New Perspectives on American Law : An Introduction to Private Law in Politics and Society

New Perspectives on American Law provides students with a political science perspective on the common law of contracts, torts, criminal law, property and civil procedure. Selected cases and materials, replete with commentary, are tailored for undergraduate use. Each of the five sections begins with a short introductory essay outlining the topic and the social/political science implications raised by the materials. The cases in each section have been edited to be understandable, and nonessential citations and secondary references in cases have been deleted.

This textbook is unique in that it not only argues that traditional common law areas of the law are worthy of political study, but also goes on to present those subjects for political study. There are other texts that offer snippets of many different areas of law and claim that these areas are fit subjects for political study, but none analyze these subjects or offer the student the significant exposure to such matters of the law as New Perspectives on American Law.

This book gives a substantive political analysis and discussion of a few selected areas of law, rather than skimming over many items. Additionally, the case law approach of the book allows instructors and students to sort through the important issues for themselves.

Acknowledgments
Introduction

CHAPTER ONE CIVIL PROCEDURE

I. Jurisdiction
II. A Short Note on Pleadings
III. Discovery
IV. Managerial Judges

CHAPTER TWO CRIMINAL LAW

I. Who Is the Victim? Or, On What Grounds Do We Apply the State's Coercive Force?
II. The Scope of the Criminal Law
III. Mental Elements
IV. Causation
V. Defenses

CHAPTER THREE TORTS

I. What Does It Mean to Intend Harm?
II. Introduction to Duty of Care: Citizen Know Thyself
III. Causation: Playing Ducks and Drakes with Nature
IV. Negligence as Breach of Duty: Contingency and Duty in the Technological World
V. Strict Liability in a Complex Economic Environment
VI. Products Liability
VII. Vicarious Liability: Drunken Sailors, Stupid Employees, and the People Who Hire Them
VIII. When the Government Kills and Injures
IX. Special Relationships: The Palsgraf Principle Faces Up to the Demands of a Modern Technological Society
X. Speech, the First Amendment, and the Dangers of Defamation Awards
XI. Outrage and Organizational Psychosis: When Corporations Lose Their Minds or Their Morals

CHAPTER 4 POLITICS AND THE LAW OF CONTRACTS

I. A First Look at Contract Law
II. Why Contract Law Is Politics, Not Economics
III. Two Lessons About Politics from "Ordinary" Contracts Disputes in the Courts
IV. Contract Law in American Political History
V. Contracts Today: A Forum for Contemporary Moral Debate
VI. Conclusion

CHAPTER 5 PROPERTY

I. Possession
II. Accession and Value
III. Adverse Possession
IV. Gifts
V. Forfeiture
VI. Landlord/Tenant
VII. Real Property
VIII. License
IX. Intellectual Property

CONCLUSION
Index
About the Authors