Lawrence M. Friedman (1)Recensioni

The Development of Law in America
Law in America is at some degree a judge made law. This course provides a glimpse in some of the most important Supreme Court’s decisions and traces its understanding of the Constitution. The various approaches of its text are exposed and linked with political facts and manifestations of others branches of government. Professor Friedman describes the Supreme Court jurisprudence in a clear and enlightening way.

I came away with a nice fundamental understanding of American law, and especially how our culture has related to the law throughout its history.

The most interesting & deep book of American Law, help to understand from what are laws going/

The best and most readable history of american law. Friedman effortless distills concepts and events into elegant and intelligent prose.

I read Friedman's book a few years ago, when as a foreigner I knew nothing about American law but became interested in the subject due to the political importance of US Supreme Court decisions. The decision to buy this particular book was rather random, but I couldn't have made a better choice.

In this book, Lawrence Friedman gives a thorough, balanced and above all engaged overview of the development of modern American law. The book is divided in chapters organized by law subject, not by historical period, which allows you to read up on the development of any field of American law you are interested in. But at the same time the reader is never left confused about the historical 'big picture', as Friedman chooses the order of narration very carefully and ensures the reader is with him all the way.

What makes the book better than just a good overview is the way Friedman manages to put the 'human element' into his narration without it becoming sentimental, dramatic or overly political. The impact of laws and decisions on the lives of various minorities or even just the average American gets ample attention, and one feels that Friedman is one of those rare legal scholars who manage to maintain a sincere and non-cynical interest in the effects of the law on common people. But by avoiding a preachy or bitter tone this engagement manages to hold the attention of the reader at a much higher level than the angry commentary of law histories on the left (Zinn) and right (Bork).

In short, anyone with even a passing interest in American law should definitely buy this book. Especially recommended for non-American audiences.

Not bad at all.
A survey of the reality of American law behind the day-to-day media and political hysteria.

From Kirkus Reviews
A social history of American criminal justice that offers not abstruse legal analysis or philosophy, but the practical story of ``a working system and what makes it tick.'' Friedman (Law/Stanford) argues that ``judgments about crime, and what to do about it, come out of a specific time and place.'' Thus, he links the criminal-justice systems of different periods of American history to varying characteristics of American society. Colonial courts, for instance, because of their religious orientation, punished not only crimes against persons or property but also acts of private immorality that would no longer be classified as crimes; moreover, these courts relied primarily on public punishments emphasizing shame (such as confinement in the pillory or stocks) rather than on incarceration. Surveying 19th- century criminal justice, Friedman explores the impact of the disenfranchisement of blacks and women; the increasing mobility of society; and the changing role of morality. Similarly, the 20th century has witnessed an enormous increase in the creation of regulatory crimes (particularly in the fields of taxation, securities, and antitrust regulation). Friedman contends that the more permissive, individualistic culture of 20th-century America has qualitatively changed types and motivations of violent crime: In a phenomenon inconceivable in the more disciplined, self- controlled societies of the past two centuries, today's people often commit crimes in order to give themselves a sense of self- worth (``crimes of the self''). After grimly surveying the explosive growth of crime in postwar America, Friedman sadly concludes that, because of rapid changes in society, and despite public obsession with the crime issue, ``we are likely to bump along more or less as we are.'' An absorbing and thoughtful study, scholarly but told in a folksy, unpretentious style. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.½