Vol. 11 No. 7 (July 2001) pp. 332-335.
BOOK NOTICES:
THE OKLAHOMA STATE CONSTITUTION: A REFERENCE GUIDE by Danny M. Adkinson and Lisa McNair Palmer. Westport,
CT: Greenwood Press, 2001. 400 pp. Cloth $138.00. ISBN: 0-313-27507-6.
As volume 32 in the series of Reference Guides to the State Constitutions of the United States, this book follows
a format similar to others in the series. The authors, a political scientist and an attorney, present a brief constitutional
history of the state followed by a discussion of the objectives and judicial interpretations of each section of
the Oklahoma Constitution.
LAW AND BUSINESS OF THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRIES, fourth edition, by Donald E. Biederman; Martin E. Silfen;
Robert C. Berry; Edward P. Pierson; Jeanne A. Glasser. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2001. 864pp. Cloth $68.00.
ISBN: 0-275-96983-5.
This is a combination treatise and casebook designed for law school use. It includes chapters on the representation
of talent, contracts for talent, rights to personality and intellectual property, remedies, literary and music
publishing, sound recording, films, television, the Internet, multimedia, and theatre.
THE FEDERAL COURTS, fourth edition, by Robert A. Carp and Ronald Stidham. Washington, D. C.: CQ Press, 2001.
258 pp. Paper $25.95. ISBN: 1-56802-591-2.
The new edition of this textbook uses a similar format to earlier editions. It has chapters about the organization,
jurisdiction, and personnel of the U. S. federal judiciary, chapters on federal trial and appellate decision making
behavior, and a chapter on the implementation and impact of decisions. There
is a concluding synthesis and a glossary.
AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW: SEPARATED POWERS AND FEDERALISM, fourth edition, by Louis Fisher. Durham, NC:
Carolina Academic Press, 2001. 547 pp. Paper $32.00. ISBN: 0-89089-215-6.
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This is a new edition of a constitutional law casebook designed for undergraduate students. The chapters space
cases within commentary and selected ongressional, executive, and other documents. Chapters include constitutional
politics, doctrine of judicial review, threshold requirements, judicial organization, decision-making, separation
of powers, federal-state relations, economic liberties, and efforts to curb the court. There are appendices with
the Constitution, a table of justices, a glossary, and on how to research the law.
AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW: CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES, fourth edition, by Louis Fisher. Durham,
NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2001. 1229 pp. Paper $37.00. ISBN: 0-89089-216-4.
This is a new edition of a civil rights and liberties casebook designed for undergraduate students. The chapters
space cases within commentary and selected congressional and other documents. Chapters include free speech, freedom
of the press, religious freedom, rights of the accused, search and seizure, racial discrimination, emerging group
pressures, rights of privacy, political participation, and efforts to curb the court. There are appendices with
the Constitution, a table of justices, a glossary, and on how to research the law. Note: this an the preceding
item are available in one volume as, AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, 4th edition, 1296 pp, Cloth $90.00. Student Price
$64.00. ISBN 0-89089-214-8.
DEFENDING CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS by Frank M. Johnson. Edited by Tony A. Freyer. Athens: University of Georgia
Press, 2001. 191pp. Cloth $45.00. ISBN: 0-8203-2285-7.
The editor provides a collection of materials written by the famous Alabama judge and proponent of racial justice,
Frank. M. Johnson. Professor Freyer has selected eight previously published articles by the judge and a 1980 interview
of the judge by Bill Moyers for inclusion in this volume. The editor also provides an introduction on Judge Johnson's
early career and a conclusion that discusses the judge's actions in rights cases and the evolution of equitable
remedies.
ALWAYS THE SAME PATH: ESSAYS ON FOREIGN LAW AND COMPARATIVE METHODOLOGY, VOLUME 2, by Basil S. Markesinis.
Oxford: Hart Publishing Co., 2001. 431pp. Cloth $70.00. ISBN: 1-84113-069-9.
This volume is a collection of eleven of the author's previously published articles about the reception of "foreign
law" into a national legal system. Almost all of the articles discuss the reception of European legal concepts,
doctrines, and decisions by British courts. There is special attention in several articles to the reception of
German law into English practice, especially regarding issues of personal rights and torts.
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COURTS, JUDGES, AND POLITICS: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE JUDICIAL PROCESS, fifth edition, by Walter F. Murphy,
C. Herman Pritchett, and Lee Epstein. Boston: McGraw Hill Higher Education, 2001. 770pp. Paper $71.75. ISBN: 0-07-044167-7.
Designed for undergraduates, the new edition of this classic text-reader on the judicial process contains most
of the same chapter titles as previous editions. However, there are new chapters on "Courts in Constitutional
Democracies" and "The Bar," and some reorganization of the other chapters. Many of the sections
of commentary have been significantly revised. The majority of the selected readings are new, especially in the
chapters on "Judicial Selection and Retention," "Instruments of Judicial Power," "Precedents
and Legal Reasoning," "The Processes of Judicial Decision Making," and " The Impact of Judicial
Decisions."
LAW AND SOCIETY IN TRANSITION: TOWARD RESPONSIVE LAW by Philippe Nonet and Philip Selznick. 122pp. New Brunswick,
NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2001. Paper $24.95. ISBN: 0-7658-0642-8.
This book is a reprint of the authors' 1978 edition with a new 20-page introduction by Robert Kagan. The authors
first offer a critique of "repressive" and "autonomous" law. The authors then prescribe a "responsive"
law that is a reasoned effort to improve the function of law in democratic governance.
FAIRNESS AT WORK: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS ACT 1999 AND ITS TREATMENT OF COLLECTIVE RIGHTS
by Tonia Novitz and Paul Skidmore. Oxford: Hart Publishing Co., 2001. 195pp. Paper $52.00. ISBN: 1-84113-083-4.
This treatise describes changes in British labor law brought about by the Labour government of Prime Minister Tony
Blair. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the details of industrial relations in Britain under New
Labour and the role of British trade unions.
A COMPANION TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND ITS AMENDMENTS, third edition, by John R. Vile. Westport,
CT: Praeger Publishers, 2001. 328pp. Cloth $74.95. ISBN: 0-275-97251-8. Paper $27.95. ISBN: 0-275-97252-6.
This treatise, designed for undergraduates and a general public, offers a brief introductory historical background
on the development of the Constitution and then proceeds to discuss the meaning of each section and amendment of
the Constitution with reference to Supreme Court interpretations. Appendices include a description of the holdings
of fifty Supreme Court cases, a
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glossary, and copies of the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Articles of Confederation.