A Judgment for Solomon - The d'Hauteville Case and Legal Experience in Antebellum America (Hardcover)

From the Salem witchcraft trials of the 1690s to the Rodney King and O. J. Simpson trials of the 1990s, highly publicized court cases have both disclosed and shaped changes in American society. In this volume, Michael Grossberg examines the d'Hauteville child custody battle of 1840 to explore some timebound and timeless features of American legal culture. He recounts how marital woes led Ellen and Gonzalve d'Hauteville into what Alexis de Tocqueville called the "shadow of the law". Their bitter custody fight over their two-year-old son forced the pair to confront contradictions between their own ideas about justice and the realities of the law, as well as to endure the transformation of their domestic unhappiness into a public legal event with lawyers, judges, newspaper reporters, and a popular following. The d'Hautevilles' multiple legal experiences culminated in an eagerly followed Philadelphia trial that sparked a national debate over the legal rights and duties of parents and spouses. The story of the d'Hauteville case explains why popular trials become "precedents of legal experience" - mediums for debates about highly contested social issues. It also demonstrates the ability of individual women and men to contribute to legal change by turning to the law to fight for what they want.

General

Imprint:	Cambridge UniversityPress
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Series:	Cambridge Historical Studies in American Law and Society
Release date:	1996
First published:	1996
Authors:	Michael Grossberg
Dimensions:	236 x 156 x 25mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	296
ISBN-13:	978-0-521-55206-6
Categories:	Books > Law > Laws of other jurisdictions & general law > General Books > Humanities > History > World history > 1750 to 1900 Books > Humanities > History > American history > General Books > History > American history > General Books > History > World history > 1750 to 1900
LSN:	0-521-55206-0
Barcode:	9780521552066

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