Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3179893 in Books
• Published on: 1983-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 12 pages

From Library Journal
This is the first multi-volume legal encyclopedia written especially for the nonlawyer. The editors have managed the seemingly impossible task of explaining American law in plain language. The only available reference tool at all comparable is the one-volume Reader's Digest Family Legal Guide ( LJ 2/15/82, $24), which resembles The Guide in format and style, but lacks its depth and analyses. Up to this point the only other alternative was to purchase either Corpus Juris Secundum (West Pub. Co., at about $3,000) or American Jurisprudence Second (Lawyers Co-Op, at about $4,000). Both these sets provide comprehensive and current coverage for legal professionals, but their very thoroughness makes them nearly inaccessible to undergraduates or the layperson. The Guide's coverage, in contrast, is full enough to satisfy most nonlawyers on any legal subject without being overwhelming. In addition to articles on legal topics, it includes accounts of famous trials and historical events, biographies, and definitions. The appendix includes sample legal forms, important legal documents, and a chronology of American legal history. Each volume has its own index and Volume 12 is an index to the complete set. Interspersed throughout the main text are signed essays by legal experts, with short bibliographies. Where appropriate, each entry identifies the leading cases and explains how a particular decision has changed or influenced U.S. law. Citations to the full text of the cases are given. The set could have been strengthened by the addition of more bibliographies and better illustrations; however, these are minor flaws in an excellent work. An essential purchase for both public and academic libraries. Judith Nixon, Purdue Univ. Libs., W. Lafayette, Ind.
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.