The Magic Mirror

Weaving together themes from the history of public private and constitutional law The Magic Mirror: Law in American History Second Edition recounts the roles that law-in all its many shapes and forms-has played in American history from the days of the earliest English settlements in North America to the year 2007. It also provides comprehensive treatment of twentieth-century developments and sets American law and legal institutions in the broad context of social cultural economic and political events. The Magic Mirror begins by discussing the ways that the settlers dealt with one another and with the indigenous populations; it examines municipal ordinances; colonial state and federal statutes; administrative agencies; and court decisions. It goes on to relate the ways that property crime sale and labor contracts commercial transactions accidents domestic relations wills trusts and corporations were handled by police attorneys legislatures and jurists over the centuries. The text also pays close attention to the evolution of substantive law categories-including contracts torts negotiable instruments real property trusts and estates and civil procedure-and addresses the intellectual evolution of American law including sociological jurisprudence legal realism critical legal studies Law & Society Law & Anthropology and Law & Economics schools of analysis and thought. Featuring extensive updates by new author Peter Karsten The Magic Mirror is ideal for courses in American Legal History.