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Like Volume I , this is a valuable source of information, c ... Read more

Like Volume I , this is a valuable source of information, containing references to virtually every type of genealogical record pertinent to Kentucky and that part of Virginia from which the State of Kentucky was formed. A slightly larger work than Volume I, this volume comprises deeds, suits, church minutes, marriages, old Bible records, and tombstone inscriptions. Abstracted are the records of the following counties: Fayette, Jefferson, Lincoln, Bath, Bourbon, Bracken, Clark, Fleming, Harrison, Hardin, Jessamine, Mason, Madison, Montgomery, Nicholas, Oldham, Scott, Woodford, and Warren. The arrangement of the text is both simple and lucid: each class of record, for instance, is dealt with separately in county-by-county sequence. While it is difficult to calculate the exact number of names mentioned in the various records, it is at least safe to say that many thousands of Kentucky's earliest inhabitants are documented. Persons referred to in the text are listed alphabetically by surname in the general index, many with multiple references. Names not appearing in the general index are indexed internally under their relevant county record. Perhaps the most modest claim to be made for this work is that it will reduce the researcher's library work to the bare minimum and will eliminate some of the tedious aspects of investigation altogether. Minimize

Until 1999 official British records of the 15 trials that f ... Read more

Until 1999 official British records of the 15 trials that followed the Easter Rising of 1916 were kept a close secret. Further material released in 2001 included the trial of Countess Markievicz and important evidence about "shoot to kill" British military tactics. These records, the subject of heated speculation and propaganda for more than 80 years, are now clearly presented in this important new book. The complete transcripts are all here, together with fascinating photographs of the Rising, the 15 leaders and the key British players. Brian Barton's incisive commentary explains the context of the trials and the motivations of the leaders, providing an invaluable insight into what went on behind a closed door at a defining moment in Irish history. Minimize

Courts of Admiralty and the Common Law examines the origins ... Read more

Courts of Admiralty and the Common Law examines the origins of American admiralty jurisdiction. Drawing from a vast array of primary sources, ranging from Roman law to English records of the medieval and early modern periods, the author traces the development of English admiralty practice that provided the legal heritage of the new American nation. The book provides details of how the English High Court of Admiralty and its civil-law practitioners became embroiled in the struggle between Crown and Parliament in the seventeenth century, losing much of their traditional jurisdiction to the courts of common law at a time when the American colonies were just beginning to establish specialized tribunals for hearing maritime cases. With maritime jurisdiction in flux in the mother country, the Americans were free to adopt ad hoc solutions to the problem of jurisdiction, creating a system in which both the colonial common-law courts and the newly established colonial vice admiralty courts had concurrent power to adjudicate a wide range of maritime claims. Courts of Admiralty and the Common Law also sheds fresh light on the origins of the federal judiciary, showing how the debate over maritime jurisdiction was instrumental both in shaping the language of Article III of the Constitution and later in determining the structure of the federal courts in the Judiciary Act of 1789. Building upon an assortment of materials from the Constitutional Convention, the states' ratifying conventions, and other contemporary sources, the author explores the pivotal role that the debate over maritime jurisdiction played in determining the structure of the federal courts and explains the reasons underlying the first Congress' decision to grant concurrent jurisdiction over some maritime cases to the states' courts of common law. When the first Congress incorporated concurrent state/federal jurisdiction over several classes of maritime claims into the Judiciary Act of 1789, the author argues, it had not created a novel jurisdictional system, but merely had preserved the status quo established long ago in the colonial era. Congress had disregarded the dangers usually associated with two separate sets of courts interpreting the same body of substantive law, assuming that the lex maritima, as part of the law of nations, would be applied uniformly in both state and federal courts. Soon, however, both new technology, such as the introduction of steam power in maritime commerce, and changing views regarding the law of nations would challenge that assumption. As the original reasons for granting concurrent jurisdiction unraveled, American judges in the early nineteenth century sought to make overlapping jurisdiction work in a changing world. Courts of Admiralty and the Common Law concludes with an assessment of whether concurrent state/federal maritime jurisdiction continues to serve a practical purpose in the twenty-first century, examining how tensions between conflicting state and federal substantive rules may serve the greater interests of federalism and commerce. Minimize

The difficult task of boundary retracement begins with thre ... Read more

The difficult task of boundary retracement begins with three substantial steps: recovering land records, determining the significance of those records, and applying the findings to conditions on the ground. Interpreting Land Records thoroughly details everything surveyors need to know to formulate sound, defendable opinions, including how courts interpret ambiguous words and conflicts between words in documents, and between those words and items outside the documents.Packed with illustrative case examples accompanied by descriptions of how a retracement was performed, what the problems were, and how the surveyor resolved them, Interpreting Land Records features:* Practical information on records research* Surveying methods used in the United States over the past several hundred years--including the English system, Napoleonic Code, Mexican and Spanish land grant systems, and more* Two appendices providing definitions for historical words and phrases as well as how to interpret them* Guidance for confirming a land record with physical evidence on-site* Advice on using historic maps, photographs, and written documents in establishing a boundary for which official records are lost or corrupted Minimize

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. Thi ... Read more

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. Minimize

The Making of Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records and Br ... Read more

The Making of Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978 contains the world's most comprehensive collection of records and briefs brought before the nation's highest court by leading legal practitioners - many who later became judges and associates of the court. It includes transcripts, applications for review, motions, petitions, supplements and other official papers of the most-studied and talked-about cases, including many that resulted in landmark decisions. This collection serves the needs of students and researchers in American legal history, politics, society and government, as well as practicing attorneys. This book contains the official US Supreme Court Transcript of Record for this case. This book does not contain the Court's opinion or any filings in this case. The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping ensure edition identification: Securities and Exchange Commission, Petitioner, v. Ralston Purina Company.Transcript of Record / U.S. Supreme Court / 1952 / 512 / 345 U.S. 903 / 73 S.Ct. 643 / 97 L.Ed. 1340 / 12-22-1952 Minimize

Free Worldwide Delivery : New York Noise : Paperback : Soul ... Read more

Free Worldwide Delivery : New York Noise : Paperback : Soul Jazz Records : 9780955481703 : 0955481708 : 26 Nov 2007 Minimize

When most people think of conducting a case in any court, t ... Read more

When most people think of conducting a case in any court, the first thing they think they need to know is the law. But that's not so. Because trials are not about the law, they are about the facts. It isn't until after the facts are put on the record at trial that you apply the law to them in what is called a post-trial brief. To successfully conduct your own case in Tax Court you need to know the Rules of the Court, the Rules of Evidence, and the Rules of Civil Procedure. You need to know the order of events, the special vocabulary of the Court, how to make a motion, and how to respond to one. The law comes last and is rarely mentioned at all until after the trial is over. This book is written by a non-lawyer for non-lawyers. It explains what the author learned in Tax Court and what he wishes he'd known going in. For the price of 20 minutes of a lawyer's time you can learn what most people going to Tax Court on their own never discover at all or until it's too late. The information in this book is guaranteed to improve your performance in Tax Court whether you have a lawyer or not, or the publisher will refund your money with no questions asked. Minimize

The Duke of Saint-Simon (1675—1755) was by all accounts, in ... Read more

The Duke of Saint-Simon (1675—1755) was by all accounts, including his own, a sensitive, self-obsessed, ill-tempered man. A courtier and phenomenal chronicler of court life under Louis XIV, he produced the monumental work Memoirs, running to thousands of pages, in which the intrigues, personalities, activities, and gossip of life at Versailles are recorded in acerbic detail. Drawing heavily on these Memoirs, renowned historian Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie offers a wonderful portrait of life under Louis XIV, focusing on the fundamental issues of hierarchy and rank in this tightly controlled universe.Saint-Simon and the Court of Louis XIV, expertly translated by Arthur Goldhammer, is a historical essay about court life, built with the wide range of tools Ladurie so expertly employs: ethnography, history, literary criticism, and historiography. Ladurie recreates a world in which man is most definitely born unequal, a world circumscribed entirely by purity of bloodline, which nonetheless directly preceded the birth of democratic thought and political action. Locked into a virtual caste system, courtiers formed within their ranks cabals, factions, and groups bonded by common ideological principles in order to survive the political order of the court. Thus Saint-Simon and the Court of Louis XIV is not only about Saint-Simon's place in this constellation but also the constellation itself and how understanding it forces us to a reevaluation of political life in France during the Old Regime.Including a biographical sketch of Saint-Simon and more than 30 illustrations of court life and its members, Saint-Simon and the Court of Louis XIV will delight those interested in French history as well as instruct those interested in political history. Minimize

The dramatic rise in the number of international courts and ... Read more

The dramatic rise in the number of international courts and tribunals and the expansion of their legal powers has been one of the most significant developments in international law of the late 20th century. The emergence of an international judiciary provided international law with a stronger than ever law enforcement apparatus, and facilitated the transformation of many aspects of international relations from being power-based to being law-based. The first edition of the Manual on International Courts and Tribunals, published in 1999, was the first book to survey systematically this new institutional landscape, by describing in an accessible and uniformly structured manner the legal powers and operating procedures of all major international judicial and quasi-judicial bodies. In doing so, it laid the groundwork for comparative study and research of the law and practice of international courts and tribunals - an emerging field of international legal research, which has already spurred a series of publications, conferences and academic courses. This second edition updates the first edition by describing the many legal changes that have taken place in the last decade, including important reforms in the laws and procedures of many international courts and tribunals, relevant developments in their increasingly rich jurisprudence and the creation of new judicial fora. Moreover, it assesses the overall record of these judicial bodies. The data and legal analysis offered in the book provide both practitioners and academics with an important basis of knowledge that will help them better understand the details of international adjudication and its context. Minimize

Agent Orange on Trial is a riveting legal drama with all th ... Read more

Agent Orange on Trial is a riveting legal drama with all the suspense of a courtroom thriller. One of the Vietnam War's farthest reaching legacies was the Agent Orange case. In this unprecedented personal injury class action, veterans charge that a valuable herbicide, indiscriminately sprayed on the luxuriant Vietnam jungle a generation ago, has now caused cancers, birth defects, and other devastating health problems. Peter Schuck brilliantly recounts the gigantic confrontation between two million ex-soldiers, the chemical industry, and the federal government. From the first stirrings of the lawyers in 1978 to the court plan in 1985 for distributing a record $200 million settlement, the case, which is now on appeal, has extended the frontiers of our legal system in all directions. In a book that is as much about innovative ways to look at the law as it is about the social problems arising from modern science, Schuck restages a sprawling, complex drama. The players include dedicated but quarrelsome veterans, a crusading litigator, class action organizers, flamboyant trial lawyers, astute court negotiators, and two federal judges with strikingly different judicial styles. High idealism, self-promotion, Byzantine legal strategies, and judicial creativity combine in a fascinating portrait of a human struggle for justice through law. The Agent Orange case is the most perplexing and revealing example until now of a new legal genre: the mass toxic tort. Such cases, because of their scale, cost, geographical and temporal dispersion, and causal uncertainty, present extraordinarily difficult challenges to our legal system. They demand new approaches to procedure, evidence, and the definition of substantive legal rights and obligations, as well as new roles for judges, juries, and regulatory agencies. Schuck argues that our legal system must be redesigned if it is to deal effectively with the increasing number of chemical disasters such as the Bhopal accident, ionizing radiation, asbestos, DES, and seepage of toxic wastes. He imaginatively reveals the clash between our desire for simple justice and the technical demands of a complex legal system. This is a book for all Americans interested in their environment, their legal system, their history, and their future. Minimize

Now available with MP3 audio CDS: the bestselling book-and- ... Read more

Now available with MP3 audio CDS: the bestselling book-and-audio set of Supreme Court oral arguments.Until The New Press first published May It Please the Court in 1993, few Americans knew that every case argued before the Supreme Court since 1955 had been recorded. The original book-and-tape set was a revelation to readers and reviewers, quickly becoming a bestseller and garnering praise across the nation. William Safire, writing in the New York Times, called it "a fascinating, you-are-there experience...an ear to history in the making," and the Los Angeles Times Book Review dubbed it a "treasure trove."Including both transcripts of the most significant cases argued before the Supreme Court and recordings of the oral arguments, May It Please the Court offers "a front-row seat in America's most powerful courtroom, where very, very few have had the opportunity to sit" (American Bar Association Journal ). This new edition of the original volume makes the recordings available for the first time in MP3 audio CDs.The audio for this new edition is on MP3 compact discs. MP3 audio books on compact disc can be played on newer CD players that support MP3 technology and accept a standard-sized CD, and on any personal computer that has Apple's iTunes, Microsoft's Media Player or similar software. Minimize

Between May 1905 and April 1907, the U.S. Supreme Court aut ... Read more

Between May 1905 and April 1907, the U.S. Supreme Court authorized the Secretary of the Interior to identify the descendants of Eastern Cherokees entitled to participate in the distribution of more than $1 million authorized by Congress. The purpose of the authorization was to settle outstanding claims made under treaties between the U.S. government and the Cherokees in 1835-36 and 1845. On May 28, 1909, Mr. Guion Miller, representing the Interior Department, submitted his findings with respect to 45,847 separate applications for compensation (encompassing about 90,000 individual claimants). Miller qualified about 30,000 persons inhabiting 19 states to share in the fund.This volume is the first in a new series of books by Jeff Bowen based on the Guion Miller applications. The author begins with a helpful introduction describing the origins of the Guion Miller rolls and the methodology used in abstracting them. The bulk of the book, of course, comprises abstracts of the first 3,000 of the 45,847 examined by Mr. Miller. Minimize

State by state, county by county, city by city, the Guide t ... Read more

State by state, county by county, city by city, the Guide to Naturalization Records identifies all repositories of naturalization records, systematically indicating the types of records held, their dates of coverage, and the location of original and microfilm records. The Guide also pinpoints the whereabouts of federal court records in all National Archives facilities, and identifies every single piece of information on naturalizations that is available on microfilm through the National Archives or the Family History Library System, including the call numbers used by each institution. Minimize

This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 19 ... Read more

This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. Minimize

In 1904 the Eastern Cherokees won a million dollar judgment ... Read more

In 1904 the Eastern Cherokees won a million dollar judgment against the U.S. because of its violations of the treaties of 1835-36 and 1845. The payments were to go to all living persons who had been members of the Cherokee tribe at the time of the treatie Minimize

To what extent do newly available case records bear out our ... Read more

To what extent do newly available case records bear out our conventional assumptions about the Qing legal system? Is it true, for example, that Qing courts rarely handled civil lawsuits—those concerned with disputes over land, debt, marriage, and inheritance—as official Qing representations led us to believe? Is it true that decent people did not use the courts? And is it true that magistrates generally relied more on moral predilections than on codified law in dealing with cases? Based in large part on records of 628 civil dispute cases from three counties from the 1760’s to the 1900’s, this book reexamines those widely accepted Qing representations in the light of actual practice.The Qing state would have had us believe that civil disputes were so “minor” or “trivial” that they were left largely to local residents themselves to resolve. However, case records show that such disputes actually made up a major part of the caseloads of local courts. The Qing state held that lawsuits were the result of actions of immoral men, but ethnographic information and case records reveal that when community/kin mediation failed, many common peasants resorted to the courts to assert and protect their legitimate claims. The Qing state would have had us believe that local magistrates, when they did deal with civil disputes, did so as mediators rather than judges. Actual records reveal that magistrates almost never engaged in mediation but generally adjudicated according to stipulations in the Qing code. Minimize

Tales from the Hanging Court draws on published accounts of ... Read more

Tales from the Hanging Court draws on published accounts of Old Bailey trials from 1674-1834, a rich seam of social, political and legal history. Through these compelling true stories of theft, murder, rape and blackmail, Hitchcock and Shoemaker capture the early history of the judicial system and the colorful, vibrant and sometimes scandalous world of pre-industrial London.In its heyday the court was a soap opera of intrigue, sensation and murky goings on where authors such as Dickens and Defoe would go for inspiration. Thieves and murderers were often caught by members of the public and prosecutions brought by victims. Hitchcock and Shoemaker chart an increasingly sophisticated society taking crime and punishment away from the anarchy of the London mob to put it into a court where a judge and jury meted out justice. The authors paint a vivid picture of a flourishing city where market capitalism and Enlightenment thinking battled to impose order on the chaotic crime that accompanied Britain's economic miracle. Robert Shoemaker and Tim Hitchcock are the Editors of the online proceedings of the Old Bailey archives. Tales from the Hanging Court draws on published accounts of Old Bailey trials from 1674-1834, a rich seam of social, political and legal history. Through these compelling true stories of theft, murder, rape and blackmail, Hitchcock and Shoemaker capture the early history of the judicial system and the colorful, vibrant and sometimes scandalous world of pre-industrial London.In its heyday the court was a soap opera of intrigue, sensation and murky goings on where authors such as Dickens and Defoe would go for inspiration. Thieves and murderers were often caught by members of the public and prosecutions brought by victims. Hitchcock and Shoemaker chart an increasingly sophisticated society taking crime and punishment away from the anarchy of the London mob to put it into a court where a judge and jury meted out justice. The authors paint a vivid picture of a flourishing city where market capitalism and Enlightenment thinking battled to impose order on the chaotic crime that accompanied Britain's economic miracle. Tales from the Hanging Court draws on published accounts of Old Bailey trials from 1674-1834, a rich seam of social, political and legal history. Through these compelling true stories of theft, murder, rape and blackmail, Hitchcock and Shoemaker capture the early history of the judicial system and the colorful, vibrant and sometimes scandalous world of pre-industrial London. "Anybody who has struggled with historic legal records knows they can be a complex subject, but the authors offer a clear introduction to court procedure and, more importantly, to the 18th century criminal system.... The book is largely about the men and women who appeared before the court, as well as the witnesses and victims. Their accounts offer a unique and fascinating glimpse into ordinary life in the 18th century, from the clothes worn to the few precious possessions people owned.... This is an important and serious book on 18th century society, but it is also one that brings the lives of ordinary people very much to life."—Simon Fowler, Ancestors"This thoughtful collection of criminal trials provides a fascinating insight into the murky world of 18th-century London. The authors have assembled a wealth of extracts from proceeding at the Old Bailey and the reader will meet an astonishing cast of characters: murderous husbands, highwaymen, prostitutes, and the rest. The workings of the criminal justice system—from arrest through to public execution—are closely examined, but this book is far more than social history. Devotees of Defoe and Fielding will enjoy glimpsing the real world behind those writers' famous fictions."—The Good Book Gui Minimize

In 1894, German society was introduced to The Love Council, ... Read more

In 1894, German society was introduced to The Love Council, a scandalous new play by the playwright Oskar Panizza. The carnivalesque satire, dealing with the first recorded outbreak of syphilis in 1495, portrays the scourge as divine punishment for the rampant sexual excesses in the Vatican court of the Pope of the time, the notorious Rodrigo Borgia. Panizza was imprisoned for one year on 93 counts of blasphemy, the harshest sentence ever given to an artist in the Second Empire. This book contains a detailed history of the play on stage and the court proceedings that led to Panizza's imprisonment. A new English translation of the play is included, as well as a biography of its avant-garde, modernist author. Minimize

This hefty guide addresses small business owners who have f ... Read more

This hefty guide addresses small business owners who have formed a corporation and want to make sure it's treated that way It offers them the answers advice and forms they need to maintain the legal validity of their corporation before the courts and the IRS The book emphasizes when and how to prepare minutes of meetings tackle formal record keeping and fill out a Corporate Records book More than 80 resolutions forms included as tearouts and on CDROM Minimize

During America's turbulent antebellum era, the Supreme Cour ... Read more

During America's turbulent antebellum era, the Supreme Court decided important cases--most famously Dred Scott--that spoke to sectional concerns and shaped the nation's response to the slavery question. Much scholarship has been devoted to individual cases and to the Taney Court, but this is the first comprehensive examination of the major slavery cases that came before the Court between 1825 and 1861. Earl Maltz presents a detailed analysis of all eight cases and explains how each fit into the slavery politics of its time, beginning with The Antelope, heard by the John Marshall Court, and continuing with the seven other cases taken before the Roger Taney Court: The Amistad, Groves v. Slaughter, Prigg v. Pennsylvania, Strader v. Graham, Dred Scott v. Sandford, Ableman v. Booth, and Kentucky v. Denison. Case by case, Maltz identifies the political and legal forces that shaped each of the judicial outcomes while clarifying the evolution of the Court's slavery-related jurisprudence. He reveals the beliefs of each justice about the morality of slavery and the judicial role in constitutional cases to show how their actions were determined by a complex interaction of political and doctrinal considerations. Thus he offers a more nuanced understanding of the antebellum federal judiciary, showing how the decision in Prigg hinged on views about federalism as well as attitudes toward human freedom, while the question of which slaves were freed in The Antelope depended more on complex fact-finding than on a condemnation of the slave trade. Maltz also challenges the view that the Taney Court simply mirrored Southern interests and argues that, despite Dred Scott, the overall record of the Court was not particularly proslavery. Although the progression of the Court's decisions reflects a change in the tenor of the conflict over slavery, the aftermath of those decisions illustrates the limits of the Court's ability to change the dynamic that governed political struggles over such divisive issues. As the first accessible account of all of these cases, Slavery and the Supreme Court, 1825-1861 underscores the Court's limited capability to resolve the intractable political conflicts that sharply divided our nation during this period. Minimize

About 150,000 Scots emigrated to America before the Revolut ... Read more

About 150,000 Scots emigrated to America before the Revolutionary War, but the records on them are notoriously hard to find. However, it has been clear for some time that in archives in Scotland and England there is much information on a number of these emigrants. David Dobson has extracted data from a wide variety of sources including family and estate papers, testamentary and probate records, burgh muniments, sasine and deed registers, Sheriff's Court records, Court of Session and High Court of Judiciary records, port books, customs registers, contemporary diaries and journals, contemporary newspapers and magazines, professional and university records, Privy Council and colonial records, records of Episcopalian and Presbyterian churches, monumental inscription lists, and the 1774-75 Register of Emigrants. For each of the 7,000 persons listed, a maximum of twenty-three points of information is provided: name, date of birth or baptism, place of birth, occupation, place of education, cause of banishment (where applicable), residence, parents' names, emigration date and whether voluntarily or involuntarily transported, port of embarkation, destination, name of ship, place and date of arrival, place of settlement, names of spouse and children, date and place of death, where buried, probate record, and source citation. Minimize

This is a very comprehensive guide to the genealogical reco ... Read more

This is a very comprehensive guide to the genealogical records and sources in Ohio, written by one of Ohio's foremost genealogists, Carol Willsey Bell. For each of Ohio's eighty-eight counties, Mrs. Bell supplies the following data: the county creation date and the name(s) of the parent county; the county seat; the name and address of the county courthouse, library, historical society, genealogical society, archival district, and health department; a list of relevant land surveys (for land and deed research); the surrounding counties; and the names of all townships in the county. Next is a detailed breakdown of the court records on microfilm (LDS and Ohio Historical Society), listed first by originating office and then by record group. This includes the records of the State Auditor, Clerks of Court, Court of Common Pleas, Children's Homes, Coroner, County Homes, County Commissioners, Probate Court, Recorder, Sheriff, Soldier's Relief Commission, and Treasurer. Then there follows an itemization of the census records available for each county, including special schedules, a listing of the county's records on microfilm in the State Library, plus manuscript collections, newspapers, tax records, articles from periodicals, and an extensive list of published sources for that county. And all of this magnificently detailed data on the counties is preceded by an elaborate listing of statewide and regional records and publications. Minimize

The Constitution of Japan has served the country for more t ... Read more

The Constitution of Japan has served the country for more than half a century, creating and maintaining a stable and functional democratic system. This book innovatively interprets Japanese politics as a 'benign elite democracy' whilst demonstrating the Supreme Court's vital contribution to the political structure. In "The Supreme Court and Benign Elite Democracy in Japan", Hiroshi Itoh presents the first empirical study of judicial decision making under Japan's Constitution. He examines the Supreme Court's records regarding the protection of civil rights and liberties, the preservation of the conformity of lower levels of laws and regulations to the Constitution, and the maintenance of the Court's relationships to the political branches. The analysis of these three aspects of constitutional litigation reveal how the Supreme Court contributes to the efficacy of constitutional democracy by keeping the system adaptable to the ever-changing environment in and around Japan. Minimize

"... will challenge (and should transform) existing interpr ... Read more

"... will challenge (and should transform) existing interpretations of late Imperial Russian governance, peasant studies, and Russian legal history." —Cathy A. Frierson"... a major contribution to our understanding both of the dynamic of change within the peasantry and of legal development in late Imperial Russia." —William G. WagnerRussian Peasants Go to Court brings into focus the legal practice of Russian peasants in the township courts of the Russian empire from 1905 through 1917. Contrary to prevailing conceptions of peasants as backward, drunken, and ignorant, and as mistrustful of the state, Jane Burbank's study of court records reveals engaged rural citizens who valued order in their communities and made use of state courts to seek justice and to enforce and protect order. Through narrative studies of individual cases and statistical analysis of a large body of court records, Burbank demonstrates that Russian peasants made effective use of legal opportunities to settle disputes over economic resources, to assert personal dignity, and to address the bane of small crimes in their communities. The text is enhanced by contemporary photographs and lively accounts of individual court cases. Minimize

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were a re ... Read more

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were a revolutionary period in the lives of women, and the shifting perceptions of women and their role in society were equally apparent in the courtroom. Women Who Kill Men examines eighteen sensational cases of women on trial for murder from 1870 to 1958. The fascinating details of these murder trials, documented in court records and embellished newspaper coverage, mirrored the changing public image of women. Although murder was clearly outside the norm for standard female behavior, most women and their attorneys relied on gendered stereotypes and language to create their defense and sometimes to leverage their status in a patriarchal system. Those who could successfully dress and act the part of the victim were most often able to win the sympathies of the jury. Gender mattered. And though the norms shifted over time, the press, attorneys, and juries were all informed by contemporary gender stereotypes. Minimize