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Law Library Online – U.S. Justice System Books Free

Law Library Online - U.S. Justice System Books Free

Law book library online free. U.S. justice system. Thousands of free online books pdf on 60+ topics. Also Supreme Court, Constitution, etc.


Book Collections on American Law

Business Law Books – Collection

About 900 Business Law books pdf. Some titles: International Business Law and the Legal Environment, Law for Business Students, Businss Law, The Law and Business Administration in Canada, Essentials of Business Law, Business Law and Organizations for Paralegals, Employment Law for Business and Human Resources Professionals, Business and the Government: Law & Taxes.

Criminal Law Books – Collection – Law Library Online

About 800 Criminal Law books pdf. Some books: Criminal Law, Crime and the Legal Process, Defining Crimes: essays on the special part of the criminal law, Criminal Law: text cases and materials, Criminal Law and Society, What’s the Verdict: you’re the judge in 90 tricky courtroom cases, Principles of Criminal Law, The Insanity Defense, California Criminal Law Manual, many more.

Legal Reference Books – Collection

About 300 Legal Reference/Law Profession Books pdf. Some books: U.S. Immigration Made Easy, Using Divorce Mediation, Credit Repair, Guide to Smart Career Choices before during and after Law School, Child Custody Made Simple, Essentials of Environmental Law, European Union Law, How to Collect Your Child Support, Constitutional Law, Federal Rules of Evidence, Guide to Small Claims Court, many more.

Labor Law Books – Collection

About 860 Labor Law books pdf from the Internet Archive. Some books: Employment Law Handbook, Principles of Labor Legislation, California Employment Law, The Employer’s Legal Handbook, Labor Law and Industrial Relations in the USA, Essential Guide to Federal Employment Law, Ontario Employment Law Handbook, The International Labour Organization, Canadian Cases on Employment Law, many more.

Commercial Law Books – Collection – Law Books PDF Free Download

About 830 commercial law books pdf from the Internet Archive. Some books: Business Law Text and Cases, Business Law and the Regulatory Environment, Hong Kong Business Law, Digest of Canadian Mercantile Laws, Business Law for a New Century, Comprehensive Commercial Law, Law for Business, Legal Aspects of Business Administration, Contracting with Companies, College Law for Business, many more.

Corporation Law Books – Collection

About 450 free corporation law books pdf. Some books: The Battle for Corporate Control, Materials on the Planning of Corporate Transactions, Law of Business Organizations, Law for Business, C-Corporations: small business start-up kit, A Guide to the One-Person Corporation, The Corporate Forms Kit, Corporations and other Business Associations, The Canada Business Corporations Act, many more.

U.S. Legal History Books – Collection – Law Books PDF Free Download

About 150 U.S. legal history books pdf at the Internet Archive. Some books: U.S. Homeland Security, Historic U.S. Court Cases: an encyclopedia, History of Public Land Law Development, Becoming a U.S. Citizen, The Disputed Presidential Election of 2000, Everything You Need to Know about Family Court, Capital Punishment, Gun Control, Women Prison and Crime, Divorce in the Old Dominion, many more.

More Collections on Law Topics


Suggested Law Books in the American Justice System

How Free Can the Press Be?

Bezanson, Randall P.
Univ. of Illinois 2003 Dewey Dec. DDC: 342

The First Amendment to the Constitution states that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press, but the definitions of “press,” of “freedom,” and even of “abridgment” have evolved by means of judicial rulings on cases concerning the limits and purposes of press freedoms. Randall P. Bezanson explores the changes in understanding of press freedom in America by discussing in depth nine of the most pivotal and provocative First Amendment cases in U.S. judicial history. These cases were argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, state Supreme Courts, and even a local circuit court. Bezanson addresses the questions, examining the arguments on both sides, and uses these landmark cases as a springboard for a wider discussion of the meaning and limits of press freedom.

See the Menu at the top of every page for Directories of Free Online Fiction and NonFiction Books, Magazines, and more, on 400 pages like this at Century Past

Black’s Law Dictionary

Black, Henry Campbell; Garner, Bryan A., ed.
West 1990 Dewey Dec. DDC: 340

Contains more than 45,000 terms, including archaic terms and references to statutes and cases.

Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age – Law Books PDF Free Download

Boyle, Kevin
Holt 2004 Dewey Dec. DDC: 345

In 1925, Detroit was a smoky swirl of jazz and speakeasies, assembly lines and fistfights. The advent of automobiles had brought workers from around the globe to compete for manufacturing jobs, and tensions often flared with the KKK in ascendance and violence rising. Ossian Sweet, a proud Negro doctor – grandson of a slave – had made the long climb from the ghetto to a home of his own in a previously all-white neighborhood. Yet just after his arrival, a mob gathered outside his house; suddenly, shots rang out: Sweet, or one of his defenders, had accidentally killed one of the whites threatening their lives and homes.
And so it began – a chain of events that brought America’s greatest attorney, Clarence Darrow, into the fray and transformed Sweet into a controversial symbol of equality. Historian Kevin Boyle weaves the police investigation and courtroom drama of Sweet’s murder trial into an unforgettable tapestry of narrative history that documents the volatile America of the 1920s and movingly re-creates the Sweet family’s journey from slavery through the Great Migration to the middle class. Ossian Sweet’s story, so richly and poignantly captured here, is an epic tale of one man trapped by the battles of his era’s changing times. Arc of Justice is the winner of the 2004 National Book Award for Nonfiction.

Justice: Crimes, Trials, and Punishments

Dunne, Dominick
Crown 2001 Dewey Dec. DDC: 345

For more than two decades, Vanity Fair published Dominick Dunne’s brilliant, revelatory chronicles of the most famous crimes, trials, and punishments of our time. The pursuit of justice has become his passion–a passion that began during the trial of the man who murdered Dunne’s daughter, who was sentenced to six and a half years and released in less than three. Dunne’s account of that trial and its shocking result became the first of his many classic essays on justice. Dominick Dunne’s essays do much more than simply describe; his investigations shed new light on those crimes and their perpetrators–and demonstrated how it is possible for some to skirt, even flout, the law. His search for the truth is relentless. His courage and his storytelling skills shine from every page.

Business Law

Emerson, Robert W.
Barron’s Educational 2009

Business Law focuses on the importance of legal theory in the everyday business world, explaining such subjects as tort responsibility, government regulations, contracts, environmental law, product liability, consumer protection, and international law, among many other topics. Also discussed in detail are the legal aspects of partnerships, franchises, and corporations, as well as special topics that include business crimes, property as a legal concept, intellectual property, and similar pertinent topics.

The Legal Analyst: A Toolkit for Thinking about the Law

Farnsworth, Ward
University of Chicago 2008

There are two kinds of knowledge law school teaches: legal rules on the one hand, and tools for thinking about legal problems on the other. Ward Farnsworth brings together in one place all of the most powerful of those tools for thinking about law. Each chapter introduces a single tool and shows how it can be used to solve different types of problems. The explanations are written in clear, lively language and illustrated with a wide range of examples.

Indefensible: One Lawyer’s Journey into the Inferno of American Justice

Feige, David
Little, Brown 2006 Dewey Dec. DDC: 345

Indefensible is public defender David Feige’s hair-raising, dark, and stirring account of a single hot day in the South Bronx – a day informed by crime, punishment, desperation, and hope. Following Feige through the underworld of big-city justice, we meet sly lawyers and batty judges, hapless defendants and crooked cops, lost souls and courageous giant-killers.” “Indefensible reveals the brutal underbelly of a system out of control. Racing from courtroom to courtroom, Feige gives us the most intimate account ever written about what it is really like to be public defender. We meet his fellow attorneys and investigators and follow them as they hunt down clues and frantically try to ensure that justice is done.

Law 101: Everything You Need to Know about the American Legal System – Law Books PDF Free Download

Feinman, Jay M.
Oxford Univ. 2006 Dewey Dec. DDC: 340

Contains various Supreme Court cases through July 2005 and includes material on President’s war powers, intellectual property, state constitutional law, standard for contracts and eminent domain. Featuring anecdotes and references, this edition provides a map of the American legal system.

American Law in the Twentieth Century

Friedman, Lawrence M.
Yale Univ. 2002 Dewey Dec. DDC: 349

The first general history of its kind, American Law in the Twentieth Century describes the explosion of law over the past century into almost every aspect of American life. Since 1900 the center of legal gravity in the United States has shifted from the state to the federal government, with the creation of agencies and programs ranging from Social Security to the Securities Exchange Commission to the Food and Drug Administration. Major demographic changes have spurred legal developments in such areas as family law and immigration law. Dramatic advances in technology have placed new demands on the legal system in fields ranging from automobile regulation to intellectual property.
Throughout the book, Friedman focuses on the social context of American law. Written by one of our most eminent legal historians, this engrossing book chronicles a century of revolutionary change within a legal system that has come to affect us all.

Women’s Rights on Trial

Frost-Knappman, Elizabeth
Gale 1997 Dewey Dec. 346

For a unique look at the history of women’s rights through 101 court cases, dating from colonial times to the present, consult this fascinating reference. The authors explore each trial through a two-part entry. The first presents the major facts of each trial at a glance, including plaintiff, defendant, lawyers and decision. The second sketches the events of the trial, its impact and historical significance of the legal issues involved.

The Salem Witchcraft Trials: A Legal History

Hoffer, Peter C.
Univ. of Kansas 1997 Dewey Dec. DDC: 345

In late 17th-century New England, the eternal battle between God and Satan was brought into the courtroom. Between January 1692 and May 1693 in Salem, Massachusetts, neighbours turned against neighbours and children against parents with accusations of witchcraft, and 19 people were hanged for having made pacts with the devil.
“Hoffer discusses the legal nature of the charges of witchcraft, the evidential and procedural characteristics of the trials of the accused, and the roles and attitudes of the ministers and magistrates who controlled the proceedings.” -Choice.

Roe v. Wade: The Abortion Rights Controversy in American History

Hull, N.E.H.
Univ. of Kansas 2001 Dewey Dec. DDC: 344

The issue of abortion has sharply divided America. The bitter debate over Roe v. Wade – in the courts, legislatures, press and streets – has grown ever more ferocious since the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in 1973. For years pro-choicers have applauded Roe as a guarantee of women’s rights, while pro-lifers have condemned it as the work of an activist and atheistic Court.

National Survey of State Laws

Leiter, Richard A., ed.
Gale Research 1993 Dewey Dec. DDC: 349

This guide aims to help readers make quick, state-by-state comparisons of current state laws – how they differ, and how they are similar – for a range of relevant subjects from abortion to employment discrimination, and election law to interest rates.

Law 101: Fundamentals of the Law, New York and Federal Law – Law Library Online

Martella, Michael H.
Open SUNY 2018

“An attempt to provide basic legal concepts of the law to undergraduates in easily understood plain English. Each chapter covers a different area of the law. Areas of law were selected based on what legal matters undergraduates may typically encounter in their daily lives. The textbook is introductory by nature and not meant as a legal treatise.” -Open Textbook Library Website.

Law School Confidential: A Complete Guide to the Law School Experience

Miller, Robert H.
St. Martin’s 2000

Written for students about to embark on this three year odyssey, by students who have successfully survived law school. Demystifies the life-altering thrill ride that defines an American legal education by providing a comprehensive, blow-by-blow, chronological account of what to expect. Robert Miller has assembled a panel of recent law school graduates all of whom are perfectly positioned to shed light on what law school is like today.

Business Law Today: The Essentials: Text and Summarized Cases

Miller, Roger LeRoy
Cengage Learning 2014

Your concise guide to the law and what it means in the business world – from contracts and secured transactions to warranties and government regulations. Easy to understand with an engaging writing style that is matched by vibrant visuals, BUSINESS LAW TODAY includes coverage of contemporary topics that impact not only the business world, but your life such as identity theft. Fascinating features and intriguing cases highlight the material’s practicality.

Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges

Scalia, Antonin and Garner, Bryan A.
Thomson/West 2008

Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges is a guide for novice and experienced litigators alike. It covers the essentials of sound legal reasoning, including how to develop the syllogism that underlies any argument. From there the authors explain the art of brief writing, especially what to include and what to omit, so that you cn induce the judge to focus closely on your arguments. Finally they show what it takes to succeed in oral argument.

International Business Law and Its Environment

Schaffer, Richard et al
Cengage Learning 2009

Delivers comprehensive coverage of the legal, cultural, political, economic, and ethical issues global business managers face. Focusing on the trade, licensing and investment life-cycle that many domestic (new-to-international) and multinational organizations experience, the authors present the market-entry strategies, increasing levels of penetration into foreign markets, and set of risks that firms encounter during each life-cycle phase.

Native Americans and the Law: A Dictionary – Law Books PDF Free Download

Sokolow, Gary A.
ABC-CLIO 2000

This reference work serves many users: lawyers looking for a summary of Native American legal issues, researchers needing a refresher or a first-stop source, students and teachers interested in an overview of the field, as well as laypersons seeking information and insights into this uniquely American field of jurisprudence.

The Smoking Gun: Day by Day through a Shocking Murder Trial with Gerry Spence: a True Story

Spence, Gerry
Scribner 2003 Dewey Dec. DDC: 345

The prosecutor had a photograph that showed defendant Sandy Jones with a smoking gun in her hands. And the prosecutor had an eyewitness who said she saw Sandy Jones shoot the man the instant the photograph was taken.
But did Sandy Jones actually commit murder?
The Smoking Gun is a true story, a murder mystery that takes you inside the actual trial. Famed defense attorney Gerry Spence invites you behind the scenes, into the judge’s chambers, and into the conversations that formed the strategies for each day of the trial until the truth is revealed: Whose smoking gun really did the killing?
How does the justice system really work? The Smoking Gun is a searing firsthand indictment of the law and the good old boys who wield its power.

Clarence Darrow for the Defense: A Biography

Stone, Irving
New American Library 1971 Dewey Dec. DDC: 340

A biography of the lawyer who devoted himself to unpopular causes and was involved in some of the most famous and important cases of the early twentieth century.

Equal: Women Reshape American Law

Strebeigh, Fred
Norton 2009 Dewey Dec. DDC: 342

The dramatic, untold story of how women battled blatant inequities in America’s legal system.
As late as 1967, men outnumbered women twenty to one in American law schools. With the loss of deferments from Vietnam, reluctant law schools began admitting women to avoid plummeting enrollments. As women entered, the law resisted.
In this landmark book, Fred Strebeigh shows how American law advanced, far and fast. He brings together legal evidence and personal histories to portray the work of concerned women and men to advance legal rights in America. Equal combines interviews with litigators, plaintiffs, and judges, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Catharine MacKinnon, along with research from private archives of attorneys who took cases to the Supreme Court, to narrate battles waged against high odds and pinnacles of legal power.

Great American Lawyers: An Encyclopedia (Vol 1)

Vol 2 – Law Books PDF Free Download

Vile, John R., ed.
ABC-CLIO 2001

In this new two volume encyclopedia, which chronicles the lives and careers of America’s 100 greatest trial lawyers, readers can explore the historic legal careers of extraordinary barristers like Thomas Jefferson, the young Virginia attorney who drafted the Declaration of Independence, and Daniel Webster, staunch defender of the union. Readers will also meet contemporary litigators like Lawrence Tribe, who led the fight against the tobacco industry; Marian Wright Edelman, a leading advocate for children’s rights; Alan Dershowitz, renowned criminal appellate lawyer and public intellectual; and Johnnie Cochran …

Sacco and Vanzetti: The Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind

Watson, Bruce
Viking 2007

When the state of Massachusetts electrocuted Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti on August 23, 1927, it concluded one of the most controversial legal cases in American history. In the eight decades since, debate has raged about the fate of the Italian immigrants said to have been railroaded for the murders of two payroll clerks. Were they innocent? Guilty? Was one guilty and the other innocent? Was justice served, or was justice “crucified”?
In this first full-length narrative of the case in thirty years, Bruce Watson unwinds a tale that opens with anarchist bombs going off in a posh Washington, D.C., neighborhood and concludes with worldwide outrage over the fates of these two men. The true story of one of the nation’s most infamous trials and executions, Sacco and Vanzetti mines deep archives and new sources, unveiling fresh details and fleshing out the two men as naive dreamers and militant revolutionaries. It is the most complete history of a case that still haunts the American imagination.

Though the Heavens May Fall: The Landmark Trial that Led to the End of Human Slavery

Wise, Steven M.
Da Capo 2005

Perhaps no trial changed the course of history as much as one that took place in London in 1772 – the case of James Somerset, a black man rescued from a ship bound for the West Indies slave markets. At this landmark trial, two encompassing worldviews clashed in an event of passionate drama and far-reaching significance. Now the noted legal historian Steven M. Wise recreates each exciting moment of the case that slave owners contended would do nothing less than bring the economy of the British Empire to a crashing halt. In a gripping narrative of Somerset’s trail and the slave trials that led up to it, Wise sets the stage for the extraordinary decision by the notoriously conservative judge, Lord Mansfield. That decision would set in motion the abolition of slavery in both England and the United States.


Book Collections on Consumer Law PDF

NOLO Legal and Business Guidebooks – Collection – Collection – Law Books PDF Free Download

About 1,100 legal and business guide books from the publisher “NOLO”. Some titles: Starting & Building a Nonprofit : A practical guide, Every Landlord’s Guide to Finding Great Tenants, The Executor’s Guide, Bankruptcy, Fiance and Marriage Visas, Making It Legal : A guide to Same-Sex Marriages, Domestic Partnerships & Civil Unions, Nonprofit’s Tax Guide, Becoming a U.S. Citizen, Legal Guide for Lesbian & Gay Couples, How to Get a Green Card, How to Write a Business Plan, and many more.

Consumer Protection Law Books – Collection

About 130 free Consumer Protection Law books pdf. Some books: Consumer Rights Law, Consumer Law in Scotland, The Lemon Law Bible, Guide to Surviving Debt, The Practical Law Manual to Consumer Legal Affairs, The Rights of Utility Consumers, Consumer Rights for Immigrants, The Consumer Reports Law Book, Your Rights as a Consumer, Street Law, Bankruptcy Law, You and the Law, The Encyclopedia of Everyday Law, many more.


Suggested Books on Consumer Law

The American Bar Association Legal Guide for Small Business

American Bar Association
Three Rivers 2000 Dewey Dec. DDC: 346

A handbook encompassing information on every aspect of the law for small-business owners discusses such topics as franchising, partnerships, tax regulations, safety regulations, federal laws, and local zoning laws.

Family Legal Guide

American Bar Association
Times 1994 Dewey Dec. DDC: 346

The American Bar Association Family Legal Guide offers the most comprehensive, useful, and authoritative information available on how the law affects individuals at home, at work, and at play. This practical guide will help consumers steer clear of many legal pitfalls and will guide readers to a better understanding of their rights and responsibilities under the law.

Copyright for Teachers and Librarians

Butler, Rebecca P.
Neal-Schuman 2004 Dewey Dec. DDC: 346

Here is a practical copyright handbook designed to help librarians, media specialists, and teachers stay within the copyright law while making copyrighted print, nonprint, and Web sources available to students and others. Library educator Rebecca Butler, copyright columnist for AASL’s journal Knowledge Quest, explains fair use, public domain, documentation and licenses, permissions, violations and penalties, policies and ethics codes, citation, creation and ownership, how to register copyrights, and gives tips for staying out of trouble. She explains copyright considerations for the Web, television, videos and DVDs, computer software, music, books, magazines, and journals-materials that can create a day-to-day challenge for educators and require this resource’s careful guidance. Considerations for distance education courses and materials are also included. A Q & A section offers an introduction to copyright law, public domain, the legal terms of copyright, when to seek and how to obtain permissions, fair use, and more. This copyright resource is designed to make often bewildering and complicated issues manageable.

Arrested: What to Do When Your Loved One’s in Jail – Law Library Online

Denham, Wes
Chicago Review 2010 Dewey Dec. 362.8

Whether a defendant is charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct or first-degree murder, this is an indispensable guide for those who want to support family members, partners, or friends facing criminal charges. Draining away the confusion by explaining legal proceedings and jail procedures, it identifies common bond scams and lawyer rip-offs and helps organize inmates to assist in their legal defense. In addition to the most common legal motions, challenges, and investigations, this resource also provides additional coverage on how to avoid fights, sex, gambling, and scams that can result in injury while in jail and cause additional criminal charges to be filed. Detailed budgeting forms to calculate the true, multiyear costs of legal defense–all the way through the years of probation, parole, and reentry into society–are also included.

Every Employee’s Guide to the Law

Joel, Lewin G.
Pantheon 2001 Dewey Dec. DDC: 344

Whether you work in an office, a factory, a small business, or at home, Every Employee’s Guide to the Law covers the issues you may have to deal with, such as the interview: what questions you can and can’t be asked; discrimination: up-to-the-minute revisions to laws dealing with race, sex, handicap, age, national origin, and religion; sexual harassment: how to define it and how to document it; your right to privacy: how electronic mail has led to the creation of new privacy legislation; minimum wage: the latest changes; worker’s compensation: what you are entitled to in cases of work-related injury; and discipline and dismissal: what to do if you are suspended, laid off, or fired. Comprehensive and easy to read, Every Employee’s Guide to the Law takes you through each step of the employment process, explaining everything you need to know about your rights as an employee.

See our Economics Books PDF

Know your Legal Rights: protect yourself from common legal problems that can really cost you

Kiplinger Washington Editors
Dearborn Trade 2005 Dewey Dec. DDC: 340

From auto insurance to zoning regulations, “Know Your Legal Rights guides readers over hundreds of common legal hurdles.This ready reference is written in understandable language, not legal jargon. It will help readers recognize when they have a legal problem and decide if and how they can resolve it on their own.If they can’t, this book shows them how to find qualified legal counsel. Know Your Legal Rights also explores the legal aspects of truly personal subjects, such as marriage and divorce, parental obligations, live-in rights, medical dilemmas and estate planning. It includes helpful resource information, including lists of advocacy groups, trade and professional associations, and federal and legal agencies where you can turn for further help.

Your Rights as a Consumer: legal tips for savvy purchases of goods, services, and credit

Lieberman, Marc R.
Chelsea House 1997 Dewey Dec. DDC: 344

Provides generalized information about the rights and obligations of consumers, discussing the laws that apply to dealings with merchants and contractors, auctions, consumer fraud, warranties, consumer credit, debt collection, and filing complaints.

Handbook of Everyday Law

Ross, Martin J. and Ross, Jeffrey S.
Ballantine 1982 Dewey Dec. DDC: 340

Practical guidance on aspects of law that touch your daily life – taxes, real estate, consumer protection, women’s rights, contracts, wills, social security, trusts and Medicare, etc.

Seniors’ Rights: your legal guide to living life to the fullest

Sember, Brette M.
Sphinx 2004 Dewey Dec. DDC: 340

Finances — Health insurance — Health care — Lifestyle — Housing — Safety — Family issues — Planning for the future — Loss of a spouse — Discrimination and disabilities — Veterans’ rights — Legal assistance.


Book Collections on the U.S. Constitution

U.S. Constitutional Law Books – Collection

About 570 U.S. Constitutional Law books pdf. Be patient as the page loads. Some books: The Articles of Confederation, Alternative Perspectives on the Constitution, FDR v. The Constitution, Ratifying the Constitution, People’s Guide to the U.S. Constitution, The Debate on the Constitution, Liberty Property and the Foundations of the American Constitution, The Separation of Church and State, The Roberts Court: the struggle for the Constitution, many more.

Constitutional History Books – Collection – Law Books PDF Free Download

About 400 U.S. Constitutional history books pdf. Some books: Amending the Constitution by National Convention, Miracle at Philadelphia, Constitutionalism and the History of the South, Supreme Court Watch, How Capitalistic is the Constitution?, English Constitutional History, James Madison and the Founding, Essays on the Formation of the Constitution, America’s Constitution: a biography, many more.


Suggested Books on the U.S. Constitution

The Debate on the Constitution: Federalist and Antifederalist Speeches, Articles, and Letters during the Struggle over Ratification, Vol 1

– Volume 2

Bailyn, Bernard, ed.
Library of America 1993

Here, on a scale unmatched by any previous collection, is the extraordinary energy and eloquence of our first national political campaign: During the secret proceedings of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the framers created a fundamentally new national plan to replace the Articles of Confederation and then submitted it to conventions in each state for ratification. Immediately, a fierce storm of argument broke. Federalist supporters, Antifederalist opponents, and seekers of a middle ground strove to balance public order and personal liberty as they praised, condemned, challenged, and analyzed the new Constitution Gathering hundreds of original texts by Franklin, Madison, Jefferson, Washington, and Patrick Henry—as well as many others less well known today—this unrivaled collection allows readers to experience firsthand the intense year-long struggle that created what remains the world’s oldest working national charter.

A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution

Berkin, Carol
Harcourt 2003

Though the American Revolution is widely recognized as our nation’s founding story, the years immediately following the war — when our government was a disaster and the country was in a terrible crisis — were in fact the most crucial in establishing the country’s independence. The group of men who traveled to Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 had no idea what kind of history their meeting would make. But all their ideas, arguments, and compromises — from the creation of the Constitution itself, article by article, to the insistence that it remain a living, evolving document — laid the foundation for a government that has surpassed the founders’ greatest hopes. Revisiting all the original historical documents of the period and drawing from her deep knowledge of eighteenth-century politics, Carol Berkin opens up the hearts and minds of America’s founders, revealing the issues they faced, the times they lived in, and their humble expectations of success.

Active Liberty: Interpreting our Democratic Constitution

Breyer, Stephen G.
Vintage 2006

This book, based on the Tanner lectures on Human Values that Justice Stephen Breyer delivered at Harvard University in November 2004, defines the term ‘active liberty’ as a sharing of the nation’s sovereign authority with its citizens. Regarding the Constitution as a guide for the application of basic American principles to a living and changing society rather than as an arsenal of rigid legal means for binding and restricting it, Justice Breyer argues that the genius of the Constitution rests not in any static meaning it might have had in a world that is dead and gone, but in the adaptability of its great principles to cope with current problems.
He argues convincingly that although Congress is not perfect, it has done a better job than either the executive or judicial branches at balancing the conflicting views of citizens across the nation, especially during times of national crisis. With a fine appreciation for complexity, Breyer reminds all Americans that Congress, rather than the courts, is the place to resolve policy disputes.

High Crimes and Misdemeanors: the Impeachment Process – Law Books PDF Free Download

Fernandez, Justin and Sarat, Austin
Chelsea House 2001

Looks at the Clinton impeachment in “a historical context that includes the Founding Fathers’ discussions about impeachment and a lengthy overview of the British origins for the term “high crimes and misdemeanors.” – Booklist.

The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation

Hennessey, Jonathan
Hill and Wang 2009 Dewey Dec. DDC: 342

The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation uses the art of illustrated storytelling to breathe life into our nation’s cornerstone principles. Simply put, it is the most enjoyable and groundbreaking way to read the governing document of the United States. Spirited and visually witty, it roves article by article, amendment by amendment, to get at the meaning, background, and enduring relevance of the law of the land.

The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions

Hall, Kermit
Oxford Univ. 1999 Dewey Dec. DDC: 342

Whether a controversy is political, economic, or social, whether it focuses on child labor, slavery, prayer in public schools, war powers, busing, abortion, business monopolies, or capital punishment, eventually the battle is taken to court. And the ultimate venue for these vital struggles is the Supreme Court. Indeed, the Supreme Court is a prism through which the entire life of our nation is magnified and illuminated, and through which we have defined ourselves as a people. Now, in The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States, readers have a rich source of information about one of the central institutions of American life. Everything one would want to know about the Supreme Court is here, in more than a thousand alphabetically arranged entries.

The Federalist Papers

Hamilton, Alexander, Madison, James and Jay, John
NY: Bantam 1982

Considered to be perhaps the most significant America contribution to political thought, The Federalist Papers first appeared in New York newspapers in 1787 under the collective pseudonym of ‘Publius’. The aim of the 85 essays was to support the ratification of America’s new Constitution and they consisted of 175,000 words. US

Liberty’s Blueprint: How Madison and Hamilton Wrote the Federalist papers, Defined the Constitution, and Made Democracy Safe for the World

Meyerson, Michael
Basic 2008 Dewey Dec. DDC: 342

Aside from the Constitution itself, there is no more important document in American politics and law than the Federalist Papers—the series of pamphlets written by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison to explain the meaning of the proposed Constitution to the American people and persuade them of its importance. These papers provide a window into the framers’ thoughts on the most divisive issues of American government—the powers of the President, the dividing line between Congress’s authority and that of the states, the role of the Supreme Court, and the importance of the Bill of Rights. Liberty’s Blueprint offers an essential introduction to how the Federalist Papers were written, the philosophical thinking that shaped the Constitution, how the framers meant the various clauses to be understood, and why they are still vitally important today.

The Constitution of the United States with the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation

United States
Barnes & Noble 2002 Dewey Dec. DDC: 342

Included in this volume are the complete texts of the Constitution of the United States of America and its amendments; the Declaration of Independence; and the Articles of Confederation. The book also includes an insightful introduction by R.B. Bernstein, a chronology of important dates, and an index to the Constitution.

Encyclopedia of Constitutional Amendments, Proposed Amendments, and Amending Issues, 1789-1995 – Law Books PDF Free Download

Vile, John R.
ABC-CLIO 1996 Dewey Dec. DDC: 342

Focuses on describing the 27 amendments that have been proposed and ratified and the hundreds of other topics that have been proposed as subjects of amendments. Over 400 alphabetically arranged entries explore everything from affirmative action, balancing the budget, and the Contract with America to victims’ rights and world government. Constitutional reforms introduced outside of Congress (including more than 50 proposals to rewrite the Constitution) are addressed, in addition to pivotal Supreme Court decisions. Essential amending issues that remain unresolved, ranging from abortion to term limits, and critical elections are among the entries rounding out this work. Entries have been extensively cross-referenced.

Rewriting the United States Constitution: An Examination of Proposals from Reconstruction to the Present

Vile, John R.
Praeger 1991 Dewey Dec. 342

Since the Reconstruction period, there have been over forty proposals to rewrite the U.S. Constitution. John Vile’s unique historical study analyzes all of these proposals within the framework of the constitutional amending process. In each case Vile examines the substance of the proposal, its goals and methods, the response to the proposal, and its overall influence. The study illuminates issues of constitutional change, stressing the importance of understanding alternative forms of government and the basis for their support. Proposals for change are critiques which help to identify strengths and weaknesses in the current system. In addition, examinations of past proposals reveal how people view the Constitution during crises.


Book Collection on the US Supreme Court

U.S. Supreme Court Books – Collection

About 1,100 free United States Supreme Court books. Be patient as the page loads. Some books: The Supreme Court in Richard Nixon’s America, The Supreme Court in American Life, History of the Supreme Court of the U.S., The Great Reversals: tales of the Supreme Court, The Supreme Court in Crisis: a history of conflict, The Warren Court & it’s Critics, The Court vs The People, The Supreme Court: America’s Judicial Heritage, many more.


Suggested Books on the US Supreme Court

The Will of the People: How Public Opinion has Influenced the Supreme Court and Shaped the Meaning of the Constitution

Friedman, Barry
Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2009 Dewey Dec. DDC: 347

For all their power, the justices of the Supreme Court never face election and hold their offices for life. This combination of influence and apparent unaccountability has led many to complain that there is something illegitimate — even undemocratic — about judicial authority.
In The Will of the People, Barry Friedman challenges that claim by showing that the Court has always been subject to a higher power: the American public. Judicial positions have been abolished, the justices’ jurisdiction has been stripped, the Court has been packed, and unpopular decisions have been defied. For at least the past sixty years, the justices have made sure that their decisions do not stray too far from public opinion.
Friedman’s pathbreaking account of the relationship between popular opinion and the Supreme Court—from the Declaration of Independence to the end of the Rehnquist court in 2005—details how the American people came to accept their most controversial institution and shaped the meaning of the Constitution.

The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions – Law Books PDF Free Download

Hall, Kermit, ed.
Oxford Univ. 1999 Dewey Dec. DDC: 347

Whether a controversy is political, economic, or social, whether it focuses on child labor, slavery, prayer in public schools, war powers, busing, abortion, business monopolies, or capital punishment, eventually the battle is taken to court. And the ultimate venue for these vital struggles is the Supreme Court. Indeed, the Supreme Court is a prism through which the entire life of our nation is magnified and illuminated, and through which we have defined ourselves as a people.
Now, in The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States, readers have a rich source of information about one of the central institutions of American life. Everything one would want to know about the Supreme Court is here, in more than a thousand alphabetically arranged entries.

Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary

Hall, Timothy L.
Facts on File 2001 Dewey Dec. DDC: 347

This reference guide for high school and college students provides basic biographical information on all 108 people who have served on the United States Supreme Court. It describes the decisions for which each justice is known and analyzes his or her influence on the Court and on the law. An introductory essay discusses the creation of the Supreme Court and its place in American history. Appendixes cover the succession of judges, appointments to the Supreme Court by each president, and important cases.

Narrowing the Nation’s power: The Supreme Court Sides with the States

Noonan, John T. Jr.
Univ. of California 2002 Dewey Dec. DDC: 342

Narrowing the Nation’s Power is the tale of how a cohesive majority of the Supreme Court has, in the last six years, cut back the power of Congress and enhanced the autonomy of the fifty states. The immunity from suit of the sovereign, Blackstone taught, is necessary to preserve the people’s idea that the sovereign is “a superior being.” Promoting the common law doctrine of sovereign immunity to constitutional status, the current Supreme Court has used it to shield the states from damages for age discrimination, disability discrimination, and the violation of patents, trademarks, copyrights, and fair labor standards. Not just the states themselves, but every state-sponsored entity–a state insurance scheme, a state university’s research lab, the Idaho Potato Commission—has been insulated from paying damages in tort or contract.

Storm Center: The Supreme Court in American Politics

O’Brien, David M.
Norton 2008 Dewey Dec. DDC: 347

David O’Brien shows how the Supreme Court is a “storm center” of political controversy where personality, politics, law, and justice converge. This thoroughly updated Eighth Edition of Storm Center continues to chart historic steps taken by the Court, and features an in-depth discussion of the Court’s continuing turn to the right and the first term of Chief Justice John Roberts.

Roe v. Wade and the Fight over Life and Liberty

Tompkins, Nancy
Franklin Watts 1996 Dewey Dec. 344

In Roe v. Wade (1973), the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy but allowed states to impose restrictions in the second trimester to protect the health of the mother and in the third trimester to protect the life of the fetus. This book provides an engaging narrative of this important case, its personalities, and the social issues it embraces. It also examines the effects of the Court’s decision on the individuals involved and on American society.


Book Collections on International Law and Organizations

International Law Books – Collection – Law Books PDF Free Download

About 1,400 International Law books pdf. Be patient as the page loads. Some books: Handbook of International Law, International Law: selected documents, Careers in International Law, International Environmental Law, Greening International Law, International Trade Law Handbook, International Terrorism and International Law, Nuclear Weapons and International Law, International Criminal Law, International Sports Law, many more.

International Agencies Books – Collection – Law Books PDF Free Download

About 50 International agencies books at the Internet Archive. Some books: International Organizations, International Organizations: principles and issues, International Organizations: perspectives on governance in the 21st century, Yearbook of International Organizations, International Organizations and Ethnic Conflict, Directory of International Economic Organizations, International Organizations and the Global Political System, many more.

United Nations Books – Collection

1,400 United Nations books pdf from the Internet Archive. Some books: United Nations Handbook, United Nations at a glance, The UN and the Superpowers: China Russia & America, The UN: success & failure, Pictorial History of the United Nations, UN: the first 25 years, The New Interventionism 1991-1994, Charter of the United Nations, Partners: UN & Youth, U.S. Policy and the Future of the UN, many more.


Suggested Books on International Law and Organizations

An Insider’s Guide to the UN

Fasulo, Linda M.
Yale Univ. 2003 Dewey Dec. DDC: 341

The United Nations increasingly finds itself at the centre of world events in an age of rapid globalization. It is therefore imperative that we understand its structure and functions. In this volume, news correspondent Lina Fasulo at the UN provides an introduction to its activities and goals. individuals who have been active in the UN, including US ambassadors Richard Holbrooke, Madeleine Albright and John Negroponte. She explains how the UN came into existence, what governing principles guide its operation and what it is like to be a participant. She describes the organization, responsibilities and often tense politics of the Security Council. Surveying the many humanitarian, crime-fighting and peacekeeping programmes of the UN, Fasulo concludes that there are important reasons for Americans to give the United Nations their support.

International Organizations: A Comparative Approach to the Management of Cooperation

Jordan, Robert S.
Praeger 2001 Dewey Dec. 341.7

This edition of a classic text appraises the emerging challenges to the centrality of the nation-state international system, such as humanitarianism, environmentalism, new international legal standards, and concepts such as civil society and globalism. As inter-governmental and international non-governmental activities are increasingly being blended, for example in the area of peace-keeping, this poses a challenge to the sanctity of the territorial state as the primary political unit. Similarly, technological and social changes such as the emergence of the Internet, encourages borderless activities (both legal and illegal) by non-state actors.
While the book as a whole is built around the unifying theme of the management of cooperation, illustrative cases enhance the individual chapters and provide the basis for comparative analysis and discussion. These take the reader through the tangled webs of international cooperation in such areas as the European Union, NATO, humanitarian intervention, arms control, transnational criminal organizations, and global environmental issues.

The United Nations in the 21st Century

Mingst, Karen A. and Karns, Margaret P.
Westview 2007 Dewey Dec. DDC: 341

The United Nations in the 21st Century provides a comprehensive yet accessible introduction to the United Nations, exploring the historical, institutional, and theoretical foundations of the UN. This popular text for courses on international organizations and international relations also discusses the political complexities facing the organization today.

The World Trade Organization: A Very Short Introduction – Law Books PDF Free Download

Narlikar, Amrita
Oxford University 2005

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is scarcely ten years old, but even in these early years of its existence it has generated debate, controversy and even outrage. Rulings on beef hormones and tuna-dolphin cases provide graphic examples of how the organization regulates and intrudes into areas of individual consumer choice, ethical preferences, and cultural habits. This deep and far-ranging impact of the WTO on peoples’ everyday lives means that it is not just an institution of interest to economists, but to everyone … This VSI will provide a timely and carefully considered explanation of what the WTO is, what it does, and how it goes about executing its tasks.

Selected Articles on World Peace; including International Arbitration and Disarmament

Reely, Mary Katharine, comp.
H. W. Wilson 1914 Dewey Dec. DDC: 341.7

In the first decades of the 20th century publisher H.W. Wilson produced many volumes in its Debaters’ Handbook Series on social and political issues that were under discussion at the time. Each book contains the full text of selected articles and documents representing opposing views on the issue, along with a substantial bibliography of books and articles.

Most of the books mentioned in these guides are likely to be freely available online. Search by title; first at the Internet Archive (archive.org), then at HathiTrust.org.

United Nations, Divided World: The UN’s Roles in International Relations

Roberts, Adam and Kingsbury, Benedict
Oxford Univ. 1993 Dewey Dec. DDC: 341

This book, highly praised as an authoritative assessment of the United Nations and its place in international relations, brings together distinguished academics and senior UN officials in a clear and penetrating examination of how the UN has developed since 1945. It examines the UN’s various roles in addressing long-standing and difficult problems in the relations of states in such fields as international security, human rights, international law, and economic development. This edition takes into account a wide range of developments in a world which remains very much divided: the rapid expansion of UN peacekeeping and election-monitoring activities; the consequences of the collapse of communist rule in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union; the 1990-1 Gulf conflict and its aftermath; attempts at settlement of many regional conflicts; UN involvements in fractured societies, including Cambodia, Somalia, and former Yugoslavia; and the increased focus on the political and resource limits of the UN’s capabilities.

International Instruments of the United Nations

Sarnoff, Irving, comp.
United Nations 1997 Dewey Dec. DDC: 341

A compilation of agreements, charters, conventions, declarations, principles, proclamations, protocols, treaties, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, 1945-1995.

Everyone’s United Nations – Law Books PDF Free Download

United Nations. Dept of Public Information
1986 Dewey Dec. DDC: 341

Covers all 40 years of the Organization’s existence, focusing especially on the period 1978 to 1985.

The Law of Nations, or, Principles of the Law of Nature

Applied to the conduct and affairs of nations and sovereigns

Vattel, Emer de
Philadelphia: Johnson 1853 Dewey Dec. DDC: 341

Chapters on the Principles of International Law

Westlake, John
Cambridge: Cambridge University 1894 Dewey Dec. DDC: 341

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