Editorial Review

Kermit L. Hall, Dean of the College of Humanities, Executive Dean of the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences, and Professor of History and Law at Ohio State University, is well versed in American constitutional and legal history, and has a skillful touch when it comes to editing the contributions of well over 100 legal scholars (from attorneys and state supreme court justices to professors of law, political science, constitutional history, and government), producing a reference tome that invites the attention of lay legal beagles, students of American history, and practicing members of the legal profession.Read more

Reviews (10)

Useful reference book
The "Oxford Guide to US Supreme Court Decisions" is not much more than that. It gives an extremely expansive overview of all US Supreme Court cases that can remotely be considered important, throughout the period of its existence. Every case contains information on the reference number, the composition of the majority, concurrence and dissents, and a summary of what the case or controversy was about by a legal scholar.
Oxford Guire to US Supreme Court Decisions
This is a handy reference to quickly correlate discussions of past decisions in the many articles on supreme court actions as well as during the confirmation process. It is a good book for every supreme court watcher to have on the shelf.

Great Introduction Book
This book is perfect if you are interested in important decisions of the Supreme court but do not want to spend hours reading arguments, decisions and dissents in a civics book or findlaw.Oxford explains what happened in the case, why it is important and what the Supreme Court's decision did for American law.
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Subjects:  1. Constitutional law    2. Courts - General    3. Digests    4. Encyclopedias    5. Government - Federal    6. Law    7. Legal History    8. Legal Reference / Law Profession    9. Reference    10. United States    11. United States - General    12. Civil law (general works)    13. History, American    14. Law / Reference    15. Law reports    16. USA   

Reviews (3)

As good as being in a class with Lilly
I'm actually not just saying that: I just finished taking Evidence with Graham Lilly, and his (excellent) book captures his lectures almost perfectly.I'm shocked that such a clear, lucid explanation of the Federal Rules of Evidence (as well as their evolution and major common law departures) fits in such a tiny, succint book.
Thank God for Graham Lilly
I recently took evidence with one of the worst teachers in the history of the legal profession.Thank god Lilly's book is clear, thorough, and resourceful.

Solid Book From A Students Perspective.
I found this book very useful both during law school and at my summer clerkships. While most states, or at least a good portion, have adopted something similar to the Federal rules on evidence, this book provides help understanding that tradition as well as the common law. This book does a really good job of providing a summation of either without proving too difficult to learn from or to sit with for extended periods of time. The only concern I would raise is if your state or the one you practice in goes clearly one way it may be better to buy the specific hornbook for your state. But for me, I'm not sure where I am going to end up for the bar so reading both sides has helped me tremendously. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Evidence    2. Evidence (Law)    3. Legal Reference / Law Profession    4. Reference    5. United States    6. English legal system: law of evidence   

Subjects:  1. Business Law    2. Business/Economics    3. Civil Procedure    4. Contracts    5. Data processing    6. Electronic Engineering (Specific Aspects)    7. Electronic contracts    8. Electronic data interchange    9. General    10. Law and legislation    11. Technology & Industrial Arts    12. United States    13. Contract law    14. EDI (electronic data interchange)    15. Law as it applies to other professions    16. Publishing industry    17. Social & Legal Aspects of Computing    18. USA   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Career/Job    3. Careers - General    4. Civil Procedure    5. Legal Reference / Law Profession    6. Non-Classifiable   

Reviews (1)

Worth the Investment
Considering the cost of a good IP lawyer, this book is well worth it.Read more

Subjects:  1. Business/Economics    2. Civil Procedure    3. Intellectual Property    4. Intellectual Property - General    5. Law    6. Law Of Intellectual Property    7. Law and legislation    8. Legal Reference / Law Profession    9. License agreements    10. Patent licenses    11. Technology transfer    12. United States    13. Business strategy    14. International economic & trade law    15. Sales & marketing   

Reviews (2)

A Fantastic Resource for Students and Teachers of Counseling
The Doctor from Botswana, below, is exactly right, and this book is so superb in its organisation and function that it deserves more elucidation.
URGENT REQUEST
l am sorry to use this space for an entirely different purpose.l have been on the internet trying to find a book which l can recommend to my students who are doing a course, Legal Issues in Counselling, anda course l amteaching for the first time.l urgently need a copy of this book todetermine if it is suitable, in which case, the University will ordercopies for my students and for the library.Please, l would be very gratefulif you could respond immediately and if possible give me an idea of itstable of content.Read more

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Counseling    3. Counseling (Psychology)    4. Counselors    5. Law and legislation    6. Legal Reference / Law Profession    7. Legal status, laws, etc    8. Legal status, laws, etc.    9. Reference    10. Student counselors    11. United States   

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Discrimination In Employment    3. Forensic statistics    4. Law and legislation    5. Mathematics    6. Probability & Statistics - General    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Statistical Methods In The Social Sciences    9. Statistical methods    10. United States    11. Mathematics / Statistics    12. Probability & statistics   

Reviews (6)

One of the Better Nutshells
The Nutshell Series is great for law students who want a refresher in the days before a final.The Con Law book is no exception.These books sum up all of the main points in an easy read that's broken out by subject so you can easily skip sections you didn't cover in class.However, unlike others in the series, I feel this one actually provides a pretty clear picture of Con Law even if you haven't taken the course yet.Usually I recommend you wait until the end of the semester to plow through these in a day or two, but this one may be worth buying before class starts to give you an understanding of the topic from the get-go.

Great, concise review!
Ok, so I'm a little biased since professor Barron was my con law prof., but this book is great. It's a nutshell, so don't expect a whole lot of depth, but it does a great job of boiling down the basic holdings of cases and tying them together with a narrative. It was almost as handy as my outline during the exam.

Good Summary of Con Law
This book was extremely useful to me, because it boiled down complicated areas of law, such as justiciability, the commerce clause, and state action. It helped me to get a high grade in Con Law. Even though I am done with the class, I am still using the book as a reference for seminar papers that I am writing. I recommend it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Constitutional    3. Constitutional law    4. Law    5. Legal Reference / Law Profession    6. United States   

Reviews (1)

No need to buy it.
This book really isn't necessary. I found this book to be too dense or too superficial for what I needed. I bought this during my first semester of law school and thought after perusing it in the bookstore that it could be useful. The reality is that I used it only a couple of times, and have only opened twice since. The book has a ton of information if you have never had civil procedure, but what I have found is that it's not useful on the job and there are much better study aides. I have repeatedly touted the benefit of the Emmanuel, but I want to doublely do so hear. The charts alone makes the Emmanuel far superior, but the presentation also helps as well. I don't think anything was more helpful for any class than the Emmanuel's flow chart for personal jurisdiction. This nutshell also when you're studying just becomes more of the same-old, same-old. In practice, there are better and more respected books like Wright & Miller that prove to be better sources and are respectable enough to site in a brief. In essence, do not buy this unless you haven't been going to class. It is too dense and won't help for exam. In practice, it doesn't have the resources you need.Also, it is very expensive if you are a student, and need exam help. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Law    3. United States    4. Civil law (general works)    5. Courts & procedure   

Subjects:  1. Federal Jurisdiction    2. General    3. Reference    4. Non-Classifiable   

Reviews (1)

Sorry but it's not that good
Too vague for a hornbook. It does not clearly and concisely state the laws of civil procedure. It also spends a lot of time stating the author's feelings about civil procedure. For example, at the end of most chapters, he has a section called "reform proposal" where he offers his opinion on where the law should go. Some of the author's ideas are brilliant and interesting, but if I answered a test question using the vague style he uses, or based my answer on where I thought the law should be, my professor would be annoyed. It also has no practice problems.
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Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Law    3. Legal Reference / Law Profession    4. United States   

Reviews (27)

Keep Reading Books by Sitting Supreme Court Justices
I think that it is good to read widely and get divergent perspectives.Thus, Christians and Jews should read the Quran and Muslims should read the Torah and the New Testament.Conservatives should read the Nation or the New Republic and visit the DailyKos website and liberals should read the Weekly Standard or National Review and visit RealClearPolitics.The same perspective applies with Breyer's book.Regardless of your perspective, you should read this brief and easily understandable statement of judicial philosophy from a sitting Supreme Court justice.(And, it would also be good to read the counterpoint from Justice Breyer for the same reasons.)
Buy it for the appendices, not the text
Even after trying to put to one side whatever opinion one has of Justice Scalia as a judge - something that, for example, the WSJ reviewer plainly couldn't manage, rating or reviewing this book poses (at least) two difficulties:
Exposes the Modus Operendi of Result Oriented Jurists
Great read.Scalia exposes the deceptive means by which activist judges often cloak their misdeeds, relying upon supposed rules of construction or plumbing the legislative record in a feigned effort to discern the "intent" of the legislature, when in reality the courts are often using these interpretive tools to "sanctify" judicial mischief, that is to say, conceal their true purpose of reaching their preferred result.At times providing historical examples, he leaves the activists naked and embarrassed.Come take a peak. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Conflict of Laws    3. Courts - General    4. Law    5. Legal Reference / Law Profession    6. Legal System    7. Politics/International Relations    8. Civil law (general works)    9. Jurisprudence & philosophy of law    10. Law / Constitutional    11. Political Science and International Relations    12. USA   

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Evidence    3. Evidence (Law)    4. Law    5. Legal Reference / Law Profession    6. Trial Practice    7. United States   

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Domestic Relations - General    3. Domestic Relations Law    4. Domestic relations    5. Family Law - General    6. General    7. Legal Reference / Law Profession    8. Reference    9. United States    10. Business & Economics / General    11. Family law   

Reviews (1)

High Court Case Summaries on Civil Procedure (High Court Case Summaries)
I am very disappointed.I was sent the wrong book and eventhough I contacted the seller and was able to get a refund, I was not reimbursed for the $8.50 shipping that it cost me to send it back. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cases    2. Civil Procedure    3. Law    4. Legal Reference / Law Profession    5. United States   

Reviews (9)

A disappointment only because it could be so much better
Plainly stated, this is a terribly edited book. Although the authors made it clear at the outset that they are not scholars, that fact is no excuse for the decidedly sloppy, bloated, and ambiguous prose that nearly scuttles this second effort. Far too often, the authors muddle the articulation of their theories and techniques by infusing the prose with vacuous, ungrammatical, and utterly impenetrable fustian. Indeed, any educated person will quickly realize that this book is in need of major editorial intervention.
The best keeps getting better
This review is intended as a review specifically of the second edition of Pozner and Dodd's _Cross-Examination: Science & Techniques_ (released 12/2004). Some of the reviews listed for this edition appear to have been duplicated by amazon.com from reviews of the first edition in 1993.
Eureka they've got it!
Pozner and Dodd's book contains techniques not found elsewhere. I won two hotly contested employment trials for big money in the last 4 months, as a relatively new trial attorney.
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Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Cross-examination    3. General    4. Law    5. Legal Reference / Law Profession    6. Trial practice    7. United States   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (17)

Good for history, bad for legal analysis
I give the author credit for explicitly revealing his biases in the book's opening pages.The author is a war protesting, left-leaning, liberal, and is a proponent of a "living Constitution" that conforms to his own ideas of a perfect society, rather than a view that treats the Constitution as a legal text.I strongly disagree with his views, but because he does not present his biases as fact, but instead openly warns the reader, I was able to continue reading.
We live by symbols
This is the book that provides an immense and readable amount of historical and political background informationon the evolution of the interpretation of the US Constitution from its very beginning until the end of the XX century. Constitutional law is seen through its cases throughout history and its main protagonists: the judges of the Supreme Court and those who brought their cases. It also shows that legalist interpretation of the Constitution has not followed the pedant use of syllogistic reasoning from the precedential principles set forth in previous similar cases, like Christopher Columbus Langdell, instead, had taught at Harvard Law School in the XIX century. When the Constitution was interpreted as if it were a pure and independent science, leaving nothing to the political context or the common sense, it created monsters that today look embarrassing. However, since the law was interpreted according to the sensitivities of the ruling class at the time, too, the output still remains curious today. Both ways, the Constitution was read for the benefit of the privileged. The book does not deal only with famous cases such as "Dred Scott v. Sandford", "Plessy v. Ferguson", "Brown v. Board of Education", "Miranda v. Arizona", "Roe v. Wade", but it deals with many more that cover many controversial political subjects of the last 200 years. Here an anecdote in the book that look funny in itself. Lawyers from the Dept. of Justice brought two thousand prosecutions under the Espionage Act. The most ironic is United States v. Spirit of '76, against the producer of a movie about the American Revolution, Robert Goldstein, because his depiction of British atrocities against the colonists tended "to question the good faith of our ally, Great Britain", according to the judge, who imposed a ten-year sentence on the producer. It is a highly recommended book for historians, political scientists, and, why not, lawyers and filmmakers.

Stimulating interpretation of the history of the Court
In this book, Peter Irons offers a refreshingly stimulating interpretation of the history of the Supreme Court.His approach, which focuses on understanding the personalities on the bench and behind the cases, serves as an invaluable reminder that laws and created and interpreted by people who bring their views and experiences into this process. Irons begins this process with himself; in the introduction he expresses his belief that "the Constitution's basic command is that every person must be accorded the dignity he or she deserves as a human being."(xv)This view serves as the basis for his analysis in the book.Read more

Subjects:  1. Constitutional Law    2. Courts - Supreme Court    3. History    4. History: American    5. Law    6. Law and politics    7. Legal History    8. Legal Reference / Law Profession    9. Political aspects    10. Supreme Court    11. U.S. Supreme Court    12. United States    13. United States.    14. Political Science / General   

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Law    3. Legal Reference / Law Profession    4. Persuasion (Psychology)    5. Trial Practice    6. United States   

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Business/Economics    3. California    4. Case studies    5. Civil Procedure    6. Clothing trade    7. Corrupt practices    8. General    9. Guess (Firm)    10. History Of Specific Companies    11. Jordache (Firm)    12. Los Angeles    13. Textile And Clothing Industries (Economic Aspects)    14. Trials (Fraud)    15. Trials, litigation, etc    16. United States   

Reviews (2)

Egotism at its fullest.
A magnificent study of egotism at its fullest. It is easy to understand why Holmes reached the status that he did, because he spent his life in an effort to maintain the social status that he thought was his.He may have been an intellectual, but it seems he directed his efforts at establishing and maintaining a position that he thought was rightfully that of the upper class of which he considered himself supreme.A good read about a man who obtained a position in history that he did not deserve.

An Historical Profile in the Form of a Biography
Ms. Baker has succeeded in developing not only a view of Justice Holmes, a free thinker and a freer spirit, but also a profile of the era or, perhaps,of several eras.Justice Holmes' life crossed a number of turning pointsin American jurisprudence.On the academic side, Holmes took part in seachanges in the approach taken to legal teaching and legal scholarship.Onthe historical side, Justice Holmes witnessed and took part in events thathad a marked impact on the rule and role of law in the United States -- theCivil War, Emancipation, Reconstruction, Industrialization and aggressivebusiness practices at the turn of the last Century, World War I and the RedScare, the Roaring Twenties and the onset of the Great Depression. Read more

Subjects:  1. 1841-1935    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. General    6. Holmes, Oliver Wendell,    7. Judges    8. U.S. Federal Courts    9. United States    10. Holmes, Oliver Wendell