Best of
Law
2004
The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions
Helen Prejean - 2004
Both were convicted of murder on flimsy evidence (O’Dell’s principal accuser was a jailhouse informant who later recanted his testimony). Both were executed in spite of numerous appeals. Sister Helen Prejean watched both of them die.As she recounts these men’s cases and takes us through their terrible last moments, Prejean brilliantly dismantles the legal and religious arguments that have been used to justify the death penalty. Riveting, moving, and ultimately damning, The Death of Innocents is a book we dare not ignore.
Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity
Lawrence Lessig - 2004
Never before have the cultural powers- that-be been able to exert such control over what we can and can't do with the culture around us. Our society defends free markets and free speech; why then does it permit such top-down control? To lose our long tradition of free culture, Lawrence Lessig shows us, is to lose our freedom to create, our freedom to build, and, ultimately, our freedom to imagine.
Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime: From the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism
Geoffrey R. Stone - 2004
Stone delineates the consistent suppression of free speech in six historical periods from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the Vietnam War, and ends with a coda that examines the state of civil liberties in the Bush era. Full of fresh legal and historical insight, Perilous Times magisterially presents a dramatic cast of characters who influenced the course of history over a two-hundred-year period: from the presidents—Adams, Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt, and Nixon—to the Supreme Court justices—Taney, Holmes, Brandeis, Black, and Warren—to the resisters—Clement Vallandingham, Emma Goldman, Fred Korematsu, and David Dellinger. Filled with dozens of rare photographs, posters, and historical illustrations, Perilous Times is resonant in its call for a new approach in our response to grave crises.
Anti-Federalist Papers (1787-1789)
Founding Fathers - 2004
We did our best to take advantage of all the features of the kindle to maximize your reading experience with this book.DESCRIPTIONDuring the period from the drafting and proposal of the federal Constitution in September, 1787, to its ratification in 1789 there was an intense debate on ratification. The principal arguments in favor of it were stated in the series written by Madison, Hamilton, and Jay called the Federalist Papers.The arguments against ratification appeared in various forms, by various authors, most of whom used a pseudonym. Collectively, these writings have become known as the Anti-Federalist Papers. They contain warnings of tyranny and of a strong federal government, while some of those weaknesses were corrected by adoption of the Bill of Rights, others remained, and some of these dangers are now coming to pass.
The Powerscore LSAT Logical Reasoning Bible: A Comprehensive System for Attacking the Logical Reasoning Section of the LSAT
David M. Killoran - 2004
Featuring dozens of real Logical Reasoning questions with detailed explanations, the Bible is the ultimate resource for improving your LSAT Logical Reasoning score.
Legal Education and the Reproduction of Hierarchy: A Polemic Against the System
Duncan Kennedy - 2004
This controversial booklet was reviewed in several major law journals--unprecedented for a self-published work--and influenced a generation of law students and teachers. In this well-known critique, Duncan Kennedy argues that legal education reinforces class, race, and gender inequality in our society. However, Kennedy proposes a radical egalitarian alternative vision of what legal education should become, and a strategy, starting from the anarchist idea of workplace organizing, for struggle in that direction. Legal Education and the Reproduction of Hierarchy is comprehensive, covering everything about law school from the first day to moot court to job placement to life after law school. Kennedy's book remains one of the most cited works on American legal education.The visually striking original text is reprinted here, making it available to a new generation. The text is buttressed by commentaries by five prominent legal scholars who consider its meaning for today, as well as by an introduction and afterword by the author that describes the context in which Kennedy wrote the book, including a brief history of critical legal studies.
Silent Covenants: Brown v. Board of Education and the Unfulfilled Hopes for Racial Reform
Derrick A. Bell - 2004
Board of Education was handed down in 1954, many civil rights advocates believed that the decision, which declared public school segregation unconstitutional, would become the Holy Grail of racial justice. Fifty years later, despite its legal irrelevance and the racially separate and educationally ineffective state of public schooling for most black children, Brown is still viewed by many as the perfect precedent. Here, Derrick Bell shatters the shining image of this celebrated ruling. He notes that, despite the onerous burdens of segregation, many black schools functioned well and racial bigotry had not rendered blacks a damaged race. He maintains that, given what we now know about the pervasive nature of racism, the Court should have determined instead to rigorously enforce the "equal" component of the "separate but equal" standard. Racial policy, Bell maintains, is made through silent covenants--unspoken convergences of interest and involuntary sacrifices of rights--that ensure that policies conform to priorities set by policy-makers. Blacks and whites are the fortuitous winners or losers in these unspoken agreements. The experience with Brown, Bell urges, should teach us that meaningful progress in the quest for racial justice requires more than the assertion of harms. Strategies must recognize and utilize the interest-convergence factors that strongly influence racial policy decisions. In Silent Covenants, Bell condenses more than four decades of thought and action into a powerful and eye-opening book.
An Air That Kills: How the Asbestos Poisoning of Libby, Montana, Uncovered a National Scandal
Andrew Schneider - 2004
This is the story of miners who were unaware of the toxins they took into their lungs, then brought home in their clothes-infecting their families. It is the story of the ongoing use of asbestos in products ranging from insulation to cat litter. It is the story behind the George W. Bush administration's successful campaign to cover up the full extent of the post-9/11 asbestos problem in Lower Manhattan. But it is also the story of the townspeople and government workers who took on the government in Washington to demand justice for those who died-and those who are still dying-of preventable exposure to asbestos.
American Gulag: Inside U.S. Immigration Prisons
Mark Dow - 2004
Immigration and Naturalization Service has existed in this country for more than two decades. In American Gulag, prisoners, jailers, and whistle-blowing federal officials come forward to describe the frightening reality inside these INS facilities. Journalist Mark Dow's on-the-ground reporting brings to light documented cases of illegal beatings and psychological torment, prolonged detention, racism, and inhumane conditions. Intelligent, impassioned, and unlike anything that has been written on the topic, this gripping work of investigative journalism should be read by all Americans. It is a book that will change the way we see our country. American Gulag takes us inside prisons such as the Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami, the Corrections Corporation of America's Houston Processing Center, and county jails around the country that profit from contracts to hold INS prisoners. It contains disturbing in-depth profiles of detainees, including Emmy Kutesa, a defector from the Ugandan army who was tortured and then escaped to the United States, where he was imprisoned in Queens, and then undertook a hunger strike in protest. To provide a framework for understanding stories like these, Dow gives a brief history of immigration laws and practices in the United States—including the repercussions of September 11 and present-day policies. His book reveals that current immigration detentions are best understood not as a well-intentioned response to terrorism but rather as part of the larger context of INS secrecy and excessive authority. American Gulag exposes the full story of a cruel prison system that is operating today with an astonishing lack of accountability.
From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality
Michael J. Klarman - 2004
In a highlyprovocative interpretation of the decision's connection to the civil rights movement, Klarman argues that Brown was more important for mobilizing southern white opposition to racial change than for encouraging direct-action protest. Brown unquestioningly had a significant impact--it brought raceissues to public attention and it mobilized supporters of the ruling. It also, however, energized the opposition. In this authoritative account of constitutional law concerning race, Michael Klarman details, in the richest and most thorough discussion to date, how and whether Supreme Court decisionsdo, in fact, matter.
Cradle of Freedom: Alabama and the Movement That Changed America
Frye Gaillard - 2004
While exceptional leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Fred Shuttlesworth, Ralph Abernathy, John Lewis, and others rose up from the ranks and carved their places in history, the burden of the movement was not carried by them alone. It was fueled by the commitment and hard work of thousands of everyday people who decided that the time had come to take a stand.Cradle of Freedom is tied to the chronology of pivotal events occurring in Alabama the Montgomery bus boycott, the Freedom Rides, the Letter from the Birmingham Jail, the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, Bloody Sunday, and the Black Power movement in the Black Belt. Gaillard artfully interweaves fresh stories of ordinary people with the familiar ones of the civil rights icons. We learn about the ministers and lawyers, both black and white, who aided the movement in distinct ways at key points. We meet Vernon Johns, King's predecessor at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, who first suggested boycotting the buses and who wrote later, "It is a heart strangely un-Christian that cannot thrill with joy when the least of men begin to pull in the direction of the stars." We hear from John Hulett who tells how terror of lynching forced him down into ditches whenever headlights appeared on a night road. We see the Edmund Pettus Bridge beatings from the perspective of marcher JoAnne Bland, who was only a child at the time. We learn of E. D. Nixon, a Pullman porter who helped organize the bus boycott and who later choked with emotion when, for the first time in his life, a white man extended his hand in greeting to him on a public street.How these ordinary people rose to the challenges of an unfair system with a will and determination that changed their times forever is a fascinating and extraordinary story that Gaillard tells with his hallmark talent. Cradle of Freedom unfolds with the dramatic flow of a novel, yet it is based on meticulous research. With authority and grace, Gaillard explains how the southern state deemed the Cradle of the Confederacy became with great struggle, some loss, and much hope the Cradle of Freedom.
The Anatomy Of Corporate Law: A Comparative And Functional Approach
Reinier H. Kraakman - 2004
The authors start from the premise that corporate (or company) law across jurisdictions addresses the same three basic agency problems: (1) the opportunism of managers vis-�-vis shareholders; (2) the opportunism of controlling shareholders vis-�-vis minority shareholders; and (3) the opportunism of shareholders as a class vis-�-vis other corporate constituencies, such as corporate creditors and employees.
So Help Me God
Larry D. Thompson - 2004
Lord “The courtroom drama and testimony are brilliantly conceived and carried out…a thoughtful, complex and timely novel, a compelling story one is loath to put aside to do one’s daily work.”—Galveston Daily News "So Help Me God is not only a page-turner but a warning as well. Through a deft, fascinating storyline Larry D. Thompson shows us what can happen here if we're not careful."—Ed Gorman“So Help Me God is an exciting legal thriller that takes the reader on a sizzling ride as a courtroom becomes the battlefield over one of the most controversial social issues of our time. Not since the Scopes Monkey Trial has a man of religion and a man of ideas clashed so dramatically and brilliantly in a courtroom.” –Junius Podrug, award winning author of Presumed Guilty“I don’t think I have ever read anything quite so compelling. Everything was woven together beautifully and could only have been done so by someone who had actually lived through similar experiences in the courtroom.”—pennyterk.com“Move over John Grisham!”—Denton A. Cooley, MD, world-renowned pioneer heart surgeon“Seldom does a first effort at courtroom fiction find itself in the class of such notables as Inherit the Wind, The Verdict, and The Rainmaker. But Larry Thompson’s So Help Me God belongs there. I predict it will become a modern day classic courtroom tale.”—Jim Perdue, Sr., nationally renowned trial lawyer and author of I Remember Atticus“I hated to finish that last page of So Help Me God…the courtroom scenes are both realistic and spell-binding.”—Hartley Hampton, past president of the Texas Trial Lawyers AssociationAbout the AuthorA veteran Texas trial lawyer, LARRY D. THOMPSON has drawn upon decades of experience in the courtroom to produce his first novel, So Help Me God. Thompson, a one-time journalism major who used his talent for writing to excel at the University of Texas School of Law, is now managing partner of the Houston trial firm he founded. Recently honored by Texas Monthly Magazine as a "Texas Super Lawyer," he is the proud father of three grown children, an active golfer, SCUBA diver, runner, and outdoor enthusiast. His biggest inspiration both in life and literature is his late brother, best-selling author Thomas Thompson.
Coyote Warrior: One Man, Three Tribes, and the Trial that Forged a Nation
Paul VanDevelder - 2004
Coyote Warrior tells the epic story of the three tribes that saved Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery from starvation, those tribes' century-long battle to forge a new nation, and the extraordinary journey of one man to redeem a father’s dream and the dignity of his people. Cross graduated from law school and, following his father’s death, returned home to resurrect his father’s fight against the federal government. His mission would lead him to Congress, which his father had battled forty years earlier, and into the hallowed chambers of the U.S. Supreme Court. There the great-great-grandson of Chief Cherry Necklace would lay at the feet of the nation’s highest court the case for the sanctity of the United States Constitution, treaty rights, and the legal survival of Indian Country.
Primer on the Texas Law of Oil and Gas
Joseph Shade - 2004
The author's stated goal is "to summarize the basics of the law of oil and gas in as simple and uncluttered a way as possible."Topics covered include: * Leasing * Title and Conveyances * Conservation and Pooling * Defining Property Rights * ContractsThis is the 4th Edition, published in 2008. This book is a MUST HAVE for all students taking Oil and Gas law and is a great reference book for practicing attorneys.
Judging Thomas: The Life and Times of Clarence Thomas
Ken Foskett - 2004
Who is this enigmatic man?And what does he believe in?Judging Thomas tells the remarkable story of Clarence Thomas's improbable journey from hardscrabble beginnings in the segregated South to the loftiest court in the land. Driven by his grandfather's relentless demand that he counter racial injustice with hard work and accomplishment, Thomas has waged an often lonely fifty-year campaign to forge his own American identity against others' expectations of who he should be.With objectivity and balance, author Ken Foskett chronicles Thomas's contempt for upper-crust blacks who snubbed his uneducated, working-class roots; his flirtation with the priesthood and later Black Power; the resentment that fueled his opposition to affirmative action; the conservative beliefs that ultimately led him to the Supreme Court steps; and the inner resilience that propelled him through the doors.Based on interviews with Thomas himself, fellow justices, family members, and hundreds of friends and associates, Judging Thomas skillfully unravels perhaps the most complex, controversial,and powerful public figure in America today. Foskett reveals that beneath the silent, often brooding exterior is a man of depth, empathy, and wit, but one still deeply scarred by his humiliating Supreme Court confirmation.Judging Thomas is a seminal biography of the youngest and most recognizable justice, and the man who may succeed William H. Rehnquist to become the nation's first black chief justice.
Reclaiming the American Revolution: The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions and Their Legacy
William J. Watkins Jr. - 2004
Jefferson and Madison saw the Alien and Sedition Acts as a threat to states' rights, as well as indicative of a national government that sought unlimited power. The Resolutions sought to return the nation to the tenets of the Constitution, in which rights for all were protected by checking the power of the national government. Watkins examines the two sides of this important controversy in early American history and demonstrates the Resolutions' relevance to current politics.
On the Rule of Law: History, Politics, Theory
Brian Z. Tamanaha - 2004
Brian Tamanaha outlines the concerns of Western conservatives about the decline of the rule of law and suggests reasons why the radical Left have promoted this decline. Two basic theoretical streams of the rule of law are then presented, with an examination of the strengths and weaknesses of each. The book's examination of the rule of law on a global level concludes by deciding whether the rule of law is a universal human good.
The Portable John Adams
John Adams - 2004
Adams biographer John Patrick Diggins gathers an impressive variety of his works in this compact, original volume, including parts of his diary and autobiography, and selections from his rich correspondence with this wife, Abigail, Thomas Jefferson, and others. The Portable John Adams also features his most important political works: “A Dissertation on Canon and Feudal Law,” “Thoughts on Government,” “A Defense of Constitutions,” “Novanglus,” and “Discources in Davila.” There is no finer introduction to the protean genius of this seminal American philosopher.
Understanding the Law
Geoffrey Rivlin - 2004
Geoffrey Rivlin provides a wealth of fascinating detail about the legal system (past and present) and those who operate it: judges, juries, magistrates, barristers, solicitors, and the police.
Hiding from Humanity: Disgust, Shame, and the Law
Martha C. Nussbaum - 2004
Nussbaum argues that the thought-content of disgust embodies magical ideas of contamination, and impossible aspirations to purity that are just not in line with human life as we know it. She argues that disgust should never be the basis for criminalizing an act, or play either the aggravating or the mitigating role in criminal law it currently does. She writes that we should be similarly suspicious of what she calls primitive shame, a shame at the very fact of human imperfection, and she is harshly critical of the role that such shame plays in certain punishments.Drawing on an extraordinarily rich variety of philosophical, psychological, and historical references--from Aristotle and Freud to Nazi ideas about purity--and on legal examples as diverse as the trials of Oscar Wilde and the Martha Stewart insider trading case, this is a major work of legal and moral philosophy.
Practical Crime Scene Processing and Investigation
Ross M. Gardner - 2004
While there is no one "right" way to handle every situation, the goal of collecting evidence while preserving its integrity remains the constant motivation of the crime scene investigator.
The Conduct of Hostilities Under the Law of International Armed Conflict
Yoram Dinstein - 2004
Main themes considered are lawful and unlawful combatants, war crimes (including command responsibility and defenses), prohibited weapons, the distinction between combatants and civilians, legitimate military objectives, and the protection of the environment and cultural property. Many specific topics that have attracted much interest in recent hostilities are also addressed. Also available: War, Aggression and Self-Defence 0-521-79344-0 Hardback $110.00 C 0-521-79758-6 Paperback $40.00 D
A Life of H. L. A. Hart: The Nightmare and the Noble Dream
Nicola Lacey - 2004
Hart was the pre-eminent legal philosopher of the twentieth century. As a scholar he single-handedly reinvented the philosophy of law and revolutionized our understanding of law as a social institution. Hart's approach to legal philosophy was at once disarmingly simple andbreathtakingly ambitious, combining the insights of the Utilitarian tradition and the new linguistic philosophy of J.L. Austin and Ludwig Wittgenstein. He sought to elucidate a concept of law that would be of relevance to all forms of law, wherever or whenever they arose.This book is both an intellectual and a psychological biography, following his life from modest origins as the son of Jewish tailor parents in Yorkshire to worldwide fame as the most influential English-speaking legal theorist of the post-War era. It traces his successive metamorphoses; fromYorkshire schoolboy to Oxford scholar, successful barrister, intelligence officer, philosopher, and, finally, Professor of Jurisprudence at Oxford.Nicola Lacey draws upon Hart's previously unpublished diaries and letters to reveal a complex interior life. Outwardly successful, Hart was in fact tormented by doubts about his intellectual abilities, his sexual identity and his capacity to form close relationships. Her biography also shedsfascinating light on the origins of his ideas, and assesses his overall contribution to the philosophy of law. Above all, it is a chronicle of a life which made an impact far greater than many of us realize.
Great Powers and Outlaw States: Unequal Sovereigns in the International Legal Order
Gerry Simpson - 2004
Gerry Simpson describes the ways in which an international legal order based on sovereign equality has accommodated the great powers and regulated outlaw states since the beginning of the nineteenth century. Simpson also offers a way of understanding recent transformations in the global political order by recalling the lessons of the past--in particular, through the recent violent conflicts in Kosovo and Afghanistan.
The Law on Alternative Dispute Resolution: Private Justice in the Philippines: How to Resolve Legal Disputes Without a Court Room Trial
Jim V. Lopez - 2004
Now is the time to learn how to settle legal disputes without a court trial. All it takes is the desire to avoid the circuitous road of litigation. Negotiation, arbitration, mediation, and other non-litigative processes may be employed to help one settle civil disputes.
Customary International Humanitarian Law: Volume 1, Rules
Jean-Marie Henckaerts - 2004
This book (and its companion, Volume 2: Practice) is the result of that study. Volume 1 is a comprehensive analysis of the customary rules of international humanitarian law applicable in international and non-international armed conflicts.
Senate Procedure and Practice
Martin B. Gold - 2004
And that is for good reason. The Senate Chamber-from its inception to its Golden Age to the present day-has been the setting for some of the most moving, decisive, and consequential debates in American history. But how does the Senate work? Senate Procedure and Practice not only answers this question but also explains and illustrates why the Senate has worked so well for more than 200 years. This practical, real-world explanation focuses on the three pillars of legislative procedure: the Senate rules, the parliamentary interpretations of the Senate rules, and statutes that impose procedural rules. The book is filled with fascinating stories and insights that highlight why a given rule is in place and how it is practiced. Now in its second edition, the book has been updated to discuss the impact the Democratic takeover has had on basic Senate procedures and practices, including much-discussed Rule XXVIII.
Prisoner for Blasphemy
George William Foote - 2004
Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.
Towards Juristocracy: The Origins and Consequences of the New Constitutionalism
Ran Hirschl - 2004
Rather, it is best understood as the product of a strategic interplay among hegemonic yet threatened political elites, influential economic stakeholders and judicial leaders. This self-interested coalition of legal innovators determines the timing, extent and nature of constitutional reforms. Hirschl demonstrates that whereas judical empowerment through constitutionalization has a limited impact on advancing progressive notions of distributive justice, it has a transformative effect on political discourse. The global trend toward juristocracy, Hirschl argues, is part of a broader process whereby political and economic elites, while they profess support for democracy and sustained developmenet, attempt to insulate policymaking from the vicissitudes of democratic politics.
Blind Trust: Large Groups and Their Leaders in Times of Crisis and Terror
Vamık D. Volkan - 2004
Author Vamik Volkan applies his knowledge of depth psychology to the turbulent and destructive human experiences in the current cauldrons of the greatest unrest and disaster throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Illuminating the etiologic bases of war, revolution, massacres, and terror, as these have disturbed the world from ancient times to modern civilization, his voice speaks for the imperative of reason and the application of modern analytic knowledge for conflict resolution at the highest levels. The subjects are large groups and their leaders; windows into the lives of the Prophet Muhammad, Stalin, Milosevic, Osama Bin Laden, and David Koresh are interspersed with examinations of religion and fundamentalism, and a sober study of suicide attackers. Volkan’s detailed and scholarly description of regressive movements in large-group identities, complemented by an equal attention to progressive and creative reparative forces, represents a significant expansion of our understanding of group psychology.
The Making of Environmental Law
Richard J. Lazarus - 2004
Environmental laws now affect almost everything we do, from the cars we drive and the places we live to the air we breathe and the water we drink. But while enormous strides have been made since the 1970s, gaps in the coverage, implementation, and enforcement of the existing laws still leave much work to be done.In The Making of Environmental Law, Richard J. Lazarus offers a new interpretation of the past three decades of this area of the law, examining the legal, political, cultural, and scientific factors that have shaped—and sometimes hindered—the creation of pollution controls and natural resource management laws. He argues that in the future, environmental law must forge a more nuanced understanding of the uncertainties and trade-offs, as well as the better-organized political opposition that currently dominates the federal government. Lazarus is especially well equipped to tell this story, given his active involvement in many of the most significant moments in the history of environmental law as a litigator for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division, an assistant to the Solicitor General, and a member of advisory boards of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Environmental Defense Fund.Ranging widely in his analysis, Lazarus not only explains why modern environmental law emerged when it did and how it has evolved, but also points to the ambiguities in our current situation. As the field of environmental law "grays" with middle age, Lazarus's discussions of its history, the lessons learned from past legal reforms, and the challenges facing future lawmakers are both timely and invigorating.
Legal and Constitutional History of India: Ancient, Judicial and Constitutional System
Rama Jois - 2004
Women and Law in India: An Omnibus Comprising Law and Gender Inequality, Enslaved Daughters, Hindu Women and Marriage Law
Monmayee Basu - 2004
The omnibus forms a comprehensive and significant study for understanding why progressive laws, once passed, continue to be implemented in such a limited manner. It highlights that legislation even in the past fifty years have not brought equality.
Introduction to Tribal Legal Studies
Justin B. Richland - 2004
It addresses the power of tribal courts and tribal legal systems as key to the exercise and expansion of tribal sovereignty. Richland and Deer discuss in depth the histories, structures, and practices of tribal justice systems, efforts to balance tribal legal heritage and Anglo-American law, the scope of criminal and civil jurisdictions, child welfare and civil rights, traditional dispute resolution mechanisms in contemporary tribal law, models of peacemaking, and means for assuring integrity of tribal courts. This text will be an invaluable resource for legal scholars and students. Published in cooperation with the Tribal Law and Policy Institute, visit their web page; Turtle Mountain Community College; and the Native Nations Law and Policy Center, University of California, Los Angeles.
Canadian Child Welfare Law: Children, Families, and the State
Nicholas C. Bala - 2004
This complex, demanding and important area of law and social work practice receives relatively little attention in professional schools and academic journals. For practicing lawyers and social workers who have not had the opportunity to study child welfare law, this book provides a useful overview of a complex area, as well as serving as a reference work for busy practitioners in the child welfare field. This second edition substantially updates material in the 1991 edition, including consideration of the impact of new legislation and the Charter of Rights. It also includes new chapters on liability issues for child welfare workers and agencies, and on the perspectives of social workers with respect to the legal process. The final chapter offers the personal views of four judges on the challenges that they face in dealing with child welfare cases.
Equity
Sarah Worthington - 2004
The role of equity, and its relationship with the common law rules of contract, restitution, and property, are matters on which opinion is sharply divided. This book provides an outline of the basic principles of equity, illustrated by historical and contemporary examples of equity's operation. It considers equity's role in creating different rights and obligations, different remedies, and different procedures from those provided by the common law itself. In doing this, the overriding aim is to delimit equity's modern role and it present relationship with other areas of the law. The book presents a picture of equity's place within the common law, and describes in general terms how and why equity operates as it does.
Art, Cultural Heritage, and the Law: Cases and Materials
Patty Gerstenblith - 2004
This book addresses artists' rights (freedom of expression, copyright, moral rights and rights in architectural works and historic preservation); the functioning of the art market (dealers and auction houses, warranties of quality and authenticity, transfer of title and recovery of stolen art works, and the role of museums), and finally cultural heritage (the fate of art works and cultural objects in time of war, the international trade in art works and cultural objects, the archaeological and underwater heritage of the United States, and indigenous cultures, focusing on restitution of Native American cultural objects and human remains, and appropriation of indigenous culture). This book is intended for the law school classroom but will also be useful to any lawyer or scholar interested in these timely issues and emerging fields of legal practice. The book provides an appendix of international conventions and national statutes the addresses the art market and disposition of cultural objects. Combining both legal and non-legal source materials and several very recent legal decisions, the book presents an interdisciplinary approach and addresses some of the most contentious ethical aspects of these issues. In addition, images of many of the art works that were at issue in the legal cases are presented so that the reader can gain an appreciation of the artistic and cultural values at stake.
Medieval Justice: Cases and Laws in France, England and Germany, 500-1500
Hunt Janin - 2004
The work highlights some of the key elements in the intricate, overlapping legal systems of the Middle Ages and covers a wide range of contemporary laws and cases. A discussion of the modern legacies of medieval law is also included. Appendices include a brief overview of the Inquisition, an explanation of a penny's worth in the Middle Ages, the Medieval and later laws concerning swans, the 27 articles of Joan of Arc (which witnesses were asked to deny or confirm at her nullification trial), an examination of the High Court of Chivalry, Justices of Peace in the UK today, and a listing of selected cases and laws cited in the text. Illustrations range from the earliest known depictions of English courts and illuminations of torture to pictures of important sites, events, and instruments of punishment in medieval law.
Racial Culture: A Critique
Richard Thompson Ford - 2004
Unlike many criticisms of multiculturalism, which worry about reverse discrimination or the erosion of core Western cultural values, the book's argument is primarily focused on the adverse effects of multicultural rhetoric and multicultural rights on their supposed beneficiaries.In clear and compelling prose, Ford argues that multicultural accounts of cultural difference do not accurately describe the practices of social groups. Instead these accounts are prescriptive: they attempt to canonize a narrow, parochial, and contestable set of ideas about appropriate group culture and to discredit more cosmopolitan lifestyles, commitments, and values.The book argues that far from remedying discrimination and status hierarchy, cultural rights share the ideological presuppositions, and participate in the discursive and institutional practices, of racism, sexism, and homophobia. Ford offers specific examples in support of this thesis, in diverse contexts such as employment discrimination, affirmative action, and transracial adoption.This is a major contribution to our understanding of today's politics of race, by one of the most distinctive and important young voices in America's legal academy.
European Union Enlargement
Neill Nugent - 2004
The current round of enlargement is, however, unprecedented in its scale, in the diversity of applicants, and in the impact on EU structures and policies. This major new text brings together specially commissioned chapters to provide a coherent and comprehensive assessment of the historical and theoretical context of enlargement and its implications for the identity, governance, economics, policies and international role of the EU.
Trials: Strategy, Skills, And the New Powers of Persuasion (Coursebook)
Thomas A. Mauet - 2004
(December 31, 2004) Language: English ISBN-10: 0735551030 ISBN-13: 978-0735551039 Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.8 x 0.9 inches Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
Legal English
Rupert Haigh - 2004
Supported by questions & answers throughout, this learning aid covers: writing clear & accurate legal documents & letters in English; the key situations in which legal & business professionals use oral communication; & the language used in international business contracts.
Nature as Reason: A Thomistic Theory of the Natural Law
Jean Porter - 2004
Though this history might seem irrelevant to twenty-first-century life, Jean Porter shows that the scholastic approach to the natural law still has much to contribute to the contemporary discussion of Christian ethics. Aquinas and his interlocutors provide a way of thinking about the natural law that is distinctively theological while at the same time remaining open to other intellectual perspectives, including those of science. In the course of her work, Porter examines the scholastics' assumptions and beliefs about nature, Aquinas's account of happiness, and the overarching claim that reason can generate moral norms. Ultimately, Porter argues that a Thomistic theory of the natural law is well suited to provide a starting point for developing a more nuanced account of the relationship between specific beliefs and practices. While Aquinas's approach to the natural law may not provide a system of ethical norms that is both universally compelling and detailed enough to be practical, it does offer something that is arguably more valuable -- namely, a way of reflecting theologically on the phenomenon of human morality.
The Ultimate Rule of Law
David M. Beatty - 2004
Beatty develops a radical alternative to the conventional view that in deciding these cases judges engage in an essentiallyinterpretative, and thus subjective act, relying ultimately on their personal beliefs and political opinions. Beatty's analysis shows that it is possible to apply an impartial and objective method of judicial review based on the principle of proportionality, which acts as an ultimate rule of law andis fully compatible with the ideals of democracy and popular sovereignty.
Stolen Youth: The Politics of Israel's Detention of Palestinian Children
Catherine Cook - 2004
Based on first-hand information from international human rights groups and NGO workers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, it also features interviews with children who have been imprisoned. The result is a disturbing and often shocking account of the abuses that are being carried out by Israel.The book presents a critical analysis of the international legal framework and the UN system, arguing that a major failure of these instuitutions is their appeal to neutrality while ignoring the reality of power. The book attempts to address the inadequacy of these institutions by placing the issue of Palestinian child prisoners within the framework of Israeli strategy and the overall system of control.Stolen Youth outlines Israel's system of institutionalized discrimination and state torture, challenges the legitimacy of Israel's 'security' argument, and argues that Israel's treatment of Palestinian detainees forms one pillar of a policy designed to quash resistance to the occupation.
Rule of Law: The Jurisprudence of Liberty in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
John Phillip Reid - 2004
When law reigns over governors and the governed alike, a citizen need not fear capricious monarchs, arbitrary judges, or calculating bureaucrats. When a citizen obeys the law, life, liberty, and property are safe; when a citizen disobeys, the law alone will determine the appropriate punishment. While the rule of law's English roots can be found in the Middle Ages, its governing doctrine rose to power during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. John Phillip Reid traces the concept's progress through a series of landmark events in Great Britain and North America: the trial of Charles I, the creation of the Mayflower Compact, the demand for a codification of the laws in John Winthrop's Massachusetts Bay Colony, and an attempt to harness the Puritan Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell to the rule of law by crowning him king. The American Revolution, the culmination of two centuries of political foment, marked the greatest victory for rule of law. Even as Reid tells this triumphal story, he argues that we must not take for granted what the expression "rule of law" meant. Rather, if we are to understand its nuances, we must closely examine the historical context as well as the intentions of those who invoked it as a doctrine. He makes a convincing case; along the way, he employs generous quotations from key documents to fortify his sometimes startling insights. This combination of solid scholarship and intellectual agility is nothing less than what readers have come to expect from this eminent legal historian.
Unlocking Torts
Chris Turner - 2004
Designed specifically to make the subject matter accessible, the text includes features, activities, key facts charts, diagrams, and clear headings and sub-headings to aid students in understanding the different areas within their course. Unlocking the Law textbooks have been written specifically to ensure that readers understand fully the concepts required and are able to apply them with confidence. All titles in the series follow the same format and include the same features so students can move easily from one subject to another. The series covers all the core subjects required by the Bar Council and the Law Society for entry onto professional qualifications. Unlocking the Law remains the most original and accessible textbook series available.
Justice in a Time of War: The True Story Behind the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
Pierre Hazan - 2004
It is also a meditation on the conflicting intersection of law and politics in achieving justice and peace.Le Monde’s review (November 3, 2000) of the original edition recommended Hazan’s book as a nuanced account of the Tribunal that should be a must-read for the new president of Yugoslavia. “The story Pierre Hazan tells is that of an institution which, over the course of the years, has managed to escape in large measure from the initial hidden motives and manipulations of those who created it (not only the Americans).”With insider interviews filling out every scene, author Pierre Hazan tells a chaotic story of war while the Western powers cobbled together a tribunal in order to avoid actual intervention, hoping to threaten international criminals with indictment and thereby to force an untenable peace. The international lawyers and judges for this rump world court started with nothing—no office space, no assistants, no computers, not even a budget—but they ultimately established the tribunal as an unavoidable actor in the Balkans. This development was also a reflection of the evolving political situation: the West had created the Tribunal in 1993 as an alibi in order to avoid military intervention, but in 1999, the Tribunal suddenly became useful to NATO countries as a means by which to criminalize Miloševic’s regime and to justify military intervention in Kosovo and in Serbia. Ultimately, this hastened the end of Miloševic’s rule and led the way to history’s first war crimes trial of a former president by an international tribunal.Ironically, this triumph for international law was not really intended by the Western leaders who created the court. They sought to placate, not shape, public opinion. But the determination of a handful of people working at the Tribunal transformed it into an active agent for change, paving the road for the International Criminal Court and greatly advancing international criminal law. Yet the Tribunal’s existence poses as many questions as it answers. How independent can a U.N. Tribunal be from the political powers that created it and sustain it politically and financially ?Hazan remains cautious though optimistic for the future of international justice. His history remains a cautionary tale to the reader: realizing ideals in a world enamored of realpolitik is a difficult and often haphazard activity.
Halting the Sexual Predators Among Us: Preventing Attack, Rape, and Lust Homicide
Duane L. Dobbert - 2004
Incarceration and therapy have not reduced the rates, points out this author. The rate of incarceration has increased, but incidence of sex crimes is not waning. Dobbert warns we must all play a vital role to reduce such crimes, by prevention. The seasoned forensic examiner enables us to see life through the sexual predator's eyes, to understand the motives and intentions of people with abnormal and uncontrollable desires. He argues we can create a safer world by removing the opportunity for such people to act on their ideas.The author clearly explains disorders from exhibitionism to pedophilia, and presents scenes that illustrate precursor behaviors shown by people preparing to act on such disordered thinking. Also illustrated are stalking patterns common to mentally ill people who commit sexual assaults or lust murders, including the activities of Kenneth Bianci, the Hillside Strangler, and Jeffrey Dahmer, whose serial lust homicides horrified the world. Community activists, teachers, principals, police officers, prosecutors, social workers, and students of criminal justice, forensic psychology, and psychopathology will find this volume of interest.
The Fourth R: Conflicts Over Religion in America’s Public Schools
Joan DelFattore - 2004
What is banned is state-sponsored prayer, not the religious speech of the students themselves. But as news stories, political speeches, and lawsuits amply demonstrate, this approach has by no means resolved the long-standing debate over religion in public education. While some people challenge the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, with its reference to “one nation under God,” others view school shootings and the terrorism of 9/11 as evidence that organized prayer must once again become part of the official school day. In this lively book, Joan DelFattore traces the evolution of school-prayer battles from the early 1800s, when children were beaten or expelled for refusing to read the King James Bible, to current disputes over prayer at public-school football games. Underlying these events, she shows, is a struggle to balance two of the most fundamental tenets of Americanism: majority rule and individual rights. Her highly readable book explores the enduring tension between people of good will who wish the schools to promote majoritarian beliefs, and equally well-meaning (and often religious) people who deplore any governmental influence in religious matters.
Emanuel Law Outlines: Wills, Trusts, and Estates Keyed to Dukeminier's Seventh Edition
Peter Wendel - 2004
Relied on by generations of law school students, Emanuel Law Outlines include detailed reviews of critical issues and key topics, short answer questions, Q&A's, and correlation charts referencing leading casebooks.
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down: Greatest Closing Arguments Protecting Civil Liberties
Michael S. Lief - 2004
However, the rights to these freedoms have not always been guaranteed. Our civil rights have been assured by cases that have produced monumental shifts in America's cultural, political, and legal landscapes. And the Walls Came Tumbling Down showcases eight of the most exciting closing arguments in civil law -- from the Amistad case, in which John Quincy Adams brought the injustice of slavery to the center stage of American politics, to the Susan B. Anthony decision, which paved the way to success for women's suffrage, to the Larry Flynt trial, in which the porn king became an unlikely champion for freedom of speech. By providing historical and biographical details, as well as the closing arguments themselves, Lief and Caldwell give readers the background necessary to fully understand these important cases, bringing them vividly to life.
The Blackwell Companion to Law and Society
Austin Sarat - 2004
Thirty-two original essays by an international group of expert scholars examine a wide range of critical questions. Authors represent various theoretical, methodological, and political commitments, creating the first truly global overview of the field. Examines the relationship between law and social interactions in thirty-three original essay by international experts in the field. Reflects the world-wide significance of North American law and society scholarship. Addresses classical areas and new themes in law and society research, including: the gap between law on the books and law in action; the complexity of institutional processes; the significance of new media; and the intersections of law and identity. Engages the exciting work now being done in England, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, South Africa, Israel, as well as "Third World" scholarship.
Abuse of Power: How the Government Misuses Eminent Domain
Steven Greenhut - 2004
Abuse of Power explores the widespread exploitation by local officials in the name of the 'greater good'. The book traces the historical and legal cases that have allowed such abuses to continue and tells the heart wrenching stories of those who have been victimized by the phenomenon. Learn about the many ways homeowners and business owners are fighting back and protecting their rights and about Greenhut's innovative blueprint for reforms.
Double Standards in Medical Research in Developing Countries
Ruth Macklin - 2004
Is it acceptable to lower the ethical standards adopted in the industrialized world when carrying out research in developing, or resource-poor, countries? Ruth Macklin concludes that double standards in medical research are ethically unacceptable.
Courts Under Constraints: Judges, Generals, and Presidents in Argentina
Gretchen Helmke - 2004
In stark contrast to conventional wisdom, the central findings of the book contradict some assumptions that only independent judges rule against the government of the day. Set in the context of Argentina, the study uses the tools of positive political theory to explore the conditions under which courts rule against the government. In addition to shedding light on the dynamics of court-executive relations in Argentina, the study provides general lessons about institutions, instability, and the rule of law. In the process, the study builds a set of connections among diverse bodies of scholarship, including US judicial politics, comparative institutional analysis, positive political theory, and Latin American politics.
The Power of Language in the Making of International Law: The Word "Sovereignty" in Bodin and Vattel and the Myth of "Westphalia"
Stephane Beaulac - 2004
Given the circularity of language, the project proposes to examine the reality-creating role of language, as an organic instrument of social power within humanity. In semiotic terms, the complex structures of words and also myths form part of sign-systems in which they can both represent and create reality. These are the passive and active functions of language, which explain that words and myths not only represent and describe reality but may also play a leading part in creating and transforming reality, thus demonstrating and being used to carry fabulous power within humanity. The Peace of Westphalia is analysed to show that, in spite of what actually took place in 1648, Westphalia has had an incredible social effect in international law, standing for the proposition that it signalled the beginning of a new era based on state sovereignty. However, it is argued that Westphalia constitutes a myth, an aetiological myth, which has provided a way for society to explain itself to itself, that is, a way for international society to explain its genesis to itself. As regards sovereignty, it is shown that Jean Bodin introduced the word in Six Livres for the purpose of having the French ruler enjoy supreme power in the hierarchical organisation structure of society. This is the original creative and transforming social effect on the shared consciousness of humanity for which the linguistic sign must be credited, which has continued, unaltered, to this day. With respect to Droit des Gens, it is demonstrated that Emer de Vattel utilised and actually changed the reality associated with sovereignty also for a specific reason, namely, to carry out its externalisation the ruling entity was now to enjoy exclusive power to govern, which entailed being the sole representative of the people both internally and externally, and also meant that it could not be submitted to any foreign state or to any higher law externally. Vattel s use of the word has had an extraordinary effect on the shared consciousness of society, including that of the emerging international society, which is still very much present today. These two archetype cases in which sovereignty developed show how this word has really had two paradigms over the years, that is, it has represented and created the two distinct realities of the internal and the international."
Perspectives on Labour Law
A.C.L. Davies - 2004
It is suitable for those coming to the subject for the first time, and it will also be of interest to more advanced students, including postgraduates, who need to think about the subject's broader themes. The academic literature on labour law makes considerable use of human rights arguments and of economic analysis. Both of these approaches provide valuable insights into the underlying policy of the law but they can be rather off-putting for students who do not know the international human rights instruments, or who have no background in economics. This book introduces these wider perspectives on labour law and then applies them to a selection of topics, including anti-discrimination law, dismissal, working time, pay, consultation and collective bargaining, trade union membership and industrial action.
Alternative Dispute Resolution: A Developing World Perspective
Albert Fiadjoe - 2004
Over the last quarter of a century, much learning has taken place on the topic of ADR and the literature on the subject is now voluminous.This book puts forward the thesis that the peculiar experiences of the developing world ought to help reshape our traditional notions of ADR. Furthermore, the impact of globalisation on the developing world has brought with it special and peculiar challenges to our notions of civil and criminal justice which are not replicated elsewhere. This book will appeal to a wide readership.The legal profession, students of law and politics, social scientists, mediators, the police, state officers and the public at large will find its contents of interest.
Learning Criminal Law as Advocacy Argument: Complete with Exam Problems & Answers
John Delaney - 2004
You can know the issues on the exam before you go into the exam room.
To Establish Justice: Citizenship and the Constitution
Patricia C. McKissack - 2004
But it has not always achieved that ideal. To Establish Justice is an honest and powerful examination of the Supreme Court’s role in legalizing—or negating—civil rights for various groups. From the struggles of Native Americans at the country’s birth to the African American civil rights movement of the 1960s, from the vote for women to the internment of the Japanese during World War II, To Establish Justice shows how the Supreme Court has paved the way for both justice and discrimination, and how this important arm of our government has impacted all of our lives.
Atonement and Forgiveness: A New Model for Black Reparations
Roy L. Brooks - 2004
Brooks reframes one of the most important, controversial, and misunderstood issues of our time in this far-reaching reassessment of the growing debate on black reparation. Atonement and Forgiveness shifts the focus of the issue from the backward-looking question of compensation for victims to a more forward-looking racial reconciliation. Offering a comprehensive discussion of the history of the black redress movement, this book puts forward a powerful new plan for repairing the damaged relationship between the federal government and black Americans in the aftermath of 240 years of slavery and another 100 years of government-sanctioned racial segregation.Key to Brooks's vision is the government's clear signal that it understands the magnitude of the atrocity it committed against an innocent people, that it takes full responsibility, and that it publicly requests forgiveness--in other words, that it apologizes. The government must make that apology believable, Brooks explains, by a tangible act that turns the rhetoric of apology into a meaningful, material reality, that is, by reparation. Apology and reparation together constitute atonement. Atonement, in turn, imposes a reciprocal civic obligation on black Americans to forgive, which allows black Americans to start relinquishing racial resentment and to begin trusting the government's commitment to racial equality.Brooks's bold proposal situates the argument for reparations within a larger, international framework--namely, a post-Holocaust vision of government responsibility for genocide, slavery, apartheid, and similar acts of injustice. Atonement and Forgiveness makes a passionate, convincing case that only with this spirit of heightened morality, identity, egalitarianism, and restorative justice can genuine racial reconciliation take place in America.
Advocacy
David Ross - 2004
Advocacy explains how to win cases in court. Focusing on the techniques and methods of successful advocates, David Ross QC shows how to prepare a case for court. Written in simple, clear language he gives the benefit of his many years of local and international experience as he describes - how to hold a court's attention - how to start and stop a witness - how to cross-examine all types of people, from liars to experts - the methods of taking objections to questions - how to address a jury - how to follow etiquette and behave ethically - how to win impossible cases. All the principles of advocacy are explained, from the striking start to knowledge of human affairs, and Advocacy is rich with examples taken from real cases.
Public Workers: Government Employee Unions, the Law, and the State, 1900-1962
Joseph E. Slater - 2004
Public Workers is the first book to analyze why public-sector labor law evolved as it did, separate from and much more restrictive than private-sector labor law, and what effect this law had on public-sector unions, organized labor as a whole, and by extension all of American politics. Joseph E. Slater shows how public-sector unions survived, represented their members, and set the stage for the most remarkable growth of worker organization in American history. Slater examines the battles of public-sector unions in the workplace, courts, and political arena, from the infamous Boston police strike of 1919, to teachers in Seattle fighting a yellow-dog rule, to the BSEIU in the 1930s representing public-sector janitors, to the fate of the powerful Transit Workers Union after New York City purchased the subways, to the long struggle by AFSCME that produced the nation's first public-sector labor law in Wisconsin in 1959. Slater introduces readers to a determined and often-ignored segment of the union movement and expands our knowledge of working men and women, the institutions they formed, and the organizational obstacles they faced.
A Little Parliament: The Virginia General Assembly in the Seventeenth Century
Warren M. Billings - 2004
The Virginia assembly developed legislative traditions that provided the basis of the American form of representative government. Based on extensive research in original records, the book also reinterprets the political history of the colony and illuminates the role of European events and commercial growth in the rise of the governing class of Virginia. It includes lively vignettes of many of the colony's earliest political leaders and focuses attention on how their actions shaped the lives of all the colony's residents between 1619 and 1700.
The Thirteenth Amendment and American Freedom: A Legal History
Alexander Tsesis - 2004
Alexander Tsesis demonstrates how entrenched slavery was in pre-Civil War America, how central it was to the political events that resulted in the Civil War, and how it was the driving force that led to the adoption of an amendment that ultimately provided a substantive assurance of freedom for all American citizens. The story of how Supreme Court justices have interpreted the Thirteenth Amendment, first through racist lenses after Reconstruction and later influenced by the modern civil rights movement, provides insight into the tremendous impact the Thirteenth Amendment has had on the Constitution and American culture. Importantly, Tsesis also explains why the Thirteenth Amendment is essential to contemporary America, offering fresh analysis on the role the Amendment has played regarding civil rights legislation and personal liberty case decisions, and an original explanation of the substantive guarantees of freedom for today's society that the Reconstruction Congress envisioned over a century ago.
Just Law: The Changing Face of Justice - and Why It Matters to Us All
Helena Kennedy - 2004
Here she roundly challenges the record of modern governments over the fundamental values of equality, fairness and respect for human dignity. She argues that in the last twenty years we have seen a steady erosion of civil liberties, culminating today in extraordinary legislation, which undermines long established freedoms. Are these moves a crude political response to demands for law and order? Or is the relationship between citizens and the state being covertly reframed and redefined?
How to Dethrone the Imperial Judiciary
Edwin Vieira - 2004
For decades, such judges have been simply making up law. What is worse, liberal and conservative lawmakers have been reinforcing such behavior by treating such rulings as if they are legitimate. Today, one in every three Americans have been killed by abortion simply because a handful of unelected officials said it was acceptable for these Americans to be killed. But issues like abortion and homosexual marriages can be resolved immediately, without special constitutional amendments, if we will simply avail ourselves of the measures given to us by our Founding Fathers to hold renegade and lawless judges accountable for their behavior. In this brilliant, accessible, and documented work, Dr. Edwin Vieira offers us the best researched and clearest overview to date of the power of the people to control a runaway judiciary. Author: Dr. Edwin Vieira Format: Paperback (328 pages)
A Secret Trial: Brian Mulroney, Stevie Cameron, and the Public Trust
William Kaplan - 2004
In Liar, Liar, Kaplan reveals how he was misled and deceived by both Mulroney and Cameron. Mulroney paid USD300,000 in cash not long after leaving office in circumstances he believed were best kept quiet, subsequently misled Canadians when he testified under oath about his relationship with German middle man Karlheinz Schrieber and then tried to suppress the story in the media. most sacred commandments and in 1995 became a confidential informant for the RCMP. Kaplan finally sets the record straight about the Airbus affair and reveals the culture of court secrecy that Mulroney and Cameron manipulated for their own use. Kaplan's thrilling page-turner is bookended by incisive commentaries by Jack Granatstein and Norman Spector. They delve into the major themes of Liar, Liar - a cautionary tale starring two of Canada's most prominent public figures - and offer tantalizing perspectives on one the most controversial events in recent Canadian history.