Toward A North American Legal System

Toward a North American Legal System is a collection of scholarship that looks at a timely issue in public policy. Two decades after NAFTA, the team assembled by James T. McHugh works through both philosophical and practical questions related to a possibly more integrated legal system on the North American continent.

The pros, cons and potential of NAFTA are analyzed in this short, detailed text which employs extensive comparison with the European Union. He discusses the EU's regional and cohesion policies, highlighting the intent of these policies to reduce disparities between rich and poor countries. Pastor (international relations, Emory U.) then turns to Vicente Fox's agenda to redefine NAFTA and provides in-depth proposals to make Fox's plan a reality, addressing trade, transportation, infrastructure, common currency, customs and immigration, energy, regional development, and education. c. Book News Inc.

Winner, IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award in Politics/Current Events: A systems theorist and a legal scholar present a new paradigm for protecting our planet. This is the first book to trace the fascinating parallel history of law and science from antiquity to modern times, showing how the two disciplines have always influenced each other—until recently. In the past few decades, science has shifted from seeing the natural world as a kind of cosmic machine best understood by analyzing each cog and sprocket to a systems perspective that views the world as a vast network of fluid communities and studies their dynamic interactions. The concept of ecology exemplifies this approach. But law is stuck in the old mechanistic paradigm: The world is simply a collection of discrete parts, and ownership of these parts is an individual right, protected by the state. Fritjof Capra, physicist, systems theorist, and bestselling author of The Tao of Physics, and distinguished legal scholar Ugo Mattei show that this obsolete worldview has led to overconsumption, pollution, and a general disregard on the part of the powerful for the common good. Capra and Mattei outline the basic concepts and structures of a legal order consistent with the ecological principles that sustain life on Earth that better addresses many of the economic and social crises we face today. This is a visionary reconceptualization of the very foundations of the Western legal system, a kind of Copernican revolution in the law, with profound implications for the future of our planet. “Thoughtful . . . The authors propose a philosophy and jurisprudence that is deeply radical—upending centuries of Western tradition and culture—but possibly crucial to solving looming environmental problems.” —Publishers Weekly

A History of American Law has become a classic for students of law, American history and sociology across the country. In this brilliant and immensely readable book, Lawrence M. Friedman tells the whole fascinating story of American law from its beginnings in the colonies to the present day. By showing how close the life of the law is to the economic and political life of the country, he makes a complex subject understandable and engrossing. A History of American Law presents the achievements and failures of the American legal system in the context of America's commercial and working world, family practices and attitudes toward property, slavery, government, crime and justice. Now Professor Friedman has completely revised and enlarged his landmark work, incorporating a great deal of new material. The book contains newly expanded notes, a bibliography and a bibliographical essay.

In this brilliant and immensely readable book, Lawrence M. Friedman tells the whole fascinating story of American law from its beginnings in the colonies to the present day. By showing how close the life of the law is to the economic and political life of the country, he makes a complex subject understandable and engrossing. A History of American Law presents the achievements and failures of the American legal system in the context of America's commercial and working world, family practices, and attitudes toward property, government, crime, and justice. Now completely revised and updated, this groundbreaking work incorporates new material regarding slavery, criminal justice, and twentieth-century law. For laymen and students alike, this remains the only comprehensive authoritative history of American law.

The book provides an overview of American legal institutions and sources of law, and presents a guide to the interrelationships between and among those institutions and legal authorities. It discusses the defining role of the doctrine of stare decisis in the American common law system and the critical judicial review function. In addition, American Legal Systems shows the reader how to determine and apply the relative priorities of sources of law, all in the context of the legislative process, agency action, and principles of constitutional and legislative supremacy. American Legal Systems ties many of these concepts to the realities of law practice. Portions of the book demonstrate how to locate specific resources, use legal terms, and prepare commonplace legal documents. Among the main virtues of the book is its reader-friendliness. It introduces readers to some extremely complicated issues of American jurisprudence in a clear and straightforward way. It is relatively short and concise, much of it in chart form, allowing the user to quickly find and assimilate sought-after information. American Legal Systems can be used for reference purposes in conjunction with a student's substantive course work, or it could be used in connection with an experiential task, such as legal research and writing. Of course, it can also be read on its own.

Fully updated and revised to fit in with the new laws and structure in the Commonwealth Caribbean law and legal systems, this new edition examines the institutions, structures and processes of the law in the Commonwealth Caribbean. The author explores: - the court system and the new Caribbean Court of Justice which replaces appeals to the Privy Council - the offshore financial legal sector - Caribbean customary law and the rights of indigenous peoples - the Constitutions of Commonwealth Caribbean jurisdictions and Human Rights - the impact of the historical continuum to the region's jurisprudence including the question of reparations - the complexities of judicial precedent for Caribbean peoples - international law as a source of law - alternative dispute mechanisms and the Ombudsman Effortlessy combining discussions of traditional subjects with those on more innovative subject areas, this book is an exciting exposition of Caribbean law and legal systems for those studying comparative law.

This text is a general introduction to American judicial process. The authors cover the major institutions, actors, and processes that comprise the U.S. legal system, viewed from a political science perspective. Specifically, they discuss each component of the judicial process in terms of justice. How do the structure and processes of American law and courts further or inhibit justice? Could justice be better served by changes to existing practices? Toward that end, the authors take an innovative approach to the topic. Grounding their presentation in empirical social science terms, they incorporate three unique elements of a "myth vs reality" framework into each of the topical chapters on the major structures of the American legal process: 1) "Pop culture" boxes that provide students with popular examples from film, television, and music that tie-in to chapter topics and engage student interest 2) brief excerpts from scholarly research on each topic in order to demonstrate how social science answers the pressing questions under consideration 3) "How Do We Know?" boxes at the end of each chapter that discuss the methods of social scientific inquiry and debunk common myths about the judiciary and legal system. Unlike other textbooks, American Judicial Process emphasizes how pop culture portrays—and often distorts—the judicial process and how social science research is brought to bear to provide an accurate picture of law and courts. The key take-away is that judges are political actors situated in a separation of powers system. In addition, a rich companion website will include PowerPoint lectures, an instructor’s manual, and a test bank of objective questions for use by instructors. Students will have access to relevant weblinks, key objectives from each chapter, flash cards of key terms, and practice quizzes.