Reason in Law: Ninth Edition - Softcover

Carter, Lief H.; Burke, Thomas F.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 022632818X ISBN 13: 9780226328188

Verlag: University of Chicago Press, 2016

Inhaltsangabe

Over the nearly four decades it has been in print, Reason in Law has established itself as the place to start for understanding legal reasoning, a critical component of the rule of law. This ninth edition brings the book’s analyses and examples up to date, adding new cases while retaining old ones whose lessons remain potent. It examines several recent controversial Supreme Court decisions, including rulings on the constitutionality and proper interpretation of the Affordable Care Act and Justice Scalia’s powerful dissent in Maryland v. King. Also new to this edition are cases on same-sex marriage, the Voting Rights Act, and the legalization of marijuana. A new appendix explains the historical evolution of legal reasoning and the rule of law in civic life. The result is an indispensable introduction to the workings of the law.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Lief Carter is professor emeritus of political science at Colorado College. In addition to the previous eight editions of Reason in Law, he is the author of several books, including Administrative Law and Politics. Thomas F. Burke is professor of political science at Wellesley College and a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author or coauthor of three books, most recently How Policy Shapes Politics.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Reason in Law

By Lief H. Carter, Thomas F. Burke

The University of Chicago Press

Copyright © 2016 The University of Chicago
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-226-32818-8

Contents

Foreword by Sanford Levinson, 
Preface to the Ninth Edition, 
Chapter 1 What Legal Reasoning Is and Why It Matters, 
Chapter 2 Change and Stability in Legal Reasoning, 
Chapter 3 Common Law, 
Chapter 4 Statutory Interpretation, 
Chapter 5 Interpreting the U.S. Constitution, 
Chapter 6 Law and Politics, 
Appendix A Introduction to Legal Procedures and Terminology, 
Appendix B A Theory of Law in Politics: The Case of Terri Schiavo, 
Index of Cases, 
Index, 
Footnotes, 

CHAPTER 1

What Legal Reasoning Is and Why It Matters

I have grown to see that the [legal] process in its highest reaches is not discovery, but creation.

— Benjamin N. Cardozo

They ain't nuthin' until I calls 'em.

— Umpire Bill Klem (attributed)

An Overview of Law and Politics

In late June 2013, millions of Americans eagerly awaited the Supreme Court's decision about whether the U.S. Constitution recognized the marriage of Edith Windsor to Thea Spyer, a same-sex couple who had been partners for forty-two years. Edith and Thea had been married in Canada in 2007, and their marriage was considered legal in the state of New York, where they lived. But under a U.S. federal law, the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal government refused to treat Edith and Thea as legally married. This had powerful consequences: when Thea died in 2009, she left behind a large estate, and because Edith was not recognized as Thea's spouse, she had to pay more than $300,000 in inheritance taxes. This was just one of the hundreds of ways in which the Defense of Marriage Act disadvantaged same-sex couples, even those like Thea and Edith who were recognized as legally married by the state in which they resided. Edith's lawyer, however, argued that she shouldn't have to pay the tax because the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional. The lawyer argued that the law violated the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees fundamental liberties, including, the lawyer argued, the right to marry whomever one chooses. If the justices of the Supreme Court agreed with Edith, it would affect not just her massive tax bill but also the rights of men and women across the nation. Of course, for religious conservatives fighting for the "traditional marriage," the decision was equally consequential. Whatever the Court ruled, it would deeply disappoint many Americans.

A little more than a decade earlier, in 2001, a British court considered a more obscure but also very divisive matter: what to do about conjoined twin girls, Jodie and Mary. The two were joined at the pelvis, though each had her own organs and limbs. Doctors believed that both girls would eventually die if they were not separated. Separating them, however, would kill Mary, the weaker twin. The twins' parents, devout Roman Catholics, believed that it "was not God's will" that one child die to enable the other to live because "[e]veryone has the right to life." The hospital in which the twins were treated, however, believed that failing to separate the twins would violate Jodie's right to life. Despite the parents' wishes, the hospital sought legal authorization to perform the separation, arguing that the operation would count under British law as saving Jodie's life, not as murdering Mary. The judges in the case faced an awful dilemma. If they sided with the hospital, they would be overriding the rights of the parent

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: University of Chicago Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2016
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 022632818X
• ISBN 13: 9780226328188
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 288
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar