Law 101
Everything You Need to Know About American Law, Fifth Edition
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4.0 • 4 Ratings
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- $20.99
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- $20.99
Publisher Description
In this fifth edition of his bestselling classic, Jay Feinman provides an authoritative and up-to-date overview of the American legal system. In the years since the publication of the fourth edition, there have been many important developments on the legal front. The Supreme Court has issued important decisions on presidential powers, freedom of religion, and personal liberty. Police shootings and the rise of Black Lives Matter has impacted the court system too. The rise of arbitration at the expense of jury trials has affected the rights of consumers, and internet law remains in a state of constant change.
This fully updated fifth edition of Law 101 accounts for all these developments and more, as Feinman once again provides a clear introduction to American law. The book covers all the main subjects taught in the first year of law school, and discusses every facet of the American legal tradition, including constitutional law, the litigation process, and criminal, property, and contracts law.
To illustrate how the legal system works, Feinman draws from noteworthy, infamous, and even outrageous examples and cases. We learn about the case involving scalding coffee that cost McDonald's half a million dollars, the murder trial in Victorian London that gave us the legal definition of insanity, and the epochal decision of Marbury vs. Madison that gave the Supreme Court the power to declare state and federal law unconstitutional. A key to learning about the law is understanding legal vocabulary, and Feinman helps by clarifying terms like "due process" and "equal protection," as well as by drawing distinctions between terms like "murder" and "manslaughter."
Above all, Feinman reveals to readers of all kinds that despite its complexities and quirks, the law can be understood by everyone. Perfect for students contemplating law school, journalists covering legislature, or even casual fans of "court-television" shows, Law 101 is a clear and accessible introduction to the American legal system.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Although it falls a long way short of delivering "everything you need to know" about American law, this basic text offers nonlawyers a concise, accessible overview of topics typically introduced in the first year of law school. Feinman, a law professor at Rutgers, cites seminal cases to highlight key concepts in the fields of constitutional law, civil procedure, torts, contracts, property, criminal law and criminal procedure. He does not minimize the actual complexity of these subjects, conceding variously that contract law has "tormented the most students," property law "most irritates students," conflicts of law "tortures students" and civil procedure is "the most alien." Nevertheless, he distinguishes his book from the various how-to-be-your-own-lawyer manuals on the market: "This one is fun to read." But how much fun is to be found here is questionable. Although Feinman does explore a few juicy cases, such as the successful lawsuit against McDonald's by a woman scalded by its extra-hot coffee and the headline-grabbing criminal prosecution of subway vigilante Bernhard Goetz, much of his book is a no-frills restatement of the most general legal principles, minus the titillating nuances. Uninitiated readers may prefer Feinman's regular-guy style ("some contracts just stink") to his more academic voice ("The decision in a particular case will depend on the level of generality at which the court states the controlling principle"). They may also wish he had provided a glossary for quick reference. But many readers, particularly those contemplating law school, will find this a painless introduction to American legal theory and practice.
