The Magic Mirror: Law in American History

by Kermit L. Hall

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.

Genres: Law, History, Nonfiction

416 pages, Paperback

First published February 9, 1989

About the author

Kermit Lance Hall was a noted legal historian who served as president of Utah State University from 2000 to 2005, and president of the at University at Albany from 2005 until his sudden death from a heart attack in 2006.

Reviews

[Matthew Rohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always kind of weird to review what's basically a textbook. This covers a very wide sweep of American legal history very efficiently. This book is at its strongest in explaining the development of the legal profession and training in the U.S. and in providing an overview of the transition from English common law to a new legal system in the North American colonies and eventual United States. It's at its weakest when discussing the American South and race law after the Civil War and 20th century immigration law where a fairly open conservative and institutionalist bias leads to the omission of important material

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost too fact-filled to be useful. A better reference than an introductory text, although it's marketed as the latter.

[Bender · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sint nisi nobis et autem. Rerum iste aspernatur eveniet. Ut eveniet id sed error. Rerum ut delectus ducimus quaerat. Nesciunt eaque quis quia qui natus.

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Text book suff!