What should the people expect from their legal officials? This book asks whether officials can be moral and still follow the law, answering that the law requires them to do so. It revives the idea of the good official - the good lawyer, the good judge, the good president, the good legislator - that guided Cicero and Washington and that we seem to have forgotten. Based on stories and law cases from America's founding to the present, this book examines what is good and right in law and why officials must care. This overview of official duties, from oaths to the law itself, explains how morals and law work together to create freedom and justice, and it provides useful maxims to argue for the right answer in hard cases. Important for scholars but useful for lawyers and readable by anybody, this book explains how American law ought to work.

What should the people expect from their legal officials? This book asks whether officials can be moral and still follow the law, answering that the law requires them to do so. It revives the idea of the good official - the good lawyer, the good judge, the good president, the good legislator - that guided Cicero and Washington and that we seem to have forgotten. Based on stories and law cases from America's founding to the present, this book examines what is good and right in law and why officials must care. This overview of official duties, from oaths to the law itself, explains how morals and law work together to create freedom and justice, and it provides useful maxims to argue for the right answer in hard cases. Important for scholars but useful for lawyers and readable by anybody, this book explains how American law ought to work.

American Law in a Global Context is an elegant and erudite introduction to the American legal system from a global persepctive. There is no basic book that introduces the foreign lawyer who has already studied the law of foreign jurisdictions to fundamental concepts of American law and legal practice. This book fills that void. Using a comparative approach, George P. Fletcher and Steve Sheppard introduce underlying principles of common and civil law, constitutional, criminal, and public law, and property and procedure. Designed to help the foreign student grasp the basic ideas of pedagogy, legal institutions and substantive law in the US, appendices include an introduction to the common law method, instruction on how to read a case, the interpretation of statutes, and an introduction to the Federal system and US courts systems. A must-own reference source for LLM students, undergraduates, and students of US law in other countries.

In the updated, fourth edition of this classic text which has been translated into over a dozen languages, constitutional scholar and Columbia Law School professor E. Allan Farnsworth provides a clear explanation of the structure and function of the U.S. legal system in one handy reference. AnIntroduction to the Legal System of the United States, Fourth Edition is designed to be a general introduction to the structure and function of the legal system of the United States, and is especially useful for those readers who lack familiarity with fundamental establishments and practices.
This text also gives the reader a clear understanding of how to research the law, the importance of case law versus statutes, and the difference between private and public law. It illustrates issues that may be confusing or troublesome and provides a solid general overview. It includes a new introduction by Steve Sheppard.

When a bomb explodes in front of Dawson on a sunny June morning, he is lucky to escape with his life, certainly luckier than the man he is following. However, waking up several hours later in the bilges of a ship apparently heading for the Baltic Sea is quite depressing as it wasn't how he'd planned to spend his weekend. Who was the man assassinated by the bomb? Who has kidnapped Dawson, and will Lucy Smith find him in time? What is happening deep underground in leafy Surrey and rural Estonia? Is there a double-agent in MI6? Who are the tantalising Sesks twins really working for? Can Dawson and Lucy distinguish Wright from Rong? And can Dawson avoid being bored to death? Praise for A Very Important Teapot Not all writers can carry off a sense of humour in their books; for want of trying it's easy to go over the top. Steve Sheppard, however, nails it just right. His central character, Dawson, lands himself purely by accident in a job with indistinct connections to British Intelligence, and gets shunted off to Australia in search of... he isn't really told. But part of the build-up lies in the arrival of a tea-set, of which the teapot catches his attention. Well, it would, wouldn't it? This is a thriller, a chase, a buddy story, a mystery (certainly for Dawson, who starts out off the back foot but manages to survive several rugged encounters), all smoothly told with hugely engaging characters, and rips along at a hectic pace. If you like some smiles, even chuckles, with your reading, this is great fun but doesn't dissolve into slapstick. Adrian Magson, prolific crime and spy thriller author, including Hostile State A curiously magical thriller with suburban subterfuge and sparkle. Helen Lederer, author of Losing it, comedian and Founder of the Comedy Women in Print Prize My goodness! What a hilarious, energetic and entertaining roller-coaster of a read this is. The pace never lets up. Dawson (for he is our hapless hero - and never was a man more lacking in hap) starts off in the UK, hops over to Australia and there is chased by a colourful collection of Germans and Russians, Brits and Aussies. Some are goodies, some baddies, and some lurk in the grey area in between. All are intent on solving the mystery of the eponymous teapot, or preventing others from doing so. It's as clever and witty as its title. I certainly enjoyed the ride! Sue Clark, author of Note to Boy To Australia and back again, with a large cast of unusual characters descending, eventually, on the folk festival at Yackandandah. The reader is drawn into a merry dance of international spies, assassins, shady underworld hoodlums and beer. Our hero, the unassuming and unknowing Dawson, would rather be in the pub or pursuing the fragrant Rachel at the Grayfold am-dram's Christmas panto, but instead encounters every known espionage thriller trope (and some not yet invented) as he weaves his way across the outback, trailing cops, robbers and agents behind him. And then there's the teapot lid and the lovely Lucy. There is never a dull moment in this rollicking and hugely enjoyable tale. Julie Anderson, author of Plague and Oracle This is the perfect holiday read ... a spy thriller with a difference - a comedic spoof. When times are heavy we all need a laugh. What I like about this Tom Sharpish /Ben Eltonish novel is that the female characters are the equal of the men. Sylvia Vetta, author of Brushstrokes in Time and Sculpting the Elephant A very entertaining read that kept me guessing all the way through. I needed to have my wits about me as there is a large cast of characters and the chapters switch rapidly back and forth between them, but this only added to the book's fast pace. Steve's skilful storytelling and sense of fun made this a rollicking good read. Imogen Matthews, author of the Hidden Village and Hidden in the Shadows

A Very Important Teapot is a comedy thriller revolving around the hunt for a lost cache of Nazi diamonds in Australia. Dawson's life is going nowhere. Out of work and nearly out of money, he is forlornly pursuing the love of Rachel Whyte. But Rachel is engaged to Pat Bootle, an apparently successful local solicitor who has appeared from nowhere. Then, out of the blue, Dawson receives a job offer from his best friend, Alan Flannery, which involves him jumping on a plane to Australia to "await further instructions". But instructions about what? This is the start of a frantic chase around south eastern Australia with half the local underworld, the police and the intelligence agencies of three countries trying to catch up with Dawson. What is Flannery's game? Why has Pat Bootle turned up in Australia? Who is the beautiful but mysterious Lucy Smith? What is the teapot's secret? What has folk music got to do with anything? And how do guns actually work? Dawson's life will never be the same again.

Foundations of the Laws of War Series.The Foundation of the Modern International Law of War.Known officially as General Orders No. 100, Lieber's code (1863) was the first of its kind. It served as the model for several European eff orts and was an important source for the second and fourth Hague Conventions (1899, 1907). It was an authority during the Nuremberg and Tokyo war crime trials. Its use by the framers of the 1998 Rome Treaty, which established the International Criminal Court, demonstrates its lasting value in our time. Indeed, with only a handful of modifications it is used by the U.S. Military today. This edition, printed by the Adjutant General for use in the Spanish-American War, is unchanged from the original. It is enhanced by Prof. Sheppard's illuminating introductory essay and the addition of Lieber's Guerrilla Parties Considered with Reference to the Laws and Usages of War (1862), which contains several ideas that were used in the Code.Born and educated in Germany, Francis Lieber 1798-1872] was an important political philosopher and a distinguished professor at Columbia College and Columbia Law School who pioneered the study of political science in the United States. His works on constitutional law, international law, military law and political science remain influential.With a New Introduction by Steve Sheppard, William Enfield Professor of Law, University of Arkansas School of Law Francis Lieber

Foundations of the Laws of War Series.The Foundation of the Modern International Law of War.Known officially as General Orders No. 100, Lieber's code (1863) was the first of its kind. It served as the model for several European eff orts and was an important source for the second and fourth Hague Conventions (1899, 1907). It was an authority during the Nuremberg and Tokyo war crime trials. Its use by the framers of the 1998 Rome Treaty, which established the International Criminal Court, demonstrates its lasting value in our time. Indeed, with only a handful of modifications it is used by the U.S. Military today. This edition, printed by the Adjutant General for use in the Spanish-American War, is unchanged from the original. It is enhanced by Prof. Sheppard's illuminating introductory essay and the addition of Lieber's Guerrilla Parties Considered with Reference to the Laws and Usages of War (1862), which contains several ideas that were used in the Code.Born and educated in Germany, Francis Lieber 1798-1872] was an important political philosopher and a distinguished professor at Columbia College and Columbia Law School who pioneered the study of political science in the United States. His works on constitutional law, international law, military law and political science remain influential.With a New Introduction by Steve Sheppard, William Enfield Professor of Law, University of Arkansas School of Law

The new Liberty Fund edition of "The Selected Writings of Sir Edward Coke" includes selections from the four volumes of the "Institutes" and cases from the "Reports," and several of Coke's speeches in Parliament. Taken together, these writings delineate the origin and nature of the modern common law and indicate the profound interrelationship in the English tradition of custom, common law, authority (of both Crown and Commons), and individual liberty. Coke's great law books and speeches are well represented on Magna Carta, citizenship, habeas corpus, freedom from wrongful search and arrest, the origins of law, judicial review, administrative law, judging, criminal law, the moral obligations of officials, the powers of King, Parliament, church, and the law, property and rights, and the profession and study of law. "The Selected Writings of Sir Edward Coke" is the first anthology of his works ever published.Steve Sheppard is a professor at the School of Law, University of Arkansas. He writes on constitutional history and theory, legal history, property law, and general jurisprudence, and he has edited "The History of Legal Education" (Salem Press, 1998).Click here for a pdf of the "Selected Writings of Sir Edward Coke" brochure

The Selected Writings of Sir Edward Coke contains the most important works of the great English jurist-politician who set out to codify English common law. In his Reports, which are reports of court proceedings, and his Institutes, which state the law, Coke set down a view of English law that has had a powerful influence on lawyers, judges, and politicians through the present day. Liberty Fund's Selected Writings of Sir Edward Coke includes not only selections from the four volumes of the Institutes and cases from the Reports, but also several of Coke's speeches in Parliament, Coke's opinions from the bench, and opinions of Coke as recorded by others from official cases and court records. Taken together, these writings delineate the origin and nature of English law and indicate the profound interrelationship in the English tradition of custom, common law, authority (of both Crown and Commons), and individual liberty.