Law in Action: A Socio-Legal Reader

by Stewart MacAulay, Lawrence M. Friedman, Elizabeth E Mertz

This text is designed for law students and for courses in legal studies programs. The reader deals in depth with the relationship between the legal system and its surrounding society, including such classic issues as the social sources of law and the impact of legal rules and institutions on society. Other chapters examine the role of judges and lawyers in the system and how culture and historical tradition help mold the legal systems of various societies. The book contains six chapters, each containing classic and contemporary readings on these subjects, with extensive notes and questions to guide the student.

1098 pages, Paperback

First published July 16, 2007

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my textbooks for the semester. Although I do a lot of personal reading in my life, reading for class has never been a hobby of mine. This book was quite interesting, though. It's probably not a book that anyone will pick up and read cover-to-cover for pleasure, but it contained a ton of interesting articles and other collected readings about how the court is shaped by society and vice versa. For example, one of the articles focused on how the McDonald's "hot coffee" case and decision was portrayed in the media compared to what really happened. Socio-legal issues are a personal interest of mine, so I loved the class and happened to also love this text that the professor chose. It didn't feel like required reading at all and it's one of the few textbooks that I will probably keep on my bookshelf.

[Mills College Library]

340.01 M1174 2007