Customer Reviews

The Life of the Law: The People and Cases that Have Shaped Our Society, from King Alfred to Rodney King

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A well-researched and readable legal history that casts a greater understanding of the law and the tradition of the American legal system. Most important it introduces the lay reader to legal thinking not as a scholar, but as a citizen for whom law is a fact and not an option.

To combine history and law together and make it interesting is difficult. This book kept my attention from start to finish because it was told more as a story than a textbook. Each chapter is about a different legal principle. He examines the history of each principle in a way that stripped me of my belief that the law was made by inspired visionaries back in 1776. The history he presents shows that the law as we know it today evolved from many lawyers, judges and jurys redefining the law to fit new problems. Because it reads like a story, it was a pleasure to read.

This book is a sheer delight. Witty, insightful and entertaining. What a great introduction to the history, politics and philosophy behind our system of jurisprudence.

Knight here provides a very entertaining introduction to Anglo-American legal history and some of the main precepts underlying the U.S. legal system. A great choice for lay readers (especially those considering law school or those who are not inclined to read more scholarly works such as Coquillette's Anglo-American Legal Heritage or Friedman's History of American Law). A few quibbles -- the chapter on binding precedent is unnecessarily confusing, the headquotes seem to have been pulled in haste from Bartlett's, the discussion of the Civil War amendments is oddly roundabout, and some of the history is contradicted (in minor ways) by the latest research. However, at its best, the book conveys the grandeur of the law and its slow development over many centuries. Also recommended as beach reading for lawyers.

The title of this book is taken from a famous quote by one of America's greatest Supreme Court justices, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who wrote: "The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience." By that, he meant that law is the product of history. It has evolved over time, adapting itself, by incremental adjustments, to changes in government and society. The law is not "carved in stone" with its meaning forever fixed by its "original intent". It was not carefully crafted by omniscient and infallible sages as an expression of eternal truth, but was improvised by all-too-human kings, legislators, and judges in response to the real-world events and controversies of their day. It was not logically deduced from first principles, but was built up piecemeal from the results of actual court cases. The law -- or at least Anglo-American common law, in contrast to European civil law -- is the product of practical experience, not abstract philosophizing.

Holmes was right: "The life of the law ... has been experience." This book is about that experience. It recounts the stories that have shaped the evolution of Anglo-American common law and constitutional law over the past 1,100+ years. It begins in the late 9th century when King Alfred instituted the "King's Peace" as a means of reining in the violence of blood feuds. This marks the beginning of the English legal tradition; but only the beginning. English law would develop and evolve over the subsequent centuries; not as a result of anyone sitting down and trying to design a set of ideal and logically consistent legal rules; but rather as a result of the legal system itself learning from experience and making incremental adjustments over time. This book takes us through key moments in that process -- moments in history when the Anglo-American system of justice took important steps forward (or, in some cases, backward). It shows us how our legal system changed as a result of Magna Charta and the birth of the legal profession in the 13th century, the invention of the concept of binding precedent in the 15th century, the movement toward the protection of individual liberties in the 16th century, and various developments in the understanding of due process throughout the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. The book brings us up to the last decade of the 20th century, with a look at how the controversial verdicts in the Rodney King and O.J. Simpson cases have raised serious doubts about whether juries can be trusted to insure that justice is done. The stories told in this book are interesting, entertaining, informative, and well written. Anyone with an interest in law -- and, in particular, the history and development of Anglo-American common law and constitutional law -- needs to read this book. It's one of the most readable and enjoyable books I've ever read on the subject; and I would highly recommend it.

Al Knight is a lawyer's lawyer plus a fine writer and historian. Thus he gives THe Life of the Law not merely the breath of life but the breath of fire. He takes both well know situations (John Adams defending Redcoats in Boston and Rodney King) and moreobscure subject matter (judical review and constructive treason) and weaves them into a superb account of the often misunderstood role lawyers have played in developing a civil and civilized society from our English roots to the present.

It should be required reading for all Americans so they can remember that the freedoms we have were not always there and that what we have can be lost if we take them for granted.

I found This book in the library and when finished reading it, knew I must own it and at once. It is a complete delight: learned, factual, humorous and a great read!

He gives us twenty-one stories starting with Alfred the Great and finishing with the Rodney King trial. Some of the chapters left an everlasting impression, e.g., Thomas More's treason trial, Edward Coke the leading English legal scholar attempting to walk all over Sir Walter Raleigh at his trial. (Coke's attempt failed miserably). I must mention William Pitt's declaration that"everyman's home is his castle "in the chapter "Reasonable Searches and Seizures"

Enough said, for Heaven's sake, just go buy this treasure! You won't be sorry.

I worked in Mr. Knight's law firm while I was in law school. At the time he was working on this book. I couldn't wait to read it. It was worth it. Sadly, I loaned my copy to a local newspaper editor, and have never gotten it back. I wish every student of high school history/civics had a copy of this book. I wish that every adult who questions our basic rights as outlined in the bill of rights, would read this book. It is very well written: not as a text book, but as a story about real people who faced challenges, and how our legal system resulted.

I'm ordering a new copy for myself, with thoughts of a couple of people that I will lend it to. Maybe I should buy two copies!