This is a new release of the original 1927 edition.

Written for the layman as well as the attorney, "The Story of Law" is the only complete outline history of the law ever published. "It is," too, noted journalist William Allen White of the original edition, "the sort of book that any lawyer could take home and give to his children in their teens and twenties as a justification of his career." Moreover, "The Story of Law" has well been termed "the perfect book for introducing the beginning law student to the origin and history of the law." John M. Zane lucidly describes the growth and improvement of the law over thousands of years, and he points out that an increasing awareness of the individual as a person who is responsible for decision and action gradually transformed the law. The seventeen chapters include "The Physical Basis of Law," "Law Among Primordial Men," "Babylonian Law," "The Jewish Law," "Law Among the Greeks," "The Roman Creation of Modern Law," "Medieval Law in Europe," "The Origins of English Law," and "International Law." Professor Charles J. Reid, Jr., of Emory University School of Law, has contributed an unsurpassed forty-page "Selected Bibliography on Legal History" that will be of enormous interest to academics, students, practicing attorneys, and general readers alike.John M. Zane (1863-1937) was a distinguished attorney.Charles J. Reid, Jr., is a professor of law at Emory University School of Law, Atlanta.

In this brilliant and immensely readable book, Lawrence M. Friedman tells the whole fascinating story of American law from its beginnings in the colonies to the present day. By showing how close the life of the law is to the economic and political life of the country, he makes a complex subject understandable and engrossing. A History of American Law presents the achievements and failures of the American legal system in the context of America's commercial and working world, family practices, and attitudes toward property, government, crime, and justice. Now completely revised and updated, this groundbreaking work incorporates new material regarding slavery, criminal justice, and twentieth-century law. For laymen and students alike, this remains the only comprehensive authoritative history of American law.

Chronicles the history of American law from its beginnings in the colonies to the end of the twentieth century, highlighting the achievements and failures of the American legal system.