In The Majesty of the Law, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor explores the law, her life as a Justice, and how the Court has evolved and continues to function, grow, and change as an Americana institution.  Tracing some of the origins of American law through history, people, and ideas, O'Connor sheds new light on the basics, and through personal observation she explores the development of institutions and ideas we have come to regard as fundamental.

O'Connor discusses notable cases that have shaped American democracy and the Court as we know it today, and she traces the turbulent battle women have fought for a place in our nation's legal system since America's inception.  Straight-talking, clear-eyed, inspiring, The Majesty of the Law is more than a reflection on O'Connor's own experiences as the first female Justice of the Supreme Court; it also contains a discussion of how the suffrage movement changed the lives of women--in voting booths, jury boxes, and homes across the country. 

In The Majesty of the Law, Sandra Day O'Connor reveals some of what she has learned and believes about American law and life, insights gleaned over her years as one of the most powerful and inspiring women in American history.

In Legal Transplants, one of the world's foremost authorities on legal history and comparative law puts forth a clear and concise statement of his controversial thesis on the way that law has developed throughout history.

When it was first published in 1974, Legal Transplants sparked both praise and outrage.  Alan Watson's argument challenges the long-prevailing notion that a close connection exists between the law and the society in which it operates.  His main thesis is that a society's laws do not usually develop as a logical outgrowth of its own experience.  Instead, he contends, the laws of one society are primarily borrowed from other societies; therefore, most law operates in a society very different from the one for which it was originally created.  Utilizing a wealth of primary sources, Watson illustrates his argument with examples ranging from the ancient Near East, ancient Rome, early modern Europe, Puritan New England, and modern New Zealand.  The resulting picture of the law's surprising longevity and acceptance in foreign conditions carries important implications for legal historians and sociologists.  The law cannot be used a tool to understand society, Watson believes, without a careful consideration of legal transplants.

How are juries selected in the United States?  What forces influence juries in making their decisions?  Are some cases simply beyond the ability of juries to decide?  How useful is the entire jury system?

In this important and accessible book, a prominent expert on constitutional law examines these and other issues concerning the American jury system.  Randolph N. Jonakait describes the historical and social pressures that have driven the development of the jury system;  contrasts the American jury system to the legal process in other countries;  reveals subtle changes in the popular view of juries; examines how the news media, movies, and books portray and even affect the system; and discusses the empirical data that show how juries actually operate and what influences their decisions.  Jonakait endorses the jury system in both civil and criminal cases, spelling out the important social role juries play in legitimizing and affirming the American justice system.

William Orville Douglas was both the most accomplished and the most controversial justice ever to serve on the United States Supreme Court.  He emerged from isolated Yakima, Washington, to be dubbed by the age of thirty, "the most outstanding law professor in the nation"' at age thirty-eight, he was the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, cleaning up a corrupt Wall Street during the Great Depression; by the age of forty, he was the second youngest Supreme Court Justice in American history, going on to server longer--and to write more opinions and dissents--than any other justice.

Relying on fifteen years of exhaustive research in eighty-six manuscript collections, revealing long-hidden documents, and interviews conducted with more than one hundred people, many sharing their recollections for the first time, Bruce Allen Murphy reveals the truth behind Douglas's carefully constructed image.  While William Douglas wrote fiction in the form of memoir, Murphy presents the truth with a narrative flair that reads like a novel.

Many important questions regarding the creation and adoption of the United States Constitution remain unresolved.  Did slave-holdings or financial holdings significantly influence our Founding Fathers' stance on particular clauses or rules contained in the Constitution?  Was there a division of support for the Constitution related to religious beliefs or ethnicity?  Were founders from less commercial areas more likely to oppose the Constitution?  To Form a  More Perfect Union successfully answers these questions and offers an economic explanation for the behavior of our Founding Fathers during the nation's constititutional founding. 

To Form a  More Perfect Union presents an entirely new approach to the study of the shaping of the U.S. Constitution.  Through the application of economic thinking and rigorous statistical techniques, as well as the processing of vast amounts of data on the economic interests and personal characteristics of the Founding Fathers, McGuire convincingly demonstrates that an economic interpretation of the Constitution is valid.  Radically challenging the prevailing views of most historians, political scientists, and legal scholars, To Form a More Perfect Union provides a wealth of new findings about the Founding Fathers' constitutional choices and sheds new light on the motivations behind the design and adoption of the United States Constitution. 

Why is American punishment so cruel?  While in continental Europe great efforts are made to guarantee that prisoners are treated humanely, in America sentences have gotten longer and rehabilitation programs have fallen by the wayside.  Western Europe attempts to prepare criminals for life after prison, whereas many American prisons today leave their inhabitants reduced and debased.  In the last quarter of a century, Europe has worked to ensure that the baser human inclination toward vengeance is not reflected by state policy, yet America has shown a systematic drive toward ever increasing levels of harshness in its criminal policies.

A sobering look at the growing rift between the United States and Europe, Harsh Justice exposes the deep cultural roots of America's degrading punishment practices. 

In the Information Economy, all cases are public--and lawyers, clients, and communicators need to be prepared for the inevitable legal matter that thrusts them into the public spotlight.

With the rise of business media, 24-hour news channels, and the Internet, it's not just sensational cases that are receiving public attention.  Whether you are a business executive corporation counsel, a litigator at an outside law firm, or a public relations professional, you need skills and systems for managing public opinion during legal matters that you win this critical battle--and perhaps, in the process, the way. 

In the Court of Public Opinion is the first book of its kind.  Designed for lawyers and non-lawyers alike, it will introduce you to a proven system for operating in this new environment, where media, public opinion, and legal processes collide.