Legal history Books

Book SynopsisThis book explores how Elizabeth Gaskell's writing is rich with insights into the law of her time, and to read her work with a lawyer's eye deepens and enriches the experience of that work.Elizabeth Gaskell wrote against the backdrop of the mid-19th century, a period of rapid industrialisation and democratic reform. Her place in the canon of English literature is well-established and secure. She is best known today for her two industrial novels, Mary Barton (1848) and North and South (1855), and for the charming vignettes of Cranford (1853). She was, however, a far more prolific, and more adventurous author than these works might suggest. Her other writings include three further novels, Ruth (1853), Sylvia's Lovers (1863) and Wives and Daughters (1866, posthumous), a biography of Charlotte Brontë (1857), novellas such as Cousin Phillis (1864) and Six Weeks at Heppenheim (1862) and extensive shorter fiction.Her work goes beyond the immediate contemporary context and engages with profound questions about obedience to law, and law's place among multiple systems of obligation and incentive. Her work shows a skilled, accurate and critical handling of legal rules and a sensitivity to law's personal and social effects. Part of Gaskell's genius as novelist is that she manages to integrate this sophisticated engagement with law seamlessly.As a leading scholar of Victorian legal history, Paul Mitchell brings an in-depth knowledge of the law to his reading of Gaskell. He has unearthed a wealth of fascinating material which reveals the richness and sophistication of Gaskell's engagement with the law across her writing.

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Book SynopsisThis volume presents various facets of the history of equity in England between the 14th and 20th centuries. Writing a history (or histories) of equity automatically raises difficult questions of philosophy and theology, as well as jurisprudence and legal history. When one speaks of equity', for example, do we mean Aristotelian epieikeia, civilian aequitas, a theological/juridical conscience, the common law concept of the equity of the statute', or merely the rules applied by the court of chancery before 1875?This terminological problem is compounded when we consider how these ideas were developed over time. Whilst conscience had been an organising concept for St German, the political disputes surrounding the Earl of Oxford's case introduced the prerogative into contemporary understandings of the chancery's jurisdiction. The emergence of clear, doctrinal rules governing (inter alia) the equity of redemption and the beneficiary's right under a trust may well be attributable to the complex interplay of theory and practice in the central courts of equity at this time.If the earlier history of equity remains somewhat obscure, the same is no less true of developments in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Whereas the historian of the 14th century might search in vain for new material, the modern era poses the opposite problem. The overwhelming glut of undigested information in the later period treatises, court records, reports, pamphlets, practice manuals raises obvious issues of source selection when generating new narratives for the period.Whether by investigating the historical foundations of the modern law, the jurisprudential underpinnings of the equitable jurisdiction, or the socio-political context of discrete legal developments, this collection of essays exposes the strands of thought which equity' comprises and the mechanisms by which its rules evolved. In so doing, this collection provides a useful way-marker for future studies in the nature and history of English equity.

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Book SynopsisThis book revisits one of the defining judicial engagements in English legal history.It provides a fresh account of the years 1606 to 1616 which witnessed a series of increasingly volatile confrontations between, on the one side, King James I and his Attorney-General, Sir Francis Bacon, and on the other, Sir Edward Coke, successively Chief Justice of Common Pleas and Lord Chief Justice.At the heart of the dispute were differing opinions regarding the nature of kingship and the reach of prerogative in reformation England. Appreciating the longer context, in the summer of 1616 King James appealed for a reformation of law and constitution to complement the reformation of his Church.Later historians would discern in these debates the seeding of a century of revolution, followed by another four centuries of reform. This book ventures the further thought that the arguments which echoed around Westminster Hall in the first years of the seventeenth century have lost little of their resonance half a millennium on. Breaks with Rome are little easier to get done', the margins of executive governance little easier to draw.

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Book SynopsisThis book analyses the transformation of consumer law and policy in Europe from 4 perspectives: first, the temporal transformation, i.e., changes that can be tracked from the turn of the millennium; secondly, the substantive dimension, i.e., changes in the scope of the rights and remedies provided by consumer law, as well as the underpinning values; thirdly, the institutional dimension, i.e., changes in the role of national courts, national Parliaments, consumer agencies, and consumer organisations; and fourth, the procedural element, i.e., the shift from individual enforcement via courts to enforcement by public regulators, consumer associations, alternative dispute resolution, and the development of collective enforcement exercised by consumer agencies and/or consumer organisations. With contributions by leading consumer law scholars from across Europe, this book is a fascinating account of how consumer law has often been shaped by national as much as European interests.Table of Contents1. The Transformation of Consumer Law and Policy in Europe Hans-Wolfgang Micklitz and Christian Twigg-Flesner General Issues 2. Consumer Organisations in Europe Geraint Howells and Hans-Wolfgang Micklitz 3. How can consumer interests be protected when consumer identities are increasingly diffuse? Vanessa Mak 4. Effective Judicial Protection, Private Enforcement and the Reshaping of Substantive Remedies Charlotte Pavillon 5. Information Duties Pascal Pichonnaz 6. Consumer Education in the EU Elise Poillot 7. The growing Interplay of Consumer and Data Protection Law Karin Sein 8. Can Consumer Law Become Sustainable? Evelyne Terryn Country-Specific Issues 9. Serbia: From Nothing to Something? Mateja Durovic 10. Greece – A Tale of Two Acts Eleni Kaprou 11. Croatia: Something from Nothing Emilia Mišcenic 12. Slovenia Damjan Možina 13. Germany: Who Transformed Whom? Peter Rott 14. Czechia Markéta Selucká and Jana Vábek Marková 15. How the Romanian Constitutional Court Highjacked Consumer Financial Protection Catalin Gabriel Stanescu 16. United Kingdom Consumer Law: Incomplete Transformation Christian Twigg-Flesner

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Book SynopsisThis book analyses the transformation of consumer law and policy in Europe from 4 perspectives: first, the temporal transformation, i.e., changes that can be tracked from the turn of the millennium; secondly, the substantive dimension, i.e., changes in the scope of the rights and remedies provided by consumer law, as well as the underpinning values; thirdly, the institutional dimension, i.e., changes in the role of national courts, national Parliaments, consumer agencies, and consumer organisations; and fourth, the procedural element, i.e., the shift from individual enforcement via courts to enforcement by public regulators, consumer associations, alternative dispute resolution, and the development of collective enforcement exercised by consumer agencies and/or consumer organisations. With contributions by leading consumer law scholars from across Europe, this book is a fascinating account of how consumer law has often been shaped by national as much as European interests.

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Book SynopsisPunitive damages are private law's most controversial remedy. This book traces the development of the jurisdiction from the foundational decisions of Huckle v Money and Wilkes v Wood in England, to leading modern cases such as Harris v Digital Pulse Pty Ltd in Australia, Whiten v Pilot Insurance Co in Canada, Couch v AG (No 2) in New Zealand, PH Hydraulics and Engineering Pte Ltd v Airtrust (Hong Kong) Ltd in Singapore and Mathias v Accor Economy Lodging, Inc and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co v Campbell in the United States. Many of the decisions addressed are not only landmarks regarding punitive damages but are among the most important judgments delivered in private law more generally. The essays, which are written by leading scholars from a wide range of jurisdictions, cast new light on the cases covered. They do so by examining their historical antecedents and the impact that they have had on the development of the law. The full spectrum of issues regarding punitive damages is addressed including the insurability of punishment, constitutional constraints on the remedy's availability and whether the award should be confined to particular causes of action. The collection will be of interest to all scholars and students of private law. It concentrates on common law cases although civilian perspectives, drawn from France and Germany, are also offered.

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Book SynopsisThis book is a sequel to Instruments of Peacemaking 1870-1914 in that it considers how attempts were made to settle disputes between states without recourse to war after the war to end all wars'. It considers the idealism of President Wilson''s Fourteen Points which formed the basis for the Armistice in 1918, and his scheme for a League of Nations providing for self-determination of nations and collective security' for European states. It goes on to analyse the key challenges that faced statesmen and jurists in attempting to resolve disputes under the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. It considers the consequences of the peace conference of 1919 that failed to give France security guarantees and aroused German animosity through loss of territory, population, and payment of reparations. Despite its defects the treaty was an instrument for resolving disputes and tensions between the victors and the vanquished. The book considers the many successes of cases referred to the Reparations Commission and to arbitration regarding boundary, industrial property, and shipping including claims by the relatives of deceased passengers of the RMS Lusitania. More importantly, it analyses the diplomatic challenges faced by statesmen after 1919: the attempts at disarmament, the Locarno Arbitration Agreements which attempted to underpin the peace settlement of 1919, and the subsequent crises in Abyssinia, the Rhineland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. The decline and failure of Wilsonian idealism, the League of Nations, collective security, and diplomacy is traced through the various diplomatic exchanges that took place between governments from official records and contemporaneous accounts of the times as well as academic sources. The attempt to resolve the Sudetenland crisis by the mediation of Lord Runciman is included as part of the diplomatic intervention by Mr Chamberlain to appease Hitler. The final chapter looks at American Foreign Policy in the context of isolationism, and Anglo-American Relations and the attack on Pearl Harbor which is examined in relation to the Army, Navy and Congressional Enquiries.

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Book SynopsisPhilip Bajon is Senior Lecturer in Law at Aston University, Birmingham, UK.

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Book SynopsisLorren Eldridge is Assistant Professor at the University of Cambridge, UK.Emily Ireland is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Liverpool, UK.Caroline Derry is Lecturer in Law at The Open University, UK.

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Book SynopsisPeter Oldham KC is a Barrister at 11 King's Bench Walk, UK.

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Book SynopsisJimmy Hoffa, acquitted in a Nashville court during the Test Fleet case, was under investigation for jury tampering and subsequently tried and convicted in Chattanooga after a judge in Nashville granted a change of venue. Nicely explores Hoffa's time in Tennessee, the major players in the case, and the development of Bobby Kennedy, then chief counsel of the Senate's McClellan Committee, as Hoffa's main antagonist. All the while, Hoffa's continued legal troubles created a high amount of tension between the Teamsters, management, and members of organized crime. While many books overlook this important tipping point in Hoffa's career, tending to focus on his disappearance, Nicely mines court transcripts and presents the Tennessee trials as both the height of Hoffa's perceived invincibility and the beginning of his downfall.

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Book SynopsisIn Freedom's Anchor, famed legal commentator Judge Andrew P. Napolitano makes the case for using natural law principles to restrain government. Going back to Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas, Judge Napolitano identifies the origins of Natural Law Theory and explains its growth and development in English and American law. He argues compellingly that the idea that our rights come from our humanity – and not from social consensus or government – is enshrined in the Ninth Amendment, authored by none other than James Madison himself, the scrivener of the Constitution, and is binding on the courts today.Freedom's Anchor is essentially a history of law and power in the United States as seen through the lens of Natural Law Theory. This work traces the Supreme Court's explicit acceptance and explicit rejection of these principles. For the first time in one volume, Judge Napolitano gives us the universe of all published works in English (and some in Latin and in Spanish) on Natural Law Theory. He has scoured the Supreme Court's writings and examined all that reflect favorably or unfavorably upon the principles of innate human freedom.After having published nine previous books on the U.S. constitutional history, this is Judge Napolitano's magnum opus. It reflects a lifetime of thinking and understanding by one of America's preeminent legal thinkers. Scholars, judges, and law students will love this book. And non-lawyers who read this book – interested in the courts' historical treatment of fundamental human freedoms and how we lost them – will say to each other: "Wow. I didn't know that! There is still hope.Trade ReviewThere is no one more qualified than Judge Andrew Napolitano to serve as our guide through American legal and political history." —Former Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas)"Judge Napolitano, as always, brings the Constitution and our individual personal liberties alive – thereby strengthening the active American identities of this and future generations." —Nat Hentoff, Historian and Journalist"If I believed in reincarnation, I would think that Judge Andrew P. Napolitano was one of the great lawyers of the American Revolution come back to inspire us. The Judge is a marvel, and so is his book. If you care about your freedom, read it; buy a stack of copies, and spread the word. " —Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Founder and Chair, Ludwig von Mises Institute

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Book SynopsisOne of the secrets within the legal profession is that the stories behind the cases matter more than the legal doctrines involved. A full understanding of legal disputes requires knowing about the cultural and historical context in which the cases arise. In Backstories in the Law: Tales of Victors, Villains and Victims, distinguished law professor Alan Weinberger examine some of the most extraordinary cases of the past century with a focus not so much on the winning and losing, but rather on the backstories behind the disputes. The chapters provide insights and background into the cases, and explain why the decisions continue to resonate today. Most of all, these chapters remind us of the transcendent importance of good stories: in disputes involving fundamental human emotions and desires, there is usually a victor, villain and victim. Ultimately it is the reader who gets to decide whether justice was done or denied.

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Book SynopsisThis book brings together past and present law commissioners, judges, practitioners, academics and law reformers to analyse the past, present and future of the Law Commissions in the United Kingdom and beyond. Its internationally recognised authors bring a wealth of experience and insight into how and why law reform does and should take place, covering statutory and non-statutory reform from national and international perspectives. The chapters of the book developed from papers given at a conference to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Law Commissions Act 1965.Trade ReviewHart deserves to be complimented for commissioning this volume which has the potential to become a salient work of reference on law reform bodies and legal reform more generally. * Journal of the Commonwealth Lawyers’ Association *This collection will appeal to a variety of readers. For those working close to the Law Commissions or other reform institutions, many of the debates within the collection will be familiar, and provide an opportunity to reflect and perhaps reconsider core aspects of the reform agenda. But the collection also reaches beyond this audience to reform-minded academics and other legal experts, providing often compelling insight into the challenges facing reformers of the law, both substantive and structural. -- J J Child * Legal Studies *... a lively and wide-ranging examination of fifty years of law reform ... For the contribution made by the Law Commissions, the book under review provides a fitting celebration. -- Kenneth Reid * Edinburgh Law Review *[The book’s] broad range of critical analysis, from both practical and academic viewpoints, repays careful study ... it definitely should find a place in every institutional law library ... It would certainly be a worthy addition to the shelves of all who are interested in the mechanics of law reform, whether they work in the sphere or are legislative drafters or have an academic appetite (its footnote references are a mine in themselves). -- Jonathan Teasdale * The Theory and Practice of Legislation *Read as a whole, the essayists give thoughtful accounts about the way the Commissions have gone about their work and how they have taken account of the constitutional arrangements that govern them. -- The Hon Justice Susan Kenny, Federal Court of Australia * Oxford Journal of Legal Studies *Table of Contents1. Introduction Matthew Dyson, James Lee and Shona Wilson Stark 2. Fifty Years of the Law Commissions: The Dynamics of Law Reform Now, Then and Next Lady Hale Part 2: The First Half-Century of the Commissions 3. Introduction Lord Hodge 4. Strategies of the Early Law Commission Paul Mitchell 5. Fifty Years of Law Reform—A Note on the Northern Ireland Style Neil Faris 6. Working on the Larger Canvas—Law Reform in a Federal System: Thoughts on Forty Years of the Australian Law Reform Commission Kathryn Cronin 7. Law Reform and Social Policy Eric Clive Part 3: Institutions, Commissions, Committees, Codifiers 8. Introduction Lord Beith 9. Memoir of a Reforming Chairman Sir Terence Etherton 10. The Duty to Make the Law More Accessible? The Two C-Words George L Gretton 11. The Former Law Commission of Canada: The Road Less Travelled Yves Le Bouthillier 12. The Law Commission and the Criminal Law: Reflections on the Codification Project Ian Dennis Part 4: The Many Faces of Law Reform 13. Introduction Lord Carnwath 14. Democracy, Law Reform and the Rule of Law Lord Toulson 15. Promoting Law Reform: By Means of Draft Bills or Otherwise Shona Wilson Stark 16. Law Commissions, Courts and Society: A Sceptical View William Binchy 17. A Good Name, a Long Game Laura Dunlop Part 5: Implementation by Statute 18. Introduction Dame Mary Arden 19. The Legislative Implementation of Law Reform Proposals Sir Grant Hammond 20. Post-legislative Scrutiny, Legislative Drafting and the ‘Elusive Boundary’ Andrew Burrows 21. Reflections on Statutory Implementation in the Law Commission Nicholas Paines 22. Implementation by Statute: What the Future Holds Hector MacQueen Part 6: How Law Commissions Work 23. Introduction Sir James Munby 24. The Law Commission Method: Exportable to the EU? Hugh Beale 25. How Law Commissions Work: Some Lessons from the Past David Johnston 26. Challenges for Independent Law Reformers from Changing External Priorities and Shorter Timescales Sir Jack Beatson 27. The Bill’s Progress Stephen Lewis Part 7: Courts and Commissions 28. Introduction Lord Drummond Young 29. The Etiquette of Law Reform James Lee 30. Law Reform in Private Law: The Role of Statutes in Supplementing or Supplanting the Common Law Barbara McDonald 31. The Refiner’s Fire Charles Harpum 32. Reflections on the Courts and the Commission David Ormerod Part 8: Commissioning the Future 33. Introduction Elizabeth Cooke 34. The Scottish Law Commission and the Future of Law Reform in Scotland Lord Pentland 35. Looking to the Future Sir David Lloyd Jones 36. Commissioning the Future—A Chief Executive’s Perspective Elaine Lorimer 37. Implementation of Law Reform Reports: Developments in Scotland Malcolm McMillan 38. The Future is a Foreign Country, They Do Things Differently There Matthew Dyson 39. Making Law—Who, How and What? KJ Keith

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