Legal History category: 1513 books
Escaping Salem:The Other Witch Hunt of 1692
The Other Witch Hunt of 1692
Language: English
Release Date: October 1, 2004
Few events in American history are as well remembered as the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. But there was another witch hunt that year, in Stamford, Connecticut, that has never been examined in depth. Now Richard Godbeer describes this "other witch hunt" in a concise, fascinating narrative that illuminates...
Missouri Law and the American Conscience
Historic Rights and Wrongs
Language: English
Release Date: December 31, 2016
Until recently, many of Missouri’s legal records were inaccessible and the existence of many influential, historic cases was unknown. The ten essays in this volume showcase Missouri as both maker and microcosm of American history. Some of the topics are famous: Dred Scott’s slave freedom suit,...
by James Oldham
Language: English
Release Date: December 15, 2005
Language: English
Release Date: December 15, 2005
In the eighteenth century, the English common law courts laid the foundation that continues to support present-day Anglo-American law. Lord Mansfield, Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench, 1756-1788, was the dominant judicial force behind these developments. In this abridgment of his two-volume...
Abraham Lincoln and Treason in the Civil War
The Trials of John Merryman
Language: English
Release Date: November 7, 2011
In the spring of 1861, Union military authorities arrested Maryland farmer John Merryman on charges of treason against the United States for burning railroad bridges around Baltimore in an effort to prevent northern soldiers from reaching the capital. From his prison cell at Fort McHenry, Merryman...
The Tokyo Rose Case
Treason on Trial
Language: English
Release Date: April 11, 2014
Iva Ikuku Toguri (1916-2006) was an American citizen, born on the 4th of July. Her parents, first-generation Japanese Americans, embraced their new nation and raised Iva to think, talk, and act like a patriotic American. But, despite her allegiance to the United States, she was forced to spend most...
Making Race in the Courtroom
The Legal Construction of Three Races in Early New Orleans
Language: English
Release Date: September 26, 2014
No American city’s history better illustrates both the
possibilities for alternative racial models and the role of the law in shaping
racial identity than New Orleans, Louisiana, which prior to the Civil War was
home to America’s most privileged community of people of African descent. In
the eyes...
The Persons Case
The Origins and Legacy of the Fight for Legal Personhood
Language: English
Release Date: April 12, 2008
On 18 October 1929, John Sankey, England's reform-minded Lord Chancellor, ruled in the Persons case that women were eligible for appointment to Canada's Senate. Initiated by Edmonton judge Emily Murphy and four other activist women, the Persons case challenged the exclusion of women from Canada's...
The Transformation of Criminal Justice
Philadelphia, 1800-1880
Language: English
Release Date: November 9, 2000
Allen Steinberg brings to life the court-centered criminal justice system of nineteenth-century Philadelphia, chronicles its eclipse, and contrasts it to the system -- dominated by the police and public prosecutor -- that replaced it. He offers a major reinterpretation of criminal justice in nineteenth-century...
Reconstructing Reconstruction
The Supreme Court and the Production of Historical Truth
Language: English
Release Date: July 13, 1999
Was slavery over when slaves gained formal emancipation? Was it over when the social, economic, and political situation for African Americans no longer mimicked the conditions of slavery? If the Thirteenth Amendment abolished it in 1865, why did most of the disputed points during the Reconstruction...
Degradation
What the History of Obscenity Tells Us about Hate Speech
Language: English
Release Date: January 10, 2011
Throughout history obscenity has not really been about sex but about degradation. Sexual depictions have been suppressed when they were seen as lowering the status of humans, furthering our distance from the gods or God and moving us toward the animals. In the current era, when we recognize ourselves...
By Honor Bound
State and Society in Early Modern Russia
Language: English
Release Date: November 1, 2016
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Russians from all ranks of society were bound together by a culture of honor. Here one of the foremost scholars of early modern Russia explores the intricate and highly stylized codes that made up this culture. Nancy Shields Kollmann describes how these...
Groundwork
Charles Hamilton Houston and the Struggle for Civil Rights
Language: English
Release Date: June 14, 2011
"A classic. . . . [It] will make an extraordinary contribution to the improvement of race relations and the understanding of race and the American legal process."—Judge A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., from the Foreword
Charles Hamilton Houston (1895-1950) left an indelible mark on American...
A Passion for Justice
How 'Vinegar Jim' McRuer Became Canada's Greatest Law Reformer
Language: English
Release Date: July 29, 2008
This richly detailed biography illustrates how a determined Canadian seeking justice created an enduring legacy. Through vigorous battles, Jim McRuer’s passion for justice was translated into laws that daily touch and protect the lives of millions today.
James Chalmers McRuer was not easy...
by Thomas Leaming
Language: English
Release Date: October 10, 2013
Language: English
Release Date: October 10, 2013
A fascinating insight into the London legal profession and courts of the early 20th century, written by an American attorney, Thomas Leaming. Leaming covers such diverse topics as wigs and gowns, training of lawyers, barristers, solicitors, the common law, the Cnancery Court, fees and the Police Courts.