Authors: Yasuhide Kawashima.
Paperback, 192 pages
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Publication Date: 2001-06-20


Reviews :

    The subjugation of Native Americans by European immigrants grew out of a violent clash of cultures that, in retrospect, hid real opportunities for peaceful coexistence. Key elements of this tragic tale can clearly be seen in Yasuhide Kawashima's chronicle of the events surrounding a criminal trial in Puritan New England--perhaps the earliest landmark case in American law.

In 1675, Wampanoag Indian John Sassamon was allegedly ambushed and murdered on his way home from Plymouth, where he had warned the colonists about his people's plan to attack them. An investigation led to the trial and execution of three Indians based on the testimony of only one suspect witness. The verdict aggravated tensions between Indians and settlers and ultimately ignited King Philip's War, after which Indians were subjugated, their villages effectively became reservations, and all hope of bicultural existence vanished.

Although it is usually considered from a political or cultural standpoint, Kawashima retells the story of the murder and trial from the perspective of legal history and overlapping jurisdictions. He shows that Plymouth's aggressive extension of its legal authority marked the end of four decades of legal coexistence between Indians and colonists, ushering in a new era of cultural and legal imperialism.

Kawashima views this seminal legal conflict as a reflection of much larger cultural differences between the two groups. Within that context, however, he also questions the validity of the proceedings themselves. In the end, Kawashima suggests, the murder verdict was a rush to judgment that rested on the shaky foundations of neglected forensic evidence as well as procedural violations of colonial law that ignored the rights of the accused. That decision marked a turning point in Euro-Indian relations and set the pattern for the ultimate marginalization of all Indians in North America. Kawashima's explication of those events casts history in a new light and shows us the critical importance of this landmark case.

This book is part of the Landmark Law Cases and American Society series....

Authors: John Taylor.
Hardcover, 328 pages
Publisher: Lawbook Exchange
Publication Date: 2005-05-30

Authors: Laura Kalman.
Hardcover, 488 pages
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication Date: 2005-10-17


Reviews :

    The development of the modern Yale Law School is deeply intertwined with the story of a group of students in the 1960s who worked to unlock democratic visions of law and social change that they associated with Yale's past and with the social climate in which they lived. During a charged moment in the history of the United States, activists challenged senior professors, and the resulting clash pitted young against old in a very human story. By demanding changes in admissions, curriculum, grading, and law practice, Laura Kalman argues, these students transformed Yale Law School and the future of American legal education.

Inspired by Yale's legal realists of the 1930s, Yale law students between 1967 and 1970 spawned a movement that celebrated participatory democracy, black power, feminism, and the counterculture. After these students left, the repercussions hobbled the school for years. Senior law professors decided against retaining six junior scholars who had witnessed their conflict with the students in the early 1970s, shifted the school's academic focus from sociology to economics, and steered clear of critical legal studies. Ironically, explains Kalman, students of the 1960s helped to create a culture of timidity until an imaginative dean in the 1980s tapped into and domesticated the spirit of the sixties, helping to make Yale's current celebrity possible....

Authors: Stephen C. Neff.
Hardcover, 330 pages
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Publication Date: 2010-02-15


Reviews :

   

Stephen Neff offers the first comprehensive study of the wide range of legal issues arising from the American Civil War, many of which resonate in debates to this day.

Neff examines the lawfulness of secession, executive and legislative governmental powers, and laws governing the conduct of war. Whether the United States acted as a sovereign or a belligerent had legal consequences, including treating Confederates as rebellious citizens or foreign nationals in war. Property questions played a key role, especially when it came to the process of emancipation. Executive detentions and trials by military commissions tested civil liberties, and the end of the war produced a raft of issues on the status of the Southern states, the legality of Confederate acts, clemency, and compensation. A compelling aspect of the book is the inclusion of international law, as Neff situates the conflict within the general laws of war and details neutrality issues, where the Civil War broke important new legal ground.

This book not only provides an accessible and informative legal portrait of this critical period but also illuminates how legal issues arise in a time of crisis, what impact they have, and how courts attempt to resolve them.

...

Authors: Joseph P. Sanchez.
Hardcover, 235 pages
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Publication Date: 2008-09-30


Reviews :

    Located in Albuquerque's south valley, Atrisco is a vibrant community that predates the city, harking back to a land grant awarded in 1692. Joseph P. Sanchez explores the evolution of this parcel over the four centuries since the first Spanish settlers arrived. He tracks its transformation from an individual to a community grant, peeling away the layers of historical events that have made Atrisco the last piece of undeveloped real estate in a growing metropolitan area....

Authors: The Editors of Black Issues in Higher Education. James Anderson. Dara N. Byrne.
Hardcover, 256 pages
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: 2004-04-29


Reviews :

    Distinguished thinkers discuss the state of public school integration today
Published in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark Supreme Court decision that declared that separate school facilities were inherently unequal, this collection of essays reflects on how far we've come since 1954—and how far we still need to go. Contributors—black, white, Asian, and Hispanic—include civil rights activist and jurist Derrick Bell, noted journalist Juan Williams, Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree, and NPR's Tavis Smiley, who provides an introduction and thoughtful commentary on each essay.

Black Issues in Higher Education (Fairfax, VA) was founded in 1984 and is the nation's only magazine dedicated exclusively to minority issues in education. Published biweekly, the magazine has 40,000 subscribers....

Authors: Gerald Stern.
Hardcover, 160 pages
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: 2008-08-26
Edition: First Paperback Edition, First Printing

Reviews :

    On March 9, 1976, a violent explosion, fueled by high concentrations of methane gas and coal dust, ripped through the Scotia mine in the heart of Eastern Kentucky coal country. The blast killed fifteen miners who were working nearly three and a half miles underground; two days later, a second explosion took the lives of eleven rescue workers. For the miners’ surviving family members, the loss of their husbands, fathers, and sons was only the beginning of their nightmare.

In The Scotia Widows, Gerald M. Stern, the groundbreaking litigator and acclaimed author of The Buffalo Creek Disaster, recounts the epic four-year legal struggle waged by the widows in the aftermath of the disaster. Stern shares a story of loss, scandal, and perseverance–and the plaintiffs’ fight for justice against the titanic forces of “Big Daddy Coal.”

Confronted at nearly every turn by a hostile judge and the scorched-earth defense of the Scotia mine’s owners, family members also withstood the opprobrium of some of their neighbors, most of whom relied on coal mining for their livelihoods. Meanwhile, Stern, representing the widows of the disaster on contingency, amassed huge bills and encountered a litany of formidable obstacles. The Eastern Kentucky trial judge withheld disclosure of his own personal financial interest in coal mining, and a popular pro-coal former Kentucky governor served as the lead defense counsel. The judge also suppressed as evidence the federal mine study that pointed to numerous safety violations at the Scotia mine: In a rush to produce more coal, necessary ventilation had been short-circuited, miners had not been trained in the use of self-rescue equipment, and ventilation inspections had not been made. Moreover, Scotia did not even have a trained rescue team. Ultimately, the Scotia widows’ ordeal helped to inspire the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, which changed safety regulations for coal mines throughout the country.

The Scotia Widows portrays in gripping detail young women deciding to pursue a landmark legal campaign against powerful corporate interests and the judge who protected them. It is a critically important and timeless story of ordinary people who took a stand and refused to give up hope for justice.

Praise for The Scotia Widows:

“This is a very scary story, a guided tour of the grinding cogs and spinning wheels inside the machinery of justice. Gerald Stern’s compassionate account of the ordeal of the Scotia widows shows you how horribly out of kilter it can all get when greed and self-interest are at the controls. Only with luck and the expertise of Stern does justice emerge in the end, a bit tarnished but still intact.”
–Jonathan Harr, author of A Civil Action...

Authors: Anthony Scott.
Hardcover, 544 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Publication Date: 2008-06-02


Reviews :

    This book traces the development of the standard property rights over five kinds of natural resource - inland rivers, ocean fisheries, petroleum resources, gold and base metals and forest resources - from classical times through to the 19th century. Completely private resources and those in the public (or Crown) lands are given equal attention and a simple supply-and-demand model is used to explain how property rights are altered over time.
Scott also provides the reader with a unique set of characteristics for defining rights and numerous case studies and examples of their evolution, highlighting the increasing recourse to common law courts and government legislation and the problems caused by competing demands on the same, limited resources. This book provides a unique insight into the historical development of property rights and makes a special plea for the multiple-purpose and multi-owner management of resource rights. It will provide a valuable resource for those interested in resource management, economic history, property rights, and development....

Authors: Dixie Burkhart.
Hardcover, 264 pages
Publisher: Eloquent Books
Publication Date: 2008-10-30


Reviews :

    Through the abuse of judicial discretion, the judge violated her right to a fair and impartial trial. In order to reach the outcome she wanted, the facts were ignored and she refused to rule on laws that were violated. Under the guise of judicial discretion the judge's erroneous opinion was nothing less than court-assisted business fraud. When judges are allowed to ignore the facts in evidence and the law, to make rulings by opinion, it opens the door for political favor and judicial corruption. When a judge's opinion defies common sense and the law, one can only wonder what motivated that opinion. Dixie Burkart was born, raised and continues to live in Southwest Iowa with her second husband. She has children, grandchildren, and an extended family. She was a state bureaucrat for seventeen years, worked in the financial services for more than twenty years, was involved with a radio station actively for five years. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Iowa Wesleyan College, a Master of Science from The American College, and a PHD from Walden University. She also holds several professional designations including Chartered Life Underwriter and Chartered Financial Consultant....

Authors: Jules Lobel.
Hardcover, 321 pages
Publisher: NYU Press
Publication Date: 2004-01-01


Reviews :

   

"This eloquent and moving memoir raises profound questions about law, justice, tradition, and community; the path to constructive social change; and not least, how to live a decent life. It is an inspiring story, with many valuable lessons to ponder."
--Noam Chomsky

Winners and losers. Success and failure. Victory and defeat. American culture places an extremely high premium on success, and firmly equates it with winning. In politics, sports, business, and the courtroom, we have a passion to win and are terrified of losing.

Instead of viewing success and failure through such a rigid lens, Jules Lobel suggests that we move past the winner-take-all model and learn valuable lessons from legal and political activists who have advocated causes destined to lose in court but have had important, progressive long term effects on American society. He leads us through dramatic battles in American legal history, describing attempts by abolitionist lawyers to free fugitive slaves through the courts, Susan B. Anthony's trial for voting illegally, the post-Civil War challenges to segregation that resulted in the courts' affirmation of the separate but equal doctrine in Plessy v. Ferguson, and Lobel's own challenges to United States foreign policy during the 1980s and 1990s.

Success Without Victory explores the political, social, and psychological contexts behind the cases themselves, as well as the eras from which they originated and the eras they subsequently influenced.

...