Is Eating People Wrong?: Great Legal Cases and How They Shaped the World (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780521188517)

Great cases are those judicial decisions around which the common law develops. This book explores eight exemplary cases from the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia that show the law as a living, breathing, and down-the-street experience. It explores the social circumstances in which the cases arose and the ordinary people whose stories influenced and shaped the law as well as the characters and institutions (lawyers, judges, and courts) that did much of the heavy lifting. By examining the consequences and fallout of these decisions, the book depicts the common law as an experimental, dynamic, messy, productive, tantalizing, and bottom-up process, thereby revealing the diverse and uncoordinated attempts by the courts to adapt the law to changing conditions and shifting demands. Great cases are one way to glimpse the workings of the common law as an untidy, but stimulating exercise in human judgment and social accomplishment.

Author: Allan C. Hutchinson
ISBN-10: 0521188512
ISBN-13: 9780521188517
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 11/30/2010
Pages: 257
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 9.14h x 6.04w x 0.59d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 08/01/2011