The Growth of American Law [Hardcover]

James Willard Hurst (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1584771941 | ISBN-13: 978-1584771944 | Publication Date: February 18, 2011

The First Contemporary History of the Development of American Law, This Book Revolutionized the Field of American Legal History. The first study published after World War II and a ground-breaking work that devoted attention to several issues neglected in earlier histories, it surveys the nature and success of American law and its law-making agencies and legislative bodies from roughly 1740-1940.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is an important work that has been highly regarded for its social perspective.
...a pioneering attempt to evaluate in broad terms the contributions to the development of American law made by its five chief formative agencies, the legislatures, the courts, the constitution-making process, the bar and the executive. --William F. Fracher, Mo. L. Rev. 15:332-333

...[it taught] scholars from other disciplines...to look at the law with a fresh and sometimes illuminating eye. --Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law

...a pioneer work in this badly neglected field ...combine(s) scholarship, insight, and narrative
and analytical skill in a striking manner. --Henry Steele Commager

About the Author

James Willard Hurst [1910-1997] was an important and influential legal scholar, the father of American legal history. He developed a new approach to legal history in moving it beyond the subject of the common law of England and its influence on the American revolution or a history of the American court system. Instead Hurst created a type of American legal history that encompassed its social and economic implications and the role of individual law makers. Born in Rockford, Illinois, he attended Williams College and the Harvard Law School, graduating in 1935. He serves as a research assistant for his law professor, Felix Frankfurter, and later clerked for Justice Louis Brandeis on the Supreme Court of the United States. He taught law at the University of Wisconsin Law School, Madison (1937 80, emeritus 1981). His books on American legal history include Law and the Conditions of Freedom in the 19th Century United States (1956) and Law and Economic Growth: The Legal History of the Lumber Industry in Wisconsin 1836-1915 (1964).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 518 pages
• Publisher: The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. (February 18, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584771941
• ISBN-13: 978-1584771944
• Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 14.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,992,406 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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