Law and Jurisprudence in American History: Cases and Materials (American Casebook Series)

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant overview of American Legal History
Review: I was fortunate to take Professor Presser's American Legal History class while I was on exchange at Northwestern University and this was our textbook.

As an Australian studying law in the US I was very interested in finding out about how the American Legal System developed. I felt the only way I could understand the present would be to look to the past and Presser's book was perfect for this purpose.

This book struck me as being exceptionally well put together; with insightful commentary on the selected readings and questions to enhance your understanding of the issues.

Perhaps the most refreshing characteristic of this book is its balance - it puts both sides of the controversial issues it considers so that we can make up our own mind.

It has given me a much deeper understanding of the American Legal System and American Society in general.

Rating:
Summary: A great teacher, a great book
Review: Like the reviewer below, I was one of Presser's student at Northwestern University. This book was the most important, most influential book I purchased at NU. It begins with the confrontation between Sir Edward Coke and James I about whether the common law controlled the King's prerogative. Presser exploits the drama inherent in this piece of history to set up one of the main themes in the text: if one is going to have any conception of human rights at all, the restraint of arbitrary power is fundamental; the rule of law is vital.

This book should be required reading for anyone interested in the English common law, the U.S. Constitution, or the rights of a people to throw off a government (or a politician) guilty of an abuse of power. I was a better citizen for having read it.

In the classroom, Presser's love of the law, of legal history and reasoned debate was awe-inspiring. His book re-establishes an important cultural meme that appears to have gone underground in the 21st century:

the idea that liberty can not exist unless there is law, and law can not exist without morality.