The Germans: Who Are They Now?

History

Alan Watson

Europe

Methuen Publishing, Ltd.

Failures of the Legal Imagination

Scottish Academic Press Ltd

As a result of unforeseen and unpredictable events, the German Federal Republic is now the most populous state in Europe, with nearly 79 million people, and the economic potential of a united Germany is awesome. It is for the first time a fully sovereign state and, with the collapse of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe, Germany is now the dominant power in Europe. In this revised and updated edition, Alan Watson explores, from a range of viewpoints - historical, geographical, cultural, economic and political - the question of German identity, and the dilemma it faces with the rise of the extreme Right.

The Germans

Mandarin

An exploration of the nature and role of the recently reunited German state, as the "Single European Market" comes into being. The book ranges from historical, geographical and cultural topics to economic and political issues, and ends with the Germans' own answer.

Roman Slave Law

Ancient Civilizations

The Johns Hopkins University Press

In  The Evolution of Western Private Law, renowned legal scholar Alan Watson presents a comprehensive overview of legal change in the Western world. Watson explains why and how such change occurs in mature systems, in underdeveloped systems, and when legal systems of different levels of sophistication and from different societal roots―such as those of the Romans and of Germanic tribes―come into contact.Originally intended as a second edition of the author's widely acclaimed  The Evolution of Law (1985), this expanded edition has been completely restructured with more than double the number of examples. The result is a work that incorporates all the ideas that Watson has put forward during his twenty-five years studying comparative law and the development of legal systems, combining a remarkable range of sources with superb insight.

Evolution Western Private Law

Johns Hopkins University Press

Jamestown

Americas

Artesian Publishing LLP

The title tells it all; American legal education is shamefully bad. Casebooks are endemic, especially in the first year, teaching by terror. Abridged cases are presented, shorn of context, with little support law. Students are to find legally appropriate responses, without being given the law, but professors are provided gratis with Teachers Manuals, that provide the acceptable answers! Tenure is granted mainly on two law review articles. The acceptable reviews are edited by students who have no expertise, and articles are almost always bloated, with any insight concealed. The articles, though, play almost no part in legal education. Much of importance is omitted from the standard curriculum: sources of law, relationship of law to society, and factors of legal development. Most law professors are plumbers, but they wish to be regarded as philosophers, hence, they are poor plumbers. The longest chapter is devoted to the gross inadequacies of three celebrated professors. The aim, though, is to indicate the profound ignorance of their numerous devoted admirers. The book s aim is reform of American law schools.

The Shame of American Legal Education

Legal Education

Vandeplas Publishing

<p>This book does not deal with conventional comparative law. Rules and structures of one system are not set out against those of another for contrast. Rather, rules particular or general, are examined to explain why they are as they are, and how they came to be. The author does not accept that to a great extent law reflects society or the power of the ruling elite. Chapter one serves as both introduction and conclusions. The conclusions are: 1) Governments and rulers are not much interested in developing law, especially not private law, but leave this to others to whom they do not grant power to make law. 2) Even famous lawmakers are seldom interested in a particular social issue in law or in giving law certainty. 3) Borrowing, even mindless, is the name of the legal game. Chapters range from grand legislation (the Ten Commandments and Napoleon s code civil) to unrecognized law in action and daily life (Jesus and the Samaritan woman, Jesus and the adulteress, the claim that Julius Caesar descended from a slave). Other chapters deal with judges passivity in giving needlessly a judgment they claimed was unjust, to deciding against the judge s own theoretical and practical position (Somerset s Case). Likewise stressed is the difficulty of developing law fit for the society, and of understanding foreign legal thinking. The survival of law in different circumstances for centuries and also in a different place is emphasized. The chapters are separate entities, and the author claims that each must stand on its own merits. But he insists that if each is plausible, then together they present a very different approach to law in society from those habitually offered.</p>

Comparative Law: Law, Reality and Society

Legal History

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Books by Alan Watson