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A history of law draws on the particulars of twenty seminal historic cases that have shaped the modern legal system, from King Alfred to Thomas More's trial for treason, Earl Warren's stand on school segregation to the Rodney King verdicts. 15,000 first printing.

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Library Journal Review

Knight, a practicing attorney and former federal prosecutor, has put together a brilliant compendium of 21 essays that chronicle the growth and development of individual rights and liberties within the Anglo-American legal and constitutional system. Early English proscriptions made unauthorized intrusion into the home a serious crime. Centuries later in America, an Ohio housewife was pushed aside by a squadron of Cleveland's worst (police officers), who were looking for a bomb suspect. Not finding the mad bomber, they instead tried and convicted the woman of possessing pornographic magazines, which the police accidentally discovered during the search. The U.S. Supreme Court saved the day by excluding the tainted evidence from admissibility at trial, in the process making Fourth Amendment protections equally applicable at all levels of American jurisprudence. Knight uses similar case studies to illustrate the role of the judiciary as a unifying and stabilizing force in both early England and modern America. Excellent reading for students of Anglo-American legal history or even someone seeking a better understanding of our legal system.‘Philip Y. Blue, New York State Supreme Court Criminal Branch Law Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Knight, a Nashville lawyer and former federal prosecutor, here makes law accessible with lively, textured sketches of landmark cases and principles. He recounts the story of the Magna Carta, which actually focused on obscure issues and mundane problems but contained the seed of modern constitutionalism: the king is subject to the law. He explains how precedent has been used to incrementally transform the common law (of liability, etc.) but has been treated more cavalierly when the Supreme Court addresses constitutional questions. Knight does not preach legal majesty: while he suggests that Court rulings on press freedom have fostered a free society, the "trick will be to maintain that marketplace in times of peril." Similarly, after tracing the history of the Fourth Amendment's protection against unlawful searches and seizures, Knight observes that the Court has been recently moving backward; there is no straight line of constitutional progress. In a few places‘as when he erroneously suggests that the Rodney King case was the first time the legitimacy of a jury's decision was questioned‘Knight stumbles, but this is mostly a savvy popularization. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

In this interesting, easy-to-read treatise on the evolution of Anglo-American law, lawyer and former federal prosecutor Knight relates 20 historic cases that have helped mould legislation into the code of laws we use today. Starting with the earliest societal laws that derived authority directly from God, Knight describes a fascinating array of events in the history of litigation and shows how those decisions have influenced our current laws. The book goes on to describe the growth and development of laws and lawmaking from the Magna Carta to the American Bill of Rights up to contemporary times. Using infamous events and a colorful cast of characters, including Alfred the Great, Henry VIII, Thomas More, Lizzie Borden, and Sir Walter Raleigh, the book is peppered with anecdotes that animate and enliven its scholarly subject. This thought-provoking and wise narrative also contains a clever dissection of the O. J. Simpson murder trial and probes the questionable effect of new technologies on the sanctity of jury trials. --Kathleen Hughes