Law in united states

Arthur T. von Mehren, Peter L. Murray0521852064, 9780521852067, 9780511270079

Law in the United States, Second Edition, is a concise presentation of the salient elements of the American legal system designed mainly for jurists of civil law backgrounds. It focuses on features of American law likely to be least familiar to jurists from other legal traditions, such as American common law, the federal structure of the U.S. legal system, and the American constitutional tradition. The use of comparative law technique permits foreign jurists to appreciate the American legal system in comparison with legal systems with which they are already familiar. Chapters in the second edition also cover such topics as American civil justice, criminal law, jury trial, choice of laws and international jurisdiction, the American legal profession, and the influence of American law in the global legal order.

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Table of contents :
Cover……Page 1
Half-title……Page 3
Title……Page 5
Copyright……Page 6
Dedication……Page 7
Contents……Page 9
Preface……Page 15
a. historical roots……Page 19
b. allocation of authority to create and adapt legal rules and principles……Page 23
1. The Judicial Decision……Page 25
2. Legislation……Page 32
3. Court Rules……Page 37
4. Secondary Sources……Page 38
c. finding american law……Page 41
a. the two western legal traditions……Page 45
b. the reception of the common law on the north american continent……Page 50
c. the post-revolution development of american law……Page 53
1. Public Policy and Legal Decision Making……Page 58
2. Precedent and Case Distinctions……Page 60
3. Overruling and Departing from Precedent……Page 63
e. american common law at the beginning of the third millennium……Page 64
f. an example of the common law in action……Page 65
a. looking at law comparatively……Page 89
b. comparative law methodology……Page 90
1. The Common Law of Offer and Acceptance……Page 94
2. Comparative Analysis……Page 96
d. the doctrine of consideration……Page 100
1. The Common Law Doctrine of Consideration……Page 101
2. The Problem of Unenforceability, Relative and Absolute……Page 103
3. The Problem of Abstractness……Page 115
4. The Screening of Individual Transactions for Unfairness……Page 116
5. Conclusion……Page 117
4 American Federalism……Page 121
a. the american governmental scene prior to the constitution of 1789……Page 122
b. the federal system established by the u.s. constitution……Page 123
c. the spheres of federal and state authority – interstate commerce……Page 126
d. the federal and state judicial systems……Page 134
e. interaction between the state and federal systems of justice……Page 138
f. american federalism compared……Page 149
a. introduction……Page 152
b. the supreme court’s threefold role……Page 155
c. the supreme court’s institutional character……Page 156
d. the founding fathers’ understandings respecting the supreme court’s role……Page 158
e. the court as balance wheel of the federal system: the commerce clause……Page 163
f. the court as guardian of individual rights……Page 164
g. the court as arbiter of the allocation of powers among the branches of the federal goveernment……Page 167
h. the court’s standing in american society……Page 172
i. american constitutional law compared……Page 177
a. the role of civil justice in american society……Page 180
b. civil procedure and adversarial legalism……Page 183
c. american civil procedure and the continuous trial……Page 185
1. Fundamental Principles and Basic Institutional Arrangements……Page 186
2. The Significance for First-Instance Procedure of Concentrated Trials……Page 188
d. further procedural characteristics associated with concentrated and with discontinuous trials……Page 192
e. civil justice as punishment?……Page 197
f. collective litigation……Page 200
7 American Criminal Justice……Page 205
a. american federalism and criminal law……Page 207
b. criminal constitutional review……Page 209
c. the adversary criminal justice system……Page 212
d. the prosecution function……Page 214
e. criminal justice and jury trial……Page 218
f. the death penalty in the united states……Page 220
a. historical background of american jury trial……Page 224
1. Selection and Composition of Juries……Page 227
2. Function of the Jury at Trial……Page 231
3. Rules of Evidentiary Admissibility……Page 234
4. The Application of the Law in Jury Proceedings……Page 237
5. Jury Deliberations……Page 238
c. accountability of the jury and review of jury determinations……Page 240
d. the role of the judge in jury trial……Page 242
e. the role of lawyers in jury trial……Page 244
f. the future of american trial by jury……Page 245
a. introduction……Page 249
b. choice of law……Page 251
c. recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments……Page 255
d. jurisdiction to adjudicate……Page 259
e. european–american problems of discovery and taking of evidence abroad……Page 264
10 The American Legal Profession……Page 267
a. american legal education……Page 269
1. The American Law School……Page 270
2. The Law School Curriculum……Page 272
3. American Legal Pedagogy……Page 274
4. Clinical Legal Education and Law Reviews……Page 276
5. Examinations and Grading……Page 278
6. Transitions to Law Practice……Page 279
7. Admission to the Bar……Page 280
b. the american legal profession……Page 281
1. Private Law Firms……Page 282
2. Bar Associations and Regulation of the Bar……Page 283
3. Legal Aid and Access to Justice……Page 284
4. Lawyers’ Fees and Compensation……Page 286
5. The American Judiciary……Page 287
11 The United States and the Global Legal Community……Page 291
a. the american legal system in world context……Page 292
b. american private law in the modern world……Page 296
c. american litigation abroad……Page 300
d. american public law and the modern democratic world……Page 303
e. america and the world language of law……Page 305
f. american legal culture on the world scene……Page 306
g. america and world public law……Page 309
h. america and the legal world of the future……Page 312
Index……Page 317