The Common Law [Hardcover]

Oliver Wendell Holmes (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0316371319 | ISBN-13: 978-0316371315 | Publication Date: October 1984

The Common Law, published in 1881, was based on a series of lectures addressed to a lay audience in Boston by the most respected (then and now) of all American jurists, Oliver Wendell Holmes. Avoiding specialized language of his own or any other era, Holmes explains with scintillating clarity such fundamental concepts as:

* Liability
* Criminal law
* Theory of torts
* Trespass
* Negligence
* Fraud, malice, and intent
* Bailment
* Possession and ownership
* Contract
* Consideration
* Void and voidable contracts
* Successions after death
* And successions in vivos

For its clarification of basic legal principles that continue to underlie even the most current and controversial issues, The Common Law belongs on every lawyer's bookshelf.

Editorial Reviews

Review

''This book is a classic in the sense that its stock of ideas has been absorbed and become a part of common juristic thought . . . They placed law in a perspective which legal scholarship ever since has merely confirmed.'' --Felix Frankfurter, Supreme Court Judge and author of Of Law and Men

''[A] landmark in intellectual history.'' --Mark DeWolfe Howe (law professor and author of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: The Shaping Years, 1841-1870 and The Proving Years, 1870-1882) --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

From the Publisher

59th printing

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co Law & Business (October 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316371319
• ISBN-13: 978-0316371315
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,470,631 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.