You may have to register before you can download all our books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
An autobiography and selected writings by the former Chief Judge of New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals. In 1983, Judith S. Kaye (1938–2016) became the first woman appointed to the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court. Ten years later, she became the first woman to be appointed chief judge of the court, and by the time she retired, in 2008, she was the longest-serving chief judge in the court’s history. During her long career, she distinguished herself as a lawyer, jurist, reformer, mentor, and colleague, as well as a wife and mother. Bringing together Kaye’s own autobiography, completed shortly before her death, as well as selected judicial opinions, articles, and...
In 1882, Elmer Palmer was convicted of poisoning his grandfather Francis in rural northern New York State. In a famous decision in 1889, the New York Court of Appeals denied Elmer the right to inherit from Francis, even though the statute governing wills seemed to entitle him to the legacy. Twentieth-century commentators have treated Riggs v. Palmer as a model of the judicial craft and a key to understanding the nature of law itself; however, the case’s history suggests that it is neither of these things. In its own time, the decision was radically at odds with legal doctrine as then understood by American judges. Rather than a quintessentially principled ruling, it was most likely ad hoc and ad hominem, concocted to thwart a particular individual thought to have been punished too lightly for his crime. The book illustrates the value of two approaches to interpreting decisions, those of "case biography" and "legal archaeology." Both draw upon historical sources neglected in conventional legal scholarship. In doing so, they may challenge—or confirm—the validity as precedent today of classic cases from the past.
The Eight tells the story of Lemmon v. New York—or, as it's more popularly known, the Lemmon Slave Case. All but forgotten today, it was one of the most momentous civil rights cases in American history. There had been cases in which the enslaved had won their freedom after having resided in free states, but the Lemmon case was unique, posing the question of whether an enslaved person can win freedom by merely setting foot on New York soil—when brought there in the keep of an "owner." The case concerned the fates of eight enslaved people from Virginia, brought through New York in 1852 by their owners, Juliet and Jonathan Lemmon. The Eight were in court seeking, legally, to become people�...
This volume is a joy for anyone even the least bit interested in New York's legal culture and landmarks. . . . The book belongs on your shelf and in your lap. -Albert M. Rosenblatt, former Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals and President of The Historical Society of the New York CourtsNew York's Legal Landmarks Second Edition takes you on a tour of Gotham through the eyes of a history-loving New York City lawyer. You'll visit courthouses past and present that were sites of sensational trials (both actual and in film), locations that figured in the nation's constitutional history, law firms where great Americans practiced law and the homes, schools and final resting places of Su...
Hailed as one of the best casebooks in legal education, the text combines interesting cases, thoughtful analysis, notes, images, and a clear organization for an excellent teaching tool. Retaining the late Jesse Dukeminier’s blend of wit, erudition, and playfulness, the Tenth Edition uses cartoons, illustrations, case documents, and photographs to provide visual commentary that augments the wide-ranging cases and other readings. Sidebars on relevant but unique persons, places, and events provide thought-provoking and fascinating context. This casebook is not only fun to read, but fun for professors to teach. New to the Tenth Edition: All new section on electronic or digital wills and the em...
At the end of World War II the Allies faced a threefold challenge: how to punish perpetrators of appalling crimes for which the categories of 'genocide' and 'crimes against humanity' had to be coined; how to explain that these had been committed by Germany, of all nations; and how to reform Germans. The Allied answer to this conundrum was the application of historical reasoning to legal procedure. In the thirteen Nuremberg trials held between 1945 and 1949, and in corresponding cases elsewhere, a concerted effort was made to punish key perpetrators while at the same time providing a complex analysis of the Nazi state and German history. Building on a long debate about Germany's divergence fr...
This eminently practical volume demystifies legal writing, outlines the causes and consequences of bad writing, and prescribes straightforward, easy-to-apply remedies that will make your writing readable. Complete with usage notes that address lawyers' most common errors, this well-organized book is both an invaluable tool for practicing lawyers and a sensible grounding for law students. This much-revised second edition contains a set of editing exercises (and a suggested revision key with explanations) to test your skill. This book is a definitive guide to becoming a better writer—and a better lawyer.
July Fourth, "The Star-Spangled Banner," Memorial Day, and the pledge of allegiance are typically thought of as timeless and consensual representations of a national, American culture. In fact, as Cecilia O'Leary shows, most trappings of the nation's icons were modern inventions that were deeply and bitterly contested. While the Civil War determined the survival of the Union, what it meant to be a loyal American remained an open question as the struggle to make a nation moved off of the battlefields and into cultural and political terrain. Drawing upon a wide variety of original sources, O'Leary's interdisciplinary study explores the conflict over what events and icons would be inscribed int...
Peter Davidson, the author of Homicide Miami, the true crime story that inspired the film Pain and Gain, compiles the true stories of some of America's most notorious cannibal murderers. They violated one of civilized society’s most sacred taboos, and they’re anathema even in the twisted world of serial murder. Most frighteningly, the cannibal killer hides behind a mask of normalcy, as documented in the vivid profiles of American murderers who ate their victims. Drawn from revealing interviews with family members, authorities, and the killers themselves, Death by Cannibal exposes the secrets behind the most fiendish compulsion of them all. Gary Heidnik, the financial wizard whose Philade...