'How the Law Works is a gem of a book, for law students and for everyone else. It is a must read for anyone interested in how society is shaped and controlled via law.' Dr Steven Vaughan, solicitor, Senior Lecturer, Birmingham Law School 'How the Law Works is a comprehensive, witty and easy-to-read guide to the law. I thoroughly recommend it to non-lawyers who want to improve their knowledge of the legal system and to potential students as an introduction to the law of England and Wales.' HH Judge Lynn Tayton QC Reviews of the first edition: 'A friendly, readable and surprisingly entertaining overview of what can be a daunting and arcane subject to the outsider.' The Law Teacher 'An easy-to-read, fascinating book . . . brimful with curios, anecdote and explanation.' The Times How the Law Works is a refreshingly clear and reliable guide to today's legal system. Offering interesting and comprehensive coverage, it makes sense of all the curious features of the law in day to day life and in current affairs. Explaining the law and legal jargon in plain English, it provides an accessible entry point to the different types of law and legal techniques, as well as today's compensation culture and human rights law. In addition to explaining the role of judges, lawyers, juries and parliament, it clarifies the mechanisms behind criminal and civil law. How the Law Works is essential reading for anyone approaching law for the first time, or for anyone who is interested in an engaging introduction to the subject's bigger picture.

Law: The Basics is an engaging introduction to one of the most complex areas of modern life. The book introduces both the main components of the legal system ? including judges, juries and law-makers - and key areas of law ? contract, civil negligence, and criminal law ? to provide the uninitiated with an ideal introduction to law. Key questions to be considered include:

• How are laws made?
• How do judges decide cases?
• What is the exact role of the EU in the legal system?
• What are your rights and duties under contract law?
• What is a crime and what are criminal defences?

Throughout the book, a wide range of contemporary cases are examined to relate key legal concepts to familiar examples and real world situations.

'How the Law Works is a gem of a book, for law students and for everyone else. It is a must read for anyone interested in how society is shaped and controlled via law.' Dr Steven Vaughan, solicitor, Senior Lecturer, Birmingham Law School 'How the Law Works is a comprehensive, witty and easy-to-read guide to the law. I thoroughly recommend it to non-lawyers who want to improve their knowledge of the legal system and to potential students as an introduction to the law of England and Wales.' HH Judge Lynn Tayton QC Reviews of the first edition: 'A friendly, readable and surprisingly entertaining overview of what can be a daunting and arcane subject to the outsider.' The Law Teacher 'An easy-to-read, fascinating book . . . brimful with curios, anecdote and explanation.' The Times How the Law Works is a refreshingly clear and reliable guide to today's legal system. Offering interesting and comprehensive coverage, it makes sense of all the curious features of the law in day to day life and in current affairs. Explaining the law and legal jargon in plain English, it provides an accessible entry point to the different types of law and legal techniques, as well as today's compensation culture and human rights law. In addition to explaining the role of judges, lawyers, juries and parliament, it clarifies the mechanisms behind criminal and civil law. How the Law Works is essential reading for anyone approaching law for the first time, or for anyone who is interested in an engaging introduction to the subject's bigger picture.

You've planned your revision and you know your subject inside out! But how do you apply what you have learned to get the best marks in the examination room? Routledge Q&As give you the ideal opportunity to practice and refine your exam technique, helping you to apply your knowledge most effectively in an exam situation. Each book contains approximately fifty essay and problem-based questions on topics commonly found on exam papers, complete with answer plans and fully worked model answers. Our authors have also highlighted common mistakes as well as offering you tips to achieve the very best marks. What's more, Routledge Q&As are written by lecturers who are also examiners, giving you an exclusive insight into exactly what examiners are looking for in an answer.

This title was first published in 2001. The central theme of this book is the activity of the multifarious agencies, local and central government departments, private companies and organizations, which act as prosecutors in the branch of the criminal justice system which deals with 95 per cent of all offences: the magistrates' court. There are over 30 prosecuting organizations (21 are featured in this text) which act regularly in over 400 courthouses in England and Wales. This activity, involving many people and a large amount of resources, accounts for approximately one fifth of all activity in the criminal courts, and yet almost no research has been conducted in this area. Based on a year's extensive study of all of the organization prosecutions brought before three magistrates' courts in different regions, the text analyzes a number of important issues, including the different approaches taken by the different organizations, their conviction rates, and the type of sentencing used for different sorts of cases.

This title was first published in 2001. The central theme of this book is the activity of the multifarious agencies, local and central government departments, private companies and organizations, which act as prosecutors in the branch of the criminal justice system which deals with 95 per cent of all offences: the magistrates' court. There are over 30 prosecuting organizations (21 are featured in this text) which act regularly in over 400 courthouses in England and Wales. This activity, involving many people and a large amount of resources, accounts for approximately one fifth of all activity in the criminal courts, and yet almost no research has been conducted in this area. Based on a year's extensive study of all of the organization prosecutions brought before three magistrates' courts in different regions, the text analyzes a number of important issues, including the different approaches taken by the different organizations, their conviction rates, and the type of sentencing used for different sorts of cases.

Whether you are engaged in the study of law, are considering studying law at university, are a business professional or want to find out more about the law in general, Slapper and Kelly's English Law offers a clear, lively and reliable point of entry to the law in England and Wales.

Presented in an easy-to-read style, it provides readers with an accurate explanation of how the English legal system currently works and the content of English law in all its key areas of operation, including criminal law, contract law and the law of negligence.

An invaluable introduction, English Law is an excellent resource for students of the English legal system and English law, as well as for professionals and general readers.

Whether you are engaged in the study of law, are considering studying law at university, are a business professional or want to find out more about the law in general, Slapper and Kelly's English Law offers a clear, lively and reliable point of entry to the law in England and Wales.

Presented in an easy-to-read style, it provides readers with an accurate explanation of how the English legal system currently works and the content of English law in all its key areas of operation, including criminal law, contract law and the law of negligence.

An invaluable introduction, English Law is an excellent resource for students of the English legal system and English law, as well as for professionals and general readers.

First published in 1999, this volume is based upon a detailed empirical study of 40 cases of commercially-related deaths - the first such English study. The cases are taken from 20 towns and cities in England. Slapper critically examines the theory and practice of the legal response to such deaths. The conduct of the Health and Safety Executive, the police, coroner, lawyers and the Crown Prosecution Service are analyzed in detail. He executes his analysis in three stages: events are first scrutinized in the context of the law that governs them; the deaths and official responses are then considered in the context of the psychology of the decision-makers; and finally the dramas are looked at in a wider context of political economy. Slapper draws several disturbing conclusions. His original empirical research, based on attending coroner's hearings and interviewing those interviewing those involved in enforcing safety laws, shows how and why potentially criminal behaviour at work is constructed as merely regulatory misbehaviour or even as no more than an unavoidable 'accident'.

First published in 1999, this volume is based upon a detailed empirical study of 40 cases of commercially-related deaths - the first such English study. The cases are taken from 20 towns and cities in England. Slapper critically examines the theory and practice of the legal response to such deaths. The conduct of the Health and Safety Executive, the police, coroner, lawyers and the Crown Prosecution Service are analyzed in detail. He executes his analysis in three stages: events are first scrutinized in the context of the law that governs them; the deaths and official responses are then considered in the context of the psychology of the decision-makers; and finally the dramas are looked at in a wider context of political economy. Slapper draws several disturbing conclusions. His original empirical research, based on attending coroner's hearings and interviewing those interviewing those involved in enforcing safety laws, shows how and why potentially criminal behaviour at work is constructed as merely regulatory misbehaviour or even as no more than an unavoidable 'accident'.

Form-Meaning Connections in Second Language Acquisition is an interdisciplinary and timely edited book of essays and empirical studies, most of which are based on the papers presented at the Form and Meaning Conference held in Chicago in 2002. The goal of the conference and now of the book is to present linguistic and cognitive approaches to second language acquisition, attempting to integrate external and internal issues in interlanguage development, while outlining directions for future research. The editors address questions, such as: What is the nature and sequence of the form-meaning mapping process? How are these connections made? How are these connections used to construct grammars and lexicons? And, how can conditions and external factors be manipulated to improve the chances of making these form-meaning connections? Contributors to this volume include such second language acquisition scholars as Susan Gass, Nick Ellis, Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig, Catherine Doughty, and Diane Larsen-Freeman. They address these form-meaning issues from a variety of settings and from multiple perspectives. Researchers and graduate students in applied linguistics, cognitive psychology, linguistics, and language pedagogy will find this volume to be an important resource.

Law: The Basics is an engaging introduction to one of the most complex areas of modern life. The book introduces both the main components of the legal system including judges, juries and law-makers - and key areas of law contract, civil negligence, and criminal law to provide the uninitiated with an ideal introduction to law. Key questions to be considered include:

• How are laws made?
• How do judges decide cases?
• What is the exact role of the EU in the legal system?
• What are your rights and duties under contract law?
• What is a crime and what are criminal defences?

Throughout the book, a wide range of contemporary cases are examined to relate key legal concepts to familiar examples and real world situations.

This book, the third in a series, provides another instalment of extraordinary cases from around the world. Based on the author's popular Times Online column, Further Weird Cases draws on cases and stories from many countries, including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Mexico, Italy, Japan, Romania, and China and contains a great variety of shockingly strange. funny, and entertaining courtroom dramas. The cases featured in Further Weird Cases are those that truly stand out as odd, even among all the unusual dramas that challenge the courts: a man from Florida who had his hand bitten off by an alligator and was then convicted of "illegally feeding an alligator"; a man imprisoned for 50 years for stealing a packet of pork ribs; two men in Italy who broke the law by dying in a place where it was illegal to die; the case in Scotland that collapsed when a dog due to give evidence died before the trial; a case in Brazil in which an election candidate had tried to gain votes by including a free sample of cocaine with each election leaflet; a case determining whether it is theft for a shopper to go to the 'free sample' counter of meat in a supermarket, fill two bags with the samples, and exit; and what happened to the defendant who urinated in the judge's waste paper bin. These further weird cases are organised in themed chapters related to topics such as sex and love, food and drink, unusual punishments, pets and animals, and driving. This book is highly entertaining for anyone who enjoys reading about the more bizarre aspects of human life that fetch up in the law courts at the beginning of the 21st century.

In a time when multinational corporations have become truly globalised, demands for global standards on their behaviour are increasingly difficult to dismiss. Work conditions in sweatshops, widespread destruction of the environment, and pharmaceutical trials in third world countries are only the tip of the iceberg. This timely collection of essays addresses the interface between the calls for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the demands for an extension of international human rights standards. Scholars from a vast variety of backgrounds provide expert yet accessible accounts of questions of law, politics, economics and international relations and how they relate to one another, while also encouraging non-legal perspectives on how businesses operate within and around human rights. The result is an essential incursion for a wide range of scholars, practitioners and students in law, development, business studies and international studies, in this emerging area of human rights.

Based on the author's popular Times Online column 'Weird Cases', this book draws on extraordinary cases from many countries, including the UK, USA, Canada, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Italy, Romania, and China. The result is a highly entertaining read for anyone who enjoys reading about the more bizarre aspects of human life that fetch up in the law courts at the beginning of the 21st century. Courts have seen judges do things like try to turn off a musical tie playing "We wish you a merry Christmas" while sentencing a defendant to prison, fall fast asleep in the middle of trials, flip a coin to decide a case, demand a foot massage from a clerk, and get sentenced for judicial racketeering. Courts have listened to the defences like that of a bogus dentist caught using DIY tools on his patients, a man who based his defence on being as hapless as Homer Simpson, and a woman who was running a brothel from an office in the criminal courts. Courts have seen a litigant sue for becoming pregnant by a stray sperm in a swimming pool, and a litigant suddenly strip naked before the judges. The cases featured in Weird Cases are those that truly stand out as odd, even among all the unusual dramas that challenge the courts. The chapters are: Compensation and Punishment, Love and Sex, Food, Drink, and Drugs, Judges, Death and Violence, Pets and Animals, On the Road, Lawyers, and Jurors, Friends, and Neighbours.

Routledge Q&As give you the tools to practice and refine your exam technique, showing you how to apply your knowledge to maximum effect in an exam situation. Each book contains up to fifty essay and problem-based questions on the most commonly examined topics, complete with expert guidance and fully worked model answers. These new editions for 2013-2014 will provide you with the skills you need for your exams by: Helping you to be prepared: each title in the series has an introduction presenting carefully tailored advice on how to approach assessment for your subject Showing you what examiners are looking for: each question is annotated with both a short overview on how to approach your answer, as well as footnoted commentary that demonstrate how model answers meet marking criteria Offering pointers on how to gain marks, as well as what common errors could lose them: `Aim Higher' and `Common Pitfalls' offer crucial guidance throughout Helping you to understand and remember the law: diagrams for each answer work to illuminate difficult legal principles and provide overviews of how model answers are structured Books in the series are also supported by a Companion Website that offers online essay-writing tutorials, podcasts, bonus Q&As and multiple-choice questions to help you focus your revision more effectively.