From:
The Law and Politics Book Review
Vol. 13 No. 11 (November 2003)
BOOK NOTICES:
As a service to subscribers, the REVIEW provides
this brief summary of the contents of recent reference works, anthologies
of previously published materials, textbooks and collected readings designed
for students, casebooks designed for undergraduate and law school use, later
editions of books previously reviewed in this journal, and other specialized
publications. Unless noted, the comments are taken from the book’s
jacket cover or the publisher’s webpage.
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THE NORTH DAKOTA STATE CONSTITUTION: A REFERENCE GUIDE, by James E. Leahy.
Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. 264 pp. $74.95 Hardcover. ISBN:
0-313-31709-7.
After providing a brief background of the Dakota Territory's
settling, creation of a Territorial government in 1862, and entry into statehood
as North Dakota in 1889, Leahy serves up a detailed study of the cases and
events that give that state's constitution's 13 articles their current form.
Every section of every article receives commentary detailing the significant
acts that lead to its current juridical interpretation. The only book to provide
such a detailed and thorough analysis of North Dakota's Constitution, Leahy's
book is an invaluable resource for legal historians, practicing attorneys,
regional scholars, and constitutional specialists. The book is fully referenced
and includes a table of cases and an extensive bibliography.
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INTRODUCTION TO LAW AND LEGAL REASONING, by Jane C.
Ginsburg. New York, NY: Foundation
Press. 620pp. $60.00 Softcover. ISBN: 1-58778-562-5.
This course book serves an undergraduate course in introduction
to legal reasoning. It is designed to initiate students in the legal methods
of case law analysis and statutory interpretation, prompting students to take
a critical distance from the wielding of the methods. It helps students acquire
or refine the techniques of close reading, analogizing, distinguishing, positing
related fact patterns, and criticizing judicial and legislative exposition
and logic.
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LANDMARK LEGISLATION, 1774-2002, Stephen W. Stathis. Washington, DC: CQ Press.
425 pp. Cloth, $130. ISBN 1-56802-781-8.
LANDMARK LEGISLATION 1774–2002 is a new single-volume
treasure trove of information about the most important laws and treaties approved
by Congress in more than two-hundred years since the Continental Congress
period. The author, a senior staff member at the Congressional Research
Service, lists more than 1,300 bills that became law and treaties that were
approved in his new monumental work.
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KAPPLER REVISITED: AN INDEX AND BIBLIOGRAPHIC GUIDE TO AMERICAN INDIAN TREATIES,
by Charles D. Bernholz. Buffalo, NY: Epoch Books, Inc. 121 pp.
$45.95 Hardcover. ISBN: 0962958646.
Since 1904, Charles Kappler’s INDIAN AFFAIRS:
LAW AND TREATIES has been a standard resource for researchers in the field.
However, the work suffers from several limitations, including the frequent
absence from treaty titles of participating tribe names, the omission of several
early American recognized treaties, and the failure to use standardized names
for tribes and tribal groups. KAPPLER REVISITED addresses these concerns
and more, by bringing the topic up to date and providing a meticulous index
and guide in an affordable single-volume handbook. Providing a combination
of finding lists, indexes, bibliographies, and narrative summaries, KAPPLER
REVISITED is an indispensable resource for historians, lawyers, librarians,
and others interested in Native American law, culture, and heritage.
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THE
LAW OF HUMAN RIGHTS, by Richard Clayton and Hugh Tomlinson. Oxford,
Oxford University Press. Volumes I & II, and Second Annual Updating
Supplement. c2300 pp. Hardcover: Price: £195.00 (Pack).
ISBN: 0-19-925822-8.
The LAW OF HUMAN RIGHTS provides a comprehensive and systematic treatment of human rights law and practice in the UK and offers detailed analysis of the effects of incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into domestic law by the Human Rights Act 1998, including an examination of the wider impact of the new regime upon the civil and criminal law more generally. Regular paperback supplements keep the book fully up to date with relevant case-law and related legislation as the implementation of the new Act proceeds. The SECOND SUPPLEMENT, included in this set, brings the main work fully up to date to July 2002 and includes all the relevant case-law as the Human Rights Act continues to be tested in the courts.