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A History of American Law
by Lawrence M. Friedman
An amazing piece of work that is not just a history of the American legal system, but a history of America as seen through its laws. It manages to cover everything from the development of equity law to the explosion of torts to the history of commerce and contracts, all without being pedantic or overly general.
Friedman relies on odd laws, great cases, and telling quotes to explain his story. In discussing the battle between civil and common law in California, he quotes an early California legislature which waxed poetic on the wonders of the caveat emptor rule (it apparently caused commerce to "whiten every sea, woo every breeze"). He discusses an early law in Virginia that classified slaves as real estate instead of chattel, highlighting their novel nature in English legal history. He discusses the 1878 case of Hall v. DeCuir, where the Supreme Court overturned a Louisiana state law forbidding racial discrimination on common carriers as an unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce, showing how the Court not only blocked federal anti-discrimination laws, it blocked any state attempts to staunch racial animosity, the Fourteenth Amendment notwithstanding.
Friedman also wades into such complicated debates as the one surrounding the "Field Code," first passed in New York in 1848, which began the "codification" of American law yet could only get as far as clarifying civil procedure. Codes on penal and public law would sometimes have to wait a century for passage, at least outside the so-called Wild West (which he shows was overrun by more lawyers per capita than even the developed East. In this story, the West was filled with litigators, not cowboys.)
I thought that this book might simply recapitulate some of Friedman's work in "Crime and Punishment in American History," but the sections on criminal law are brief, and usually deal with oddities and legal development. Overall, the books compliment each other nicely. Also, despite its broad title, the book focuses overwhelmingly on the nineteenth century (the colonial period is too sketchy and the 20th century is big enough that he deals with it in-depth in another book). Still, this is a great work that gave me a new appreciation for the world of the law.
by Lawrence M. Friedman
An amazing piece of work that is not just a history of the American legal system, but a history of America as seen through its laws. It manages to cover everything from the development of equity law to the explosion of torts to the history of commerce and contracts, all without being pedantic or overly general.
Friedman relies on odd laws, great cases, and telling quotes to explain his story. In discussing the battle between civil and common law in California, he quotes an early California legislature which waxed poetic on the wonders of the caveat emptor rule (it apparently caused commerce to "whiten every sea, woo every breeze"). He discusses an early law in Virginia that classified slaves as real estate instead of chattel, highlighting their novel nature in English legal history. He discusses the 1878 case of Hall v. DeCuir, where the Supreme Court overturned a Louisiana state law forbidding racial discrimination on common carriers as an unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce, showing how the Court not only blocked federal anti-discrimination laws, it blocked any state attempts to staunch racial animosity, the Fourteenth Amendment notwithstanding.
Friedman also wades into such complicated debates as the one surrounding the "Field Code," first passed in New York in 1848, which began the "codification" of American law yet could only get as far as clarifying civil procedure. Codes on penal and public law would sometimes have to wait a century for passage, at least outside the so-called Wild West (which he shows was overrun by more lawyers per capita than even the developed East. In this story, the West was filled with litigators, not cowboys.)
I thought that this book might simply recapitulate some of Friedman's work in "Crime and Punishment in American History," but the sections on criminal law are brief, and usually deal with oddities and legal development. Overall, the books compliment each other nicely. Also, despite its broad title, the book focuses overwhelmingly on the nineteenth century (the colonial period is too sketchy and the 20th century is big enough that he deals with it in-depth in another book). Still, this is a great work that gave me a new appreciation for the world of the law.
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