Chronicling American law from its English origins to the present, and offering for the first time comprehensive treatment of twentieth-century developments, this book sets American law and legal institutions in the broad context of social, economic, and political events, weaving together themes from the history of both constitutional and private law. The Magic Mirror treats law in society, and the legal implications of social change in areas such as criminal justice, the rights of women, blacks, the family, and children. It further examines regional differences in American legal culture, the creation of the administrative and security states, the development of American federalism, and the rise of the legal profession. Hall pays close attention to the evolution of substantive law categories--such as contracts, torts, negotiable instruments, real property, trusts and estates, and civil procedure--and addresses the intellectual evolution of American law, surveying movements such as legal realism and critical legal studies. Hall concludes that over its history American law has been remarkably fluid, adapting in form and substance to each successive generation without ever fully resolving the underlying social and economic conflicts that first provoke demands for legal change.
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Editorial Reviews
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"This useful, often elegant synthesis of American legal development replaces Lawrence Friedman's History of American Law as the best brief account of the subject."--Western Legal History
"Lucid and accurate, the Magic Mirror should prove useful to undergraduates, law students, and general readers interested in gaining an overview of American legal history in a reasonable number of pages."--Ius Commune
"Precisely the sort of interpretive survey of the evolution of American legal culture that students and teachers have needed for years."--American Historical Review
"Excellent survey."--Dwight G. Duncan, South New England School of Law
"A superb introduction to American legal history. Kermit Hall deserves much praise for this major work. Not only has he convincingly synthesized a large and complex scholarship, but he has related it to the broad themes of American history in a way that makes legal history accessible....We are all in his debt."--American Journal of Legal History
"Makes a useful contribution by presenting in one trim volume an introduction to the key threads of American legal history."--Foundation News, Philanthropy and the Nonprofit sector
"An insightful, concise, and chronologically complete history of law in America....Thought-provoking....A highly polished reflector, throwing powerful images not only of law and society in American's past, but of our current thinking about law's history."--Focus on Law Studies
"Kermit Hall offers both specialists and nonspecialists a fresh, generally inclusive summary, one that sweeps across broad areas of American history."--Norman L. Rosenberg, Journal of Southern History
"A most significant contribution to American legal history, and it will serve as a centerpiece for future work in the field."-- John R. Wunder, The Historian
"For both historians and lawyers, Hall has provided a readable and compact history of the intersections of law with American social and economic history....A book that will inform and stimulate thinking and research."--Judicature
"Lucid and accurate, the Magic Mirror should prove useful to undergraduates, law students, and general readers interested in gaining an overview of American legal history in a reasonable number of pages."--Ius Commune
"Precisely the sort of interpretive survey of the evolution of American legal culture that students and teachers have needed for years."--American Historical Review
"Excellent survey."--Dwight G. Duncan, South New England School of Law
"A superb introduction to American legal history. Kermit Hall deserves much praise for this major work. Not only has he convincingly synthesized a large and complex scholarship, but he has related it to the broad themes of American history in a way that makes legal history accessible....We are all in his debt."--American Journal of Legal History
"Makes a useful contribution by presenting in one trim volume an introduction to the key threads of American legal history."--Foundation News, Philanthropy and the Nonprofit sector
"An insightful, concise, and chronologically complete history of law in America....Thought-provoking....A highly polished reflector, throwing powerful images not only of law and society in American's past, but of our current thinking about law's history."--Focus on Law Studies
"Kermit Hall offers both specialists and nonspecialists a fresh, generally inclusive summary, one that sweeps across broad areas of American history."--Norman L. Rosenberg, Journal of Southern History
"A most significant contribution to American legal history, and it will serve as a centerpiece for future work in the field."-- John R. Wunder, The Historian
"For both historians and lawyers, Hall has provided a readable and compact history of the intersections of law with American social and economic history....A book that will inform and stimulate thinking and research."--Judicature
About the Author
Kermit L. Hall is at University of Florida.
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0 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Boring,
By pari duncass (los alamitos) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Magic Mirror: Law in American History (Paperback)
I know that the history of law is not the most facinating subject. But this book does a great job of showing that. It is somewhat boring and just didnt interest me at all.
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First Sentence:
When the first settlers in the early seventeenth century pushed ashore on the North American continent, two great systems of law dominated the Western world. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
carried legal tradition, antislavery bar, labor conspiracy doctrine, mixed economic enterprise, popular will theory, ethnic lawyers, departmental theory, antebellum judges, law explosion, state appellate judges, substantive liberalism, bar integration, appellate judiciary, franchise corporations, northern judges, liberal legalism, imperial judiciary, vested property rights, federal common law, absolute domain, process jurisprudence, night law schools Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, United States, New Deal, World War, New England, Fourteenth Amendment, South Carolina, First Amendment, Rhode Island, New Jersey, American Revolution, Jeffersonian Republicans, John Adams, North Carolina, Fifth Amendment, Great Depression, Harvard Law School, Sherman Act, Thomas Jefferson, District of Columbia, New Hampshire, Felix Frankfurter, Justice Joseph Story, Lemuel Shaw, Los Angeles New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
When the first settlers in the early seventeenth century pushed ashore on the North American continent, two great systems of law dominated the Western world. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
carried legal tradition, antislavery bar, labor conspiracy doctrine, mixed economic enterprise, popular will theory, ethnic lawyers, departmental theory, antebellum judges, law explosion, state appellate judges, substantive liberalism, bar integration, appellate judiciary, franchise corporations, northern judges, liberal legalism, imperial judiciary, vested property rights, federal common law, absolute domain, process jurisprudence, night law schools Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, United States, New Deal, World War, New England, Fourteenth Amendment, South Carolina, First Amendment, Rhode Island, New Jersey, American Revolution, Jeffersonian Republicans, John Adams, North Carolina, Fifth Amendment, Great Depression, Harvard Law School, Sherman Act, Thomas Jefferson, District of Columbia, New Hampshire, Felix Frankfurter, Justice Joseph Story, Lemuel Shaw, Los Angeles New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
56
books
cite this book:
See all 56 books citing this book
- The Chief Justiceship of Melville W. Fuller, 1888-1910 (Chief Justiceships of the United States Supreme Court) by James W. Ely Jr. on 7 pages
- Property Rights in the Colonial Era and Early Republic (Property Rights in American History: From the Colonial Era to the Present) by James W. Ely Jr. on 5 pages
- Keepers of the Spirits: The Judicial Response to Prohibition Enforcement in Florida, 1885-1935 (Contributions in American History) by John Guthrie Jr. on 5 pages
- Law and the Great Plains: Essays on the Legal History of the Heartland (Contributions in Legal Studies) by J. R. Wunder on 4 pages
- Fair Trial: Rights of the Accused in American History (Bicentennial Essays on the Bill of Rights) by David J. Bodenhamer in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
See all 56 books citing this book
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