Books in the Studies in Legal History (Hardcover) series

Our present system of criminal prosecution originated in England in the sixteenth century. Langbein traces its development, which was at its most intense during the reign of Queen Mary. He shows how the common law developed a system of official investigation and prosecution that incorporated the medieval institution of the jury trial. He places equal emphasis on the role of the justices of the peace as public prosecutors. The second half of the book compares the English system with those of the Holy Roman Empire (Germany) and France. He concludes by refuting the popular opinion that the English were strongly indebted to continental models. This is an excellent work of scholarship, exhibiting wide research, erudition and analytical ability. --Joseph H. Smith, Harvard Law Review 88 (1974-1975) 485 JOHN LANGBEIN is Sterling Professor of Law and Legal History at Yale Law School. He has held academic positions at Stanford University, Oxford University, the Max-Planck-Institut fur Europaische Rechtsgeschichte and the Max-Planck-Institut fur Auslandisches und Internationales Strafrecht. Langbein is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the International Academy of Comparative Law, the International Association of Procedure Law, and other organizations in the fields of legal history and comparative law. Some of his most distinguished publications and articles include History of the Common Law: The Development of Anglo-American Legal Institutions (2009), Torture and the Law of Proof: Europe and England in the Ancient Regime (1977), and The Supreme Court Flunks Trusts, Supreme Court Review (1991).

No detailed description available for "American Lawyers in a Changing Society, 1776-1876".

No detailed description available for "Executive Privilege".

No detailed description available for "Jefferson's Louisiana".

Renowned as a great scholar, teacher, and legal historian, Frederic William Maitland (1850-1906) advanced the cause of legal history, opposing the idea that legal history was law and not history, yet believing in the advantage of legal training. C. H. S. Fifoot has written this biography of Maitland with care and devotion in a style that is lucid and eloquent. He traces the origin and development of Maitland's works, using them to reveal the man himself and his qualities of mind and spirit.

Hughes was lawyer, governor of New York, Supreme Court Justice, presidential candidate in 1916, Secretary of State in the Harding and Coolidge administrations, a member of the World Court, and Chief Justice of the United States from 1930 until his retirement in 1941. His "Autobiographical Notes" portray him as no biography could and provide comment on almost a century of American history as seen by one who played a part in shaping its course.