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The Transformation of American Law, 1780-1860 (Paperback, Revised)
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The Transformation of American Law, 1780-1860 (Paperback, Revised)
Series: Studies in Legal History
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Awarded the Bancroft Prize in American History in 1978, Morton J.
Horwitz's The Transformation of American Law, 1780-1860 is
considered one of the most significant works ever published in
American legal history. Since its publication in 1977, it has
become the standard source on early nineteenth-century American
law. In this monumental book, Morton J. Horwitz offers a sweeping
overview of the emergence of our national (and modern) legal system
from English and colonial antecedents. He begins with the common
law, which emerged during the eighteenth century as the standard
doctrine with which to solve disputes in an egalitarian manner. He
shows that the turning point in the use of common law came after
1790, when the law was slowly transformed to favor economic growth
and development, and the courts began to spur economic competition
rather than circumscribe it. This new instrumental law would
flourish during the nineteenth century as the legal profession and
the mercantile elite forged a mutually beneficial alliance to gain
wealth and power. Horwitz also demonstrates how the emergence of
contract law corresponded to the development of economic and legal
institutions of exchange. And he discusses how the rise of the
market economy influenced legal practices, how contracts became
ways to negate preexisting common law duties, and how (to the
benefit of entrepreneurs and commercial groups) the courts were
able to overthrow earlier anticommercial legal rules. Previous
historical studies have viewed law and policy as an accurate
reflection of the needs of an undifferentiated society. In The
Transformation of American Law, Horwitz successfully challenges
this misconception and shows how, in theeighty years after the
American Revolution, a major change in law took place in which
aspects of social struggle turned to legal channels for resolution.
Looking into the distribution of wealth and power during this time,
Horwitz finds indeed that the change in legal ideology enabled
commercial groups to win a disproportionate amount of wealth and
power in American society. An accessible account of the history of
law, this is a powerful statement on the great role of the legal
system in American economic development.
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