Magnificent. That's the best description I can give of Professor Lawrence Friedman's masterpiece. If there is anything that Lawrence Friedman hasn't read about American legal history, I'd be surprised. From the first colonial settlements until the early years of the twenty first century, this book covers it all.
It would seem like this topic should be boring, but this is an engaging and engrossing book. To a large extent the history of the American people is a history of their laws and legal systems. Even the chapters about legal education and lawyers are not boring.
Why is all this important? "The law, said Justice Holmes, is a magic mirror, wherein we see reflected not only our own lives but also the lives of those who went before us. Thus, a history of American law reflects the nation's history in all its manifold aspects. Every important development in American life has had its impact on the law, from the founding of the Republic to the internal stresses of the society two centuries later." Bernard Schwartz, The Law in America: A History (1974).
Five out of five gavels.
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