that could have ended the death penalty in the United States. Imprisoned by the Past: Warren McCleskey and the American Death Penalty examines the long history of the American death penalty and its connection to the case of Warren McCleskey, revealing how that case marked a turning point for the history of the death penalty. In this book, Jeffrey L. Kirchmeier explores one of the most important Supreme Court cases in history, a case that raised important questions about race and punishment, and ultimately changed the way we understand the death penalty today. McCleskey's case resulted in one of the most important Supreme Court decisions in U.S. history, where the Court confronted evidence of racial discrimination in the administration of capital punishment. The case currently marks the last time that the Supreme Court had a realistic chance of completely striking down capital punishment. As such, the case also marked a turning point in the death penalty debate in the country. Going back nearly four centuries, this book connects McCleskey's life and crime to the issues that have haunted the American death penalty debate since the first executions by early settlers through the modern twenty-first century death penalty. Imprisoned by the Past ties together three unique American stories. First, the book considers the changing American death penalty across centuries where drastic changes have occurred in the last fifty years. Second, the book discusses the role that race played in that history. And third, the book tells the story of Warren McCleskey and how his life and legal case brought together the other two narratives.

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 a 2010 Foreword and extensive notes by Steven Alan Childress, J.D., Ph.D., a senior 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 historians, law students, lawyers, and anyone wanting to understand his great book. No previous edition of this classic work has offered annotations or explanatory inserts. 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 a recommended read before law school or in the 1L year. High quality hardcover edition from Quid Pro's Legal Legends Series. Holmes (1841-1935) was a legendary Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Before that, he was an influential legal scholar who brought pragmatism to a new age of legal thought.