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  The Birth of American Law: An Italian Philosopher and the American Revolution

  John Bessler

  The Birth of American Law: An Italian Philosopher and the American Revolution tells the forgotten, untold story of the origins of U.S. law. Before the Revolutionary War, a 26-year-old Italian thinker, Cesare Beccaria, published On Crimes and Punishments, a runaway bestseller that shaped the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and early American laws. America's Founding Fathers, including early U.S. Presidents, avidly read Beccaria's book—a product of the Italian Enlightenment that argued against tyranny and the death penalty. Beccaria's book shaped American views on everything from free speech to republicanism, to ''Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,'' to gun ownership and the founders' understanding of ''cruel and unusual punishments,'' the famous phrase in the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment. In opposing torture and infamy, Beccaria inspired America's founders to jettison England's Bloody Code, heavily reliant on executions and corporal punishments, and to adopt the penitentiary system. The cast of characters in The Birth of American Law includes the usual suspects—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and James Madison. But it also includes the now little-remembered Count Luigi Castiglioni, a botanist from Milan who—decades before Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America—toured all thirteen original American states before the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Also figuring in this dramatic story of the American Revolution: Madison's Princeton classmate William Bradford, an early U.S. Attorney General and Beccaria devotee; John Dickinson, the ''Penman of the Revolution'' who wrote of Beccaria's ''genius'' and ''masterly hand''; James Wilson and Dr. Benjamin Rush, signers of the Declaration of Independence and fellow Beccaria admirers; and Philip Mazzei, Jefferson's Italian-American neighbor at Monticello and yet another Beccaria enthusiast. In documenting Beccaria's game-changing influence, The Birth of American Law sheds important new light on the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the creation of American law.

  • Winner, Scribes Book Award, The American Society of Legal Writers
  • First Prize, 2015 American Association for Italian Studies Book Award (18th/19th century category)
  • Gold Winner, 2014 IndieFab Book of the Year Award (History)

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  American Justice 2014: Nine Clashing Visions on the Supreme Court

  Garrett Epps

  In this provocative and insightful book, constitutional scholar and journalist Garrett Epps reviews the key decisions of the 2013-2014 Supreme Court term through the words of the nation's nine most powerful legal authorities. Epps succinctly outlines one opinion or dissent from each of the justices during the recent term, using it to illuminate the political and ideological views that prevail on the Court. The result is a highly readable summary of the term's most controversial cases as well as a probing investigation of the issues and personalities that shape the Court's decisions.

  Accompanied by a concise overview of Supreme Court procedure and brief case summaries, American Justice 2014 is an engaging and instructive read for seasoned Court-watchers as well as legal novices eager for an introduction to the least-understood branch of government. This revealing portrait of a year in legal action dramatizes the ways that the Court has come to reflect and encourage the polarization that increasingly defines American politics.

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  Labor Guide to Labor Law

  Michael Hayes and Bruce S. Feldacker

  Labor Guide to Labor Law is a comprehensive survey of labor law in the private sector, written from the labor perspective for labor relations students and for unions and their members. This thoroughly revised and updated fifth edition covers new statutes, current issues, and the latest developments in labor and employment law.

  The text emphasizes issues of greatest importance to unions and employees. Where the law permits a union to make certain tactical choices, those choices are pointed out. Material is included on internal union matters that tend to be ignored in management texts. Bruce S. Feldacker and Michael J. Hayes cover applicable labor law principles from a union's initial organizing campaign to the mature bargaining relationship, including such subjects as the employee right to engage in protected concerted activity, the duty to bargain, labor arbitration, the use of strikes, picketing and other economic weapons in resolving a labor dispute, the duty of fair representation, internal union regulation, and employment discrimination.

  This book is also a useful reference and review for full-time union officers and representatives who have a working knowledge of labor law but wish to brush up on certain points as needed in their work. Both authors have extensive experience in the construction field, and they have been careful to include material on those aspects of labor law that are unique to that field.

  Labor Guide to Labor Law is structured to present an unbiased and comprehensive explanation of labor law principles for anyone interested in the field. Thus, labor relations educators, as well as practitioners in the field representing labor, management, or individual employees, should also find the text suitable for their use. Each chapter includes a summary, review questions and answers, a restatement of "Basic Legal principles" with citations to key cases, and a bibliography for additional research.

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  Torts: Theory and Practice, Fourth Edition

  Joseph W. Little, Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky, Stephen C. O'Connell, and Robert H. Lande

  The Fourth Edition of Torts: Theory and Practice (formerly Torts: The Civil Law of Reparation for Harm Done by Wrongful Act) brings the text fully up to date in statutory, judicial, and Restatement developments, and includes law and economic analyses and commentary throughout.

  The casebook concentrates on negligence as the primary vehicle for teaching tort law. It provides the historical background for each negligence principle so that students understand how current tort law developed. An introductory chapter presents the primary ideas of negligence law, and subsequent chapters develop the law of negligence in detail, including defenses, comparative fault, damages, and multi-party considerations. The second part of the book covers intentional torts, strict liability, products liability, tortious invasion of property interests, workers' compensation, no-fault automobile reparations, defamation, privacy and constitutional torts.

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  Precedent in the United States Supreme Court

  Christopher J. Peters

  This volume presents a variety of both normative and descriptive perspectives on the use of precedent by the United States Supreme Court. It brings together a diverse group of American legal scholars, some of whom have been influenced by the Segal/Spaeth "attitudinal" model and some of whom have not. The group of contributors includes legal theorists and empiricists, constitutional lawyers and legal generalists, leading authorities and up-and-coming scholars. The book addresses questions such as how the Court establishes durable precedent, how the Court decides to overrule precedent, the effects of precedent on case selection, the scope of constitutional precedent, the influence of concurrences and dissents, and the normative foundations of constitutional precedent. Most of these questions have been addressed by the Court itself only obliquely, if at all. The volume will be valuable to readers both in the United States and abroad, particularly in light of ongoing debates over the role of precedent in civil-law nations and emerging legal systems.

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  Limited Liability Company Handbook, 2014-2015 Edition

  Mark Sargent and Walter D. Schwidetzky

  This handbook, which provides a complete summary and analysis of the "Check-the-Box" rules, offers guidance to the most important new form of business organization to emerge in recent years. It also offers state-by-state coverage of limited liability companies (LLCs), forms for LLC articles and operating agreements, and tax status of LLCs, with texts of the relevant IRS revenue and private letter rulings. Also includes discussion of how LLCs stack up against S and C corporations and partnerships, citations to all available LLC statutes, and coverage of the emergence of the LLC as an alternative entity to the professional corporation.

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  American Epic: Reading the U.S. Constitution

  Garrett Epps

  In 1987, E.L. Doctorow celebrated the Constitution's bicentennial by reading it. "It is five thousand words long but reads like fifty thousand," he said. Distinguished legal scholar Garrett Epps—himself an award-winning novelist—disagrees. It's about 7,500 words. And Doctorow "missed a good deal of high rhetoric, many literary tropes, and even a trace of, if not wit, at least irony," he writes. Americans may venerate the Constitution, "but all too seldom is it read."

  In American Epic, Epps takes us through a complete reading of the Constitution—even the "boring" parts—to achieve an appreciation of its power and a holistic understanding of what it says. In this book he seeks not to provide a definitive interpretation, but to listen to the language and ponder its meaning. He draws on four modes of reading: scriptural, legal, lyric, and epic. The Constitution's first three words, for example, sound spiritual—but Epps finds them to be more aspirational than prayer-like. "Prayers are addressed to someone . . . either an earthly king or a divine lord, and great care is taken to name the addressee. . . . This does the reverse. The speaker is 'the people,' the words addressed to the world at large." He turns the Second Amendment into a poem to illuminate its ambiguity. He notices oddities and omissions. The Constitution lays out rules for presidential appointment of officers, for example, but not removal. Should the Senate approve each firing? Can it withdraw its "advice and consent" and force a resignation? And he challenges himself, as seen in his surprising discussion of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in light of Article 4, which orders states to give "full faith and credit" to the acts of other states.

  Wry, original, and surprising, American Epic is a scholarly and literary tour de force.

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  Ghosts of Jim Crow: Ending Racism in Post-Racial America

  F. Michael Higginbotham

  When America inaugurated its first African American president, in 2009, many wondered if the country had finally become a "post-racial" society. Was this the dawning of a new era, in which America, a nation nearly severed in half by slavery, and whose racial fault lines are arguably among its most enduring traits, would at last move beyond race with the election of Barack Hussein Obama? In Ghosts of Jim Crow, F. Michael Higginbotham convincingly argues that America remains far away from that imagined utopia. Indeed, the shadows of Jim Crow era laws and attitudes continue to perpetuate insidious, systemic prejudice and racism in the 21st century. Higginbotham’s extensive research demonstrates how laws and actions have been used to maintain a racial paradigm of hierarchy and separation—both historically, in the era of lynch mobs and segregation, and today—legally, economically, educationally and socially. Using history as a roadmap, Higginbotham arrives at a provocative solution for ridding the nation of Jim Crow’s ghost, suggesting that legal and political reform can successfully create a post-racial America, but only if it inspires whites and blacks to significantly alter behaviors and attitudes of race-based superiority and victimization. He argues that America will never achieve its full potential unless it truly enters a post-racial era, and believes that time is of the essence as competition increases globally.

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  Maryland Evidence, State & Federal, Third Edition

  Lynn McLain

  Maryland Evidence, State & Federal provides comprehensive research and analysis of both Maryland and federal evidence caselaw, rules, and statutes. The author includes:

  • Discussion of the federal rule on each point
  • An explanation of the many differences between Maryland and federal law
  • Explanatory parentheticals for the cases when mere citations would be insufficiently informative
  • Special emphasis on the Supreme Court, the Fourth Circuit, and the District of Maryland
  • Footnotes referring the reader to relevant secondary sources
  • Tables of statutes and court rules

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  Maryland Rules of Evidence, 2013-2014 Fourth Edition

  Lynn McLain

  An excellent companion to Maryland Evidence, State and Federal, 3d, this Maryland Rules of Evidence volume provides a concise overview of Maryland's evidence rules. You will find detailed discussion of each rule, with cross-references to Maryland Evidence. The book contains three parts:

  • A summary of Title 5 of the Maryland Rules
  • The text of Title 5, with official source notes, committee notes, and author's commentary
  • Comparisons of Federal Rules of Evidence, Maryland Rules, and Uniform Rules of Evidence

  Deletions and additions made by the Maryland Court of Appeals are highlighted, and an alphabetical subject matter index helps facilitate the location of the applicable rules.

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  Maryland Criminal Procedure

  Byron L. Warnken

  Maryland Criminal Procedure is the culmination of 35 years of teaching, writing, and practicing by University of Baltimore School of Law Professor Byron L. Warnken.

  See the Kindle store for the digital edition.

  The three-volume treatise contains more than 10,000 cases, rules and statutes, yet easily breaks down specific topic areas.

  In the foreword, Hon. Charles Moylan says, "For trial and appellate judges, for seasoned prosecutors and defense attorneys, and for those lawyers who are called into the criminal courts only occasionally, it will be a destination for 'one stop shopping' ..."

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  Cruel and Unusual: The American Death Penalty and the Founders' Eighth Amendment

  John Bessler

  The conventional wisdom is that the founders were avid death penalty supporters. In this fascinating and insightful examination of America’s Eighth Amendment, law professor John D. Bessler explodes this myth and shows the founders’ conflicting and ambivalent views on capital punishment. Cruel and Unusual takes the reader back in time to show how the indiscriminate use of executions gave way to a more enlightened approach—one that has been evolving ever since. While shedding important new light on the U.S. Constitution’s “cruel and unusual punishments” clause, Bessler explores the influence of Cesare Beccaria’s essay, On Crimes and Punishments, on the Founders’ views, and the transformative properties of the Fourteenth Amendment, which made the Bill of Rights applicable to the states. After critiquing the U.S. Supreme Court’s existing case law, this essential volume argues that America’s death penalty—a vestige of a bygone era in which ear cropping and other gruesome corporal punishments were thought acceptable—should be declared unconstitutional.

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  Mobilizing the Press: Defending the First Amendment in the Supreme Court

  Eric Easton

  Mobilizing the Press examines the role of the press in constitutional litigation before the United States Supreme Court to shape the First Amendment doctrine that forms the legal environment in which journalists operate. The book shows that the Court has consistently ruled in favor of the press's interpretation of the First Amendment on publishing issues such as prior restraints, libel, and privacy, but has not been persuaded that the First Amendment protects newsgathering, as in reporters' privilege, cameras in courtrooms, and ride-along cases. The book focuses on three important case studies and surveys the evolution of constitutional press law before and between the case studies. It demonstrates how the institutional press has played a significant, if not always decisive, role in that evolution. Eric B. Easton is Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law, where he has taught Communications Law, Legal Writing, and other subjects for 20 years. Before joining the UB faculty, he taught Media Law, Reporting, and Editing at Loyola University-Maryland. He has also taught Comparative Media Law at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and Copyright and Constitutional Law at Shandong University, China, and Comparative Cyberlaw at the University of Curaçao. He has been a visiting scholar at the Journalism Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. Before joining the academy, Professor Easton was a professional journalist for more than 20 years. He currently serves as editor of the scholarly Journal of Media Law & Ethics and as a member of the editorial advisory board of The Daily Record, Maryland's business and legal newspaper. Professor Easton holds a B.S. from the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, a J.D. from the Francis King Carey School of Law, University of Maryland-Baltimore, and a Ph.D. from the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland-College Park. He has authored more than 15 law review articles and delivered a similar number of academic presentations in this country and overseas. He was also the general editor of the second edition of the American Bar Association's Sourcebook on Legal Writing Programs.

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  Wrong and Dangerous: Ten Right-Wing Myths about Our Constitution

  Garrett Epps

  The primary purpose of the United States Constitution is to limit Congress. There is no separation of church and state. The Second Amendment allows citizens to threaten the government. These are just a few of the myths about our constitution peddled by the Far Right—a toxic coalition of Fox News talking heads, radio hosts, angry “patriot” groups, and power-hungry Tea Party politicians. Well-funded, loud, and unscrupulous, they are trying to do to America’s founding document what they have done to global warming and evolution—wipe out the facts and substitute partisan myth. In the process, they seek to cripple the right of We the People to govern ourselves. In Wrong and Dangerous, legal scholar Garrett Epps provides the tools needed to fight back against the flood of constitutional nonsense. In terms every citizen can understand, he tackles ten of the most prevalent myths, providing a clear grasp of the Constitution and the government it established.

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  Partnership Taxation, Third Edition

  Richard Lipton, Paul Carman, Charles Fassler, and Walter D. Schwidetzky

  Partnership Taxation is one of several releases from the LexisNexis Graduate Tax Series. This book contains a thorough discussion of the rules of partnership taxation - when a partnership exists, the tax treatment of contributions to a partnership, the basis of partnership assets and interests in a partnership, how income is allocated to the partners, the tax treatment of distributions, the consequences of partnership liabilities, partnership mergers, the retirement of a partner and dissolution of the partnership. There is also significant attention paid to the numerous "anti-abuse" rules that have been adopted by Congress and the IRS over the past several decades, including the disguised sale rules, the treatment of "mixing-bowl" transactions, the complex rules to prevent basis abuse, and the overriding "partnership anti-abuse regulations" adopted by the IRS. In addition, this book explores one of the fundamental questions that always arises in partnership taxation: Is a partnership to be treated as a separate taxable entity or an aggregate of its partners? The tension between entity and aggregate treatment of a partnership is one of the recurring issues in determining the tax consequences of partnership transactions. In addition to bringing the book up-to-date with the latest tax law changes and expansion of several chapters, the Third Edition contains new chapters on family partnerships, the death of a partner, and S corporations. It provides an extended discussion of allocation methods that do not have substantial economic effect, but are designed to be in accordance with the partners' interests in the partnership; series LLCs and their recently proposed regulations are also discussed in detail. The text is now suitable for both a "basic" partnership tax course (if partnership tax can ever be thought of as basic), as well as an "advanced" partnership tax course. The Teacher's Manual provides suggested syllabi for both courses.

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  Evidence Law Analyzed: Principles, Problems, and Cases Under the Federal and Maryland Rules, Second Edition

  Lynn McLain

  Evidence Law Analyzed (2nd ed.) provides explanations of and problems regarding each area of evidence addressed by the Federal Rules of Evidence, all of which are covered by the Multi-State bar examination. The author gives special emphasis to the determination of hearsay v. nonhearsay, the new analysis of the confrontation clause after Crawford v. Washington, and preservation of the record for appeal. She also highlights differences between the federal rules and the state evidence code found in Title 5 of the Maryland Rules. Flow charts on hearsay and the confrontation clause are included. Problems and questions are designed to test readers' understanding of the evidence rules and the policy decisions underlying them. The author encourages readers to analyze how the evidence rules shape litigation outcomes and whether either the federal or Maryland rules should be revised. The book includes landmark cases, as well as recent case law exemplifying the application of the rules. Evidence issues are best won at trial. So that students may see the rules applied in the context of complete trials, appendices set forth two trial transcripts, one criminal and one civil, to which references are made throughout the text. About the author: Lynn McLain, Professor and Dean Joseph Curtis Faculty Fellow Emerita at the University of Baltimore School of Law, earned her J.D., with distinction, from Duke Law School. She has received several teaching awards at the University of Baltimore, is a life fellow of the Maryland Bar Foundation, and is a frequent lecturer at the Maryland Judicial Institute. Professor McLain is the author of a widely-cited three-volume treatise on the Maryland and Federal Rules of Evidence as well as another book devoted solely to the Maryland Rules of Evidence. She served as a Special Reporter to the Maryland Court of Appeals' Rules Committee during the drafting and adoption of Maryland's code of evidence. Professor McLain has continued as a consultant to the Rules Committee on evidence issues and has been active in evidence law reform efforts in Maryland, particularly regarding witness child abuse and witness intimidation.

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  Endowed by Our Creator: The Birth of Religious Freedom in America

  Michael I. Meyerson

  The debate over the framers’ concept of freedom of religion has become heated and divisive. This scrupulously researched book sets aside the half-truths, omissions, and partisan arguments, and instead focuses on the actual writings and actions of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and others. Legal scholar Michael I. Meyerson investigates how the framers of the Constitution envisioned religious freedom and how they intended it to operate in the new republic.

  Endowed by Our Creator shows that the framers understood that the American government should not acknowledge religion in a way that favors any particular creed or denomination. Nevertheless, the framers believed that religion could instill virtue and help to unify a diverse nation. They created a spiritual public vocabulary, one that could communicate to all—including agnostics and atheists—that they were valued members of the political community. Through their writings and their decisions, the framers affirmed that respect for religious differences is a fundamental American value. Now it is for us, Meyerson concludes, to determine whether religion will be used to alienate and divide or to inspire and unify our religiously diverse nation.

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  Parochialism, Cosmopolitanism, and the Foundations of International Law

  Mortimer N.S. Sellers

  Summary: "This book determines the boundary between parochial and cosmopolitan justice. To what extent should law recognize or support the political, historical, cultural, and economic differences among nations? Ten lawyers and philosophers from five continents consider whether certain states or persons deserve special treatment or exemptions or heightened duties under international law. Parochialism and cosmopolitanism are the two faces of international law, which recognizes our common humanity by protecting us in our differences"-- Provided by publisher.

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  Fundamentals of Estate Planning

  Angela M. Vallario

  Written specifically for those in the state of Maryland (or studying Maryland estate planning), Fundamentals of Estate Planning provides a unique opportunity to bring the practical aspect of estate planning into the classroom. The casebook provides text, relevant Maryland and Federal Statutes, forms and checklists used to interview and draft estate planning documents. Major topics include drafting of wills, testamentary trusts, inter vivos trusts, powers of attorney and advanced medical directives for tax sensitive and non-tax sensitive client scenarios. Additionally the casebook provides an overview of the ancillary issues including Medicaid, guardianship, estate administration, income taxation of trusts and estates, and estate litigation. The book is accompanied by a CD which contains sample forms.

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  Maryland Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions, Second Edition

  Byron L. Warnken

  Prepared by the MSBA Standing Criminal Sub-Committee on Maryland Pattern Jury Instructions, the Second Edition contains more than 180 jury instructions accompanied by comprehensive comments explaining the appropriate constitutional, statutory, court rule and case authority supporting the instruction. The instructions are impartial, accurate statements of the law, understandable by the average juror.

  In addition to instructions on specific criminal offenses, the book includes: introductory and cautionary instructions; general instructions; evidentiary instructions; and instructions as to defenses, parties and verdict sheets.

  The book further serves as an excellent primer on evidence, burden of proof, and the elements of criminal offenses. The book is also made easy to use with a comprehensive table of authorities, table of cases, and index.

  What’s New in the Second Edition?

  The Committee has made major revisions for the Second Edition with substantial changes to nearly 80 percent of the instructions. The notes on use and commentary also include substantial changes. The more than 180 jury instructions include over 11 new instructions as well as over 33 retitled instructions. The Second Edition also includes a CD with all the instructions formatted in rich text format (fully compatible with WordPerfect® or Microsoft Word® format), saving you hours of time! The instructions are up to date, providing an invaluable aid to the busy practitioner!

  What’s New in the 2013 Supplement?

  The NEW 2013 Supplement to the Second Edition adopts 4 revised instructions, 7 brand new instructions, and includes updated, expanded annotations. Of primary importance, revised Instruction 2:02 affects all criminal trials, by adding explicit requirements for jury instructions regarding reasonable doubt in response to the invitation of both the Court of Appeals and the Court of Special Appeals in Carroll v. State, 428 Md. 679, 53 A.3d 1159 (2012), aff'g 202 Md. App. 487, 32 A.3d 1090 (2011). The Committee included other new and revised instructions to clarify current statutory and common law regarding homicide (transferred intent, second degree felony murder), theft (possession of stolen property), trespass (wanton trespass on private property), and narcotics and controlled dangerous substances (possession with intent to distribute CDS, fraudulently obtaining CDS, crimes involving faked CDS, false prescription, use of minor related to CDS, and CDS crime near school). The 2013 Supplement is accompanied by a replacement Instructions Table, Table of Cases, Table of Authorities, and Index, as well as a completely updated Instructions CD, which contains the text of all instructions as of the 2013 Committee revisions.

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  Federal Taxes on Gratuitous Transfers: Law and Planning

  Joseph M. Dodge, Wendy G. Gerzog, and Bridget J. Crawford

  This book deals with the federal income tax as it bears on gratuitous transfers and with the federal wealth transfer taxes. The federal wealth transfer taxes presently consist of a partially unified estate and gift tax and a generation-skipping tax. The federal transfer tax system is separate and apart from the federal income tax.

  Features:

  • Emphasis on text, statutes, and regulations, rather than cases (especially cases that involve routine application of law to facts)
  • "Building block" organization (simple to complex estates), rather than segmented organization according to Code sections.
  • Extensive use of questions and problems to aid students
  • High-profile authorship in Joseph M. Dodge (a highly regarded tax specialist), Wendy C. Gerzog, and Bridget J. Crawford (both well-established in the field)
  • The book reconstitutes the Estate and Gift tax course from the ground up in light of modern estates practice. For example, special valuation rules are treated as basic, as opposed to being just "tacked on" as other books treat them.
  • More emphasis on valuation and use of FLPs than in other books. Valuation is introduced early on and integrated with other material
  • Integration of related income tax materials, including income taxation of estates and trusts
  • Relation of tax doctrine to tax planning strategies
  • Focus on doctrine that influences the practice of estate and trust law, rather than doctrine for its own sake
  • Reference to state law (including recent developments) as it bears on transfer tax issues, with full coverage of issues raised by community property systems

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  Failures of American Civil Justice in International Perspective

  James Maxeiner, Gyooho Lee, and Armin Weber

  American civil justice fails to meet the nation's needs. America's eighteenth century founders expected of the nation's future civil justice system that everyone "ought to obtain right and justice freely, without sale, completely and without denial, promptly and without delay." Few lawyers today would say that American civil justice fulfills the founders' expectations. Some say that it is oppressive and unjust. Many have given up the goals that the founders set. America's reformers have run out of ideas. They have no proven models for fixing what they know is broken. This book provides a comparative critical introduction to civil justice systems in the United States, Germany, and Korea. It shows shortcomings of the American system and compares them with German and Korean successes. The book shows foreign systems as a source of ideas that are proven to work. The book informs general readers as well as specialists.

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  A Matter of Dispute: Morality, Democracy, and Law

  Christopher J. Peters

  Law often purports to require people, including government officials, to act in ways they think are morally wrong or harmful. What is it about law that can justify such a claim? In A Matter of Dispute: Morality, Democracy, and Law, Christopher J. Peters offers an answer to this question, one that illuminates the unique appeal of democratic government, the peculiar structure of adversary adjudication, and the contested legitimacy of constitutional judicial review. Peters contends that law should be viewed primarily as a device for avoiding or resolving disputes, a function that implies certain core properties of authoritative legal procedures. Those properties - competence and impartiality - give democracy its advantage over other forms of government. They also underwrite the adversary nature of common-law adjudication and the duties and constraints of democratic judges. And they ground a defense of constitutionalism and judicial review against persistent objections that those practices are "counter-majoritarian" and thus nondemocratic. This work canvasses fundamental problems within the diverse disciplines of legal philosophy, democratic theory, philosophy of adjudication, and public-law theory and suggests a unified approach to unraveling them. It also addresses practical questions of law and government in a way that should appeal to anyone interested in the complex and often troubled relationship among morality, democracy, and the rule of law. Written for specialists and non-specialists alike, A Matter of Dispute explains why each of us individually, and all of us collectively, have reason to obey the law - why democracy truly is a system of government under law.

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  Principles and Practice of Maryland Administrative Law

  Arnold Rochvarg

  For over a decade, Maryland judges and attorneys have relied upon and cited Professor Arnold Rochvarg's previous books and journal articles to understand and decide Maryland Administrative Law cases. Rochvarg's new book, Principles and Practice of Maryland Administrative Law is the essential source required for all attorneys in Maryland who represent clients at the Office of Administrative Hearings and in cases in the courts involving Administrative Law. The book explains and analyzes all the relevant law necessary to represent clients in the myriad of matters that are governed by principles of Administrative Law. This law and the governing procedures are much different than those followed in civil and criminal court cases. The Appendices set forth the needed primary sources including the new procedural rules of the Office of Administrative Hearings. No lawyer practicing in Maryland can afford to practice in Maryland without having a copy of this book. In addition, because the Maryland central panel approach has been adopted by over half the states and the District of Columbia, this book is a useful tool for lawyers outside of Maryland.

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  Benchbook on Substance Abuse and Addiction for Family Courts

  Barbara A. Babb, Gloria Danziger, and Judith D. Moran

  When an individual comes to family court, the underlying reasons he or she is there may not be readily apparent. Often, substance abuse and addiction are major factors in family court proceedings, inflicting upon families and children the same destructive and debilitating consequences as they do on those involved with the criminal justice system.

  Yet the problem of substance abuse and addiction remains largely unaddressed in the nation’s family courts. Only 24% of judges and masters surveyed in Maryland ask court staff for information on an individual’s use of alcohol and other drugs. Of those surveyed, 88% said that they would benefit from further training on substance abuse and addiction.