Historical Introduction to Anglo-American Law in a Nutshell

Nutshell Series

by Frederick G. Kempin Jr.

Table of Contents

Part I: The Background of The Common Law
1. What Legal History is About
2. The Courts
3. The Jury, and Other Means of Finding Facts
4. The Bench and Bar

Part II: Sources of Law
5. Custom and Cases
6. Legislation and Codification
7. Doctrinal Writings

Part III: The Common Law in Action
8. Real Property
9. Torts
10. Contracts

Part IV: The Common Law Codified
11. The Law and Commerce: Action and Reaction
12. Negotiable Instruments
13. Business Organizations

First edition published 1963 as Legal History: Law and Social Change.
Second edition published 1973 under present title.
Third edition published 1990.

345 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice little intro to the basic elements of our legal system. The more purely historical sections were quite interesting to read (the pre-Norman Conquest legal system & the vestiges of it that still endure; the evolution of torts and the subsequent development of the law of contracts; the changes in the role & form of courts), and a couple of the more substantive chapters were both informative and enjoyable (torts, contracts). The chapter on property I found a bit less clearly-written, but that's probably at least as much my fault (I don't really care about that area of law).

I think this would make an *excellent* brief intro for anybody who just wants to have a good base-line knowledge of the major areas of law. Undergrads in the humanities or social sciences could read this with great profit, and it'd be excellent for a grad student studying something other than law (poli sci, history, sociology, whatever). 9 out of 10 for clarity of the prose, 8 out of 10 for thematic coherence and scope. I'll be keeping it because there are some nice nuggets that I'll want to be able to look up quickly at some point.