Featured Acquisitions - September 2004


		The Myth of Moral Justice: Why Our Legal System Fails to Do What's Right by Thane Rosenbaum New York : HarperCollins, c2004 KF8700 .R658 2004 Balcony American culture is obsessed with the law, the legal system, and lawyers. Much in our everyday lives revolves around the law, and we are bombarded daily by cultural images of lawyers and the legal system at work. We indulge in dramatic television shows and feature films about lawyers, we read legal thrillers, and observe trials as they unfold. Many of us wish for our children to attend law school and become lawyers. At the same time, most people report that they don't trust lawyers and hold them and the legal system in very low esteem. Those who have had unfavorable experiences with the law have walked away bitter and resentful. Some have observed that lawyers operate according to their own professional worldview, one that is emotionally detached and unfeeling, overly logical, technical, narrow, bureaucratic, and insensitive to basic human emotions and moral principles. We are, paradoxically, both fascinated and repulsed by our legal system. The dramatic allure of judgment keeps us enthralled; the absence of moral conviction in the law makes us furious. In The Myth of Moral Justice, law professor and novelist Thane Rosenbaum suggests that this paradox stems from the fact that citizens and the courts are at odds when it comes to their definitions of justice. Individuals seek out lawyers and enter courtrooms because they have an emotional grievance as well as a legal complaint. They expect the law to do the right thing. Yet our legal system, bent on separating the legal from the emotional, willfully ignores basic moral criteria. As a result, the justice system undermines truth, perpetuates secrets and lies, prevents victims from telling their stories, promotes adversarial enmity over community repair, and fails to equate legal duty with moral responsibility. Legal outcomes that make sense to lawyers and judges feel simply wrong to most people and enrage others. With a lawyer's expertise and a novelist's sensibility, Rosenbaum tackles complicated philosophical questions about our longing for moral justice. He also takes a critical look at what our legal system does to the spirits of those who must come before the law, along with those who practice within it. Rosenbaum reinforces his themes with artistic representations of lawyers and legal systems from the classic works of Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Franz Kafka, along with various important feature films that illuminate why our legal system fails to do what's right.
		Women and Law in India by Flavia Agnes, Sudhir Chandra and Monmayee Basu New Delhi ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2004 KNS516 .W655 2004 Annex 1 An Omnibus comprising: Law and Gender Inequality, Flavia Agnes Enslaved Daughters, Sudhir Chandra Hindu Women and Marriage Law, Monmayee Basu These three authors map the issue of equality before law and various issues relating to women's rights, social justice, and empowerment. The omnibus forms a comprehensive and significant study for understanding why progressive laws, once passed, continue to be implemented in such a limited manner. It highlights that legislation even in the past fifty years has not brought equality.
		The Second Bill of Rights: FDR's Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need it More than Ever by Cass R. Sunstein New York : Basic Books, c2004 KF3300 .S863 2004 Balcony In 1944, Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave a State of the Union Address that was arguably the greatest political speech of the twentieth century. The speech began what Cass R. Sunstein calls the Second American Revolution by giving form and specificity, for the first time, to the concept of human economic rights. Many of the great legislative achievements of the past sixty years stem from Roosevelt's proposal for a Second Bill of Rights. Yet these rights have never been written into the Constitution, and they remain the subject of passionate debate. In recent years they have even lost ground. Using FDR's speech as a launching point, Sunstein examines the "legal realist" school of thought, which decisively refuted the idea of laissez-faire economics; describes how Roosevelt gradually developed the idea of a Second Bill of Rights; and asks why the Second Bill, which was almost enacted under the Warren Court, has never attained the constitutional status FDR sought for it. The reason, Sunstein maintains, is not anything unique to American culture or temperament but a particular historical accident: the election of Richard Nixon as President in 1968. This is an ambitious, sweeping book that argues for a new vision of FDR, of constitutional history, and of our current political scene. The Second Bill of Rights is an integral part of the American tradition and the starting point for contemporary political reform.
		All You Need to Know About the Music Business by Donald S. Passman New York : Free Press, c2003 ML3790 .P35 2003 Basement Universally regarded as the definitive and indispensable guide to the music industry and now in its fifth edition, All You Need to Know About the Music Business has undergone its most extensive overhaul to date. Veteran music lawyer Donald Passman sees a major change in the way record labels are doing business in response to today's numerous technological advances and uncertain post-boom economy. Anyone involved in the business is feeling the deep, far-reaching effects of these changes. This latest edition of what the Los Angeles Times called "the industry bible" will lead novices and experts alike through the fundamental practices as well as the new, uncharted territory of one of this country's most dynamic fields. This latest edition also includes information on: Music downloads and streaming How royalties are computed in the digital age Why the record companies are hemorrhaging money New laws of the electronic frontier, including copyright infringement, illegal downloads, and challenges to intellectual property rights Industry strategies to combat piracy The new model of record deals, in which the companies want to share in songwriting, touring, merchandising, etc. In addition, there are updates on traditional industry matters such as royalties, advances, video budgets, and copyright law.
		Indomitable Sarah : The Life of Judge Sara T. Hughes by Darwin Payne Dallas : Southern Methodist University Press, 2004 KF373.H838 P39 2004 Balcony Judge Sarah T. Hughes is best remembered as the woman who swore in Lyndon Johnson as president aboard Air Force One on November 22, 1963, after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. But long before then, she had been making headlines as the foremost woman Democrat in Texas. She was a legislator, judge, political leader, and feminist who devoted her life to liberal causes. As a federal judge she presided over the three-judge panel that overturned Texas's abortion laws in a decision upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade, a decision that has rocked American society and politics to this day. Indomitable Sarah is an energetic, well-researched biography that shows the many dimensions of this important figure in Texas' history as well as the nation's.
		Divorce and Family Mediation: Models, Techniques, and Applications edited by Jay Folberg, Ann L. Milnes and Peter Salem New York : Guilford Press, c2004 KF535 .D558 2004 Balcony Building on the success of their groundbreaking 1988 Divorce Mediation, Folberg et al. now present the latest state-of-the-art, comprehensive resource on family and divorce mediation. Paving the way for the field to establish its own distinct discipline and academic tradition, this authoritative volume offers chapters contributed by leading mediation researchers, trainers, and practitioners. Detailed are the theory behind mediation practice, the contemporary social and political context, and practical issues involved in mediating divorce and custody disputes with contemporary families. Authors also address intriguing questions about professional standards and where the field should go from here. A groundbreaking resource, this volume is indispensable for all mental health and legal professionals working with families in transition.
		The Economic Analysis of Environmental Policy and Law: An Introduction by Michael Faure and Göran Skogh Cheltenham, UK ; Northampton, MA : Edward Elgar, c2003 K3585 .F378 2003 Balcony Although many books focus on law and economics, and environmental economics, this is one of the first to combine the two topics in a fully integrated and comprehensive manner. The authors successfully bridge the gap between the disciplines of environmental law and traditional economics in a lucid and highly accessible style. The Economic Analysis of Environmental Policy and Law covers many of the recent advances in the field and attempts to integrate some of the most crucial legal and economic instruments which, in the authors' view, have not yet been subjected to proper analysis. These include zoning, expropriation, licensing, third party liability, safety regulation, mandatory insurance and criminal sanctions. The authors pay particular attention to the interrelationships of these instruments and their various economic effects. Using a comparative law and economics methodology, they are also able to incorporate environmental law with international policy and investigate the many diverse rules of the legal system and their implementation in different countries. Crucially, the authors do not consider economics as the exclusive determinant in legal rule-making. They also highlight the need for ethical considerations and illustrate the potential limitations of pure economic analysis. The book assumes no prior knowledge of economics and will prove informative and rewarding for students of law and the social and natural sciences, especially those with an interest in environmental policy. With an extensive reference list and detailed notes on further reading material, this book will also serve as a stimulating introduction to the discipline of law and economics for environmental, political and legal practitioners.
		A History of the Early Islamic Law of Property: Reconstructing the Legal Development, 7th - 9th Centuries by Hiroyuki Yanagihashi Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2004 KBP640 .Y36 2004 Basement The present volume is dedicated to an analysis of positive solutions adopted by Muslim jurists active in the first centuries of Islam regarding civil liability, certain kinds of sale and the prohibition of riba. The analysis has two aims. The first is to trace the origins of some hitherto unclarified institutions and transactions within Islamic law with an account of how they developed over this law's formative and classical period. The second aim is to determine why and how the teachings of particular jurists became predominant in Iraq and Medina, and laid the foundation of the Hanafi and Maliki schools of law in each respective region.

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