The Origins of Adversary Criminal Trial (Oxford Studies in Modern Legal History)

The adversary system of trial, the defining feature of the Anglo-American legal procedure, developed late in English legal history. For centuries defendants were forbidden to have legal counsel, and lawyers seldom appeared for the prosecution either. Trial was meant to be an occasion for the defendant to answer the charges in person. The transformation from lawyer-free to lawyer-dominated criminal trial happened within the space of about a century, from the 1690's to the 1780's. This book explains how the lawyers captured the trial. In addition to conventional legal sources, Professor Langbein draws upon a rich vein of contemporary pamphlet accounts about trials in London's Old Bailey. The book also mines these novel sources to provide the first detailed account of the formation of the law of criminal evidence. Responding to menacing prosecutorial initiatives (including reward-seeking thief takers and crown witnesses induced to testify in order to save their own necks) the judges of the 1730's decided to allow the defendant to have counsel to cross-examine accusing witnesses. By restricting counsel to the work of examining and cross-examining witnesses, the judges intended that the accused would still need to respond in person to the charges against him. Professor Langbein shows how counsel manipulated the dynamics of adversary procedure to defeat the judges design, ultimately silencing the accused and transforming the very purpose of the criminal trial. Trial ceased to be an opportunity for the accused to speak, and instead became an occasion for defense counsel to test the prosecution case.

Langbein, John H.

History

Oxford University Press

The lawyer-dominated adversary system of criminal trial, which now typifies practice in Anglo-American legal systems, developed in England in the eighteenth century. Using hitherto unexplored sources from London's Old Bailey Court, Professor Langbein shows how and why lawyers were able to capture the trial, and he supplies a path-breaking account of the formation of the law of criminal evidence.

Foreign & International Law

Challenging the accounts of John Henry Wigmore and Leonard W. Levy, this history of the privilege against self-incrimination demonstrates that what has sometimes been taken to be an unchanging tenet of our legal system has actually encompassed many different legal consequences in a history that reaches back to the Middle Ages. Each chapter of this definitive study uncovers what the privilege meant in practice. The authors trace the privilege from its origins in the medieval period to its first appearance in English common law, and from its translation to the American colonies to its development into an effective protection for criminal defendants in the nineteenth century. The authors show that the modern privilege—the right to remain silent—is far from being a basic civil liberty. Rather, it has evolved through halting and controversial steps. The book also questions how well an expansive notion of the privilege accords with commonly accepted principles of morality. This book constitutes a major revision of our understanding of an important aspect of both criminal and constitutional law.

The Privilege against Self-Incrimination: Its Origins and Development

Gray, Charles M.

Helmholz, R.H.

Moglen, Eben

Legal History

University of Chicago Press

In Torture and the Law of Proof John H. Langbein explores the world of the thumbscrew and the rack, engines of torture authorized for investigating crime in European legal systems from medieval times until well into the eighteenth century. Drawing on juristic literature and legal records, Langbein's book, first published in 1977, remains the definitive account of how European legal systems became dependent on the use of torture in their routine criminal procedures, and how they eventually worked themselves free of it.The book has recently taken on an eerie relevance as a consequence of controversial American and British interrogation practices in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. In a new introduction, Langbein contrasts the "new" law of torture with the older European law and offers some pointed lessons about the difficulty of reconciling coercion with accurate investigation. Embellished with fascinating illustrations of torture devices taken from an eighteenth-century criminal code, this crisply written account will engage all those interested in torture's remarkable grip on European legal history.

Torture and the Law of Proof: Europe and England in the Ancien Régime

Europe

In Torture and the Law of Proof John H. Langbein explores the world of the thumbscrew and the rack, engines of torture authorized for investigating crime in European legal systems from medieval times until well into the eighteenth century. Drawing on juristic literature and legal records, Langbein's book, first published in 1977, remains the definitive account of how European legal systems became dependent on the use of torture in their routine criminal procedures, and how they eventually worked themselves free of it. The book has recently taken on an eerie relevance as a consequence of controversial American and British interrogation practices in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. In a new introduction, Langbein contrasts the "new" law of torture with the older European law and offers some pointed lessons about the difficulty of reconciling coercion with accurate investigation. Embellished with fascinating illustrations of torture devices taken from an eighteenth-century criminal code, this crisply written account will engage all those interested in torture's remarkable grip on European legal history.

Pages were at one point bent. In good condition.

Comparative Criminal Procedure: Germany

Reference

West Group

Our present system of criminal prosecution originated in England in the sixteenth century. Langbein traces its development, which was at its most intense during the reign of Queen Mary. He shows how the common law developed a system of official investigation and prosecution that incorporated the medieval institution of the jury trial. He places equal emphasis on the role of the justices of the peace as public prosecutors. The second half of the book compares the English system with those of the Holy Roman Empire (Germany) and France. He concludes by refuting the popular opinion that the English were strongly indebted to continental models. This is an excellent work of scholarship, exhibiting wide research, erudition and analytical ability. --Joseph H. Smith, Harvard Law Review 88 (1974-1975) 485 JOHN LANGBEIN is Sterling Professor of Law and Legal History at Yale Law School. He has held academic positions at Stanford University, Oxford University, the Max-Planck-Institut fur Europaische Rechtsgeschichte and the Max-Planck-Institut fur Auslandisches und Internationales Strafrecht. Langbein is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the International Academy of Comparative Law, the International Association of Procedure Law, and other organizations in the fields of legal history and comparative law. Some of his most distinguished publications and articles include History of the Common Law: The Development of Anglo-American Legal Institutions (2009), Torture and the Law of Proof: Europe and England in the Ancient Regime (1977), and The Supreme Court Flunks Trusts, Supreme Court Review (1991).

Prosecuting Crime in the Renaissance: England, Germany, France (Studies in Legal History, 3)

Harvard University Press

Our present system of criminal prosecution originated in England in the sixteenth century. Langbein traces its development, which was at its most intense during the reign of Queen Mary. He shows how the common law developed a system of official investigation and prosecution that incorporated the medieval institution of the jury trial. He places equal emphasis on the role of the justices of the peace as public prosecutors. The second half of the book compares the English system with those of the Holy Roman Empire (Germany) and France. He concludes by refuting the popular opinion that the English were strongly indebted to continental models.

Prosecuting Crime in the Renaissance: England, Germany, France (Studies in legal history)

This introductory text explores the historical origins of the main legal institutions that came to characterize the Anglo-American legal tradition, and to distinguish it from European legal systems. The book contains both text and extracts from historical sources and literature. The book is published in color, and contains over 250 illustrations, many in color, including medieval illuminated manuscripts, paintings, books and manuscripts, caricatures, and photographs. Two great themes dominate the book: (1) the origins, development, and pervasive influence of the jury system and judge/jury relations across eight centuries of Anglo-American civil and criminal justice; and (2) the law/equity division, from the emergence of the Court of Chancery in the fourteenth century down through equity's conquest of common law in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The chapters on criminal justice explore the history of pretrial investigation, policing, trial, and sentencing, as well as the movement in modern times to nonjury resolution through plea bargaining. Considerable attention is devoted to distinctively American developments, such as the elective bench, and the influence of race relations on the law of criminal procedure. Other major subjects of this book include the development of the legal profession, from the serjeants, barristers, and attorneys of medieval times down to the transnational megafirms of twenty-first century practice; the literature of the law, especially law reports and treatises, from the Year Books and Bracton down to the American state reports and today's electronic services; and legal education, from the founding of the Inns of Court to the emergence and growth of university law schools in the United States. History of the Common Law offers: <ul>
<li> dynamic teaching materials that include primary sources, scholarship, summaries, notes, and questions </li> <li> judiciously selected and edited sources </li> <li> over 250 illustrations—many in full color </li> <li> Living Law units that connect legal-historical developments to modern law </li> <li> an illustrated timeline that highlights key dates </li> <li> a comprehensive Teacher's Manual, with suggestions for using the book in a two- or three-credit course </li> </ul>
 Vivid writing, engaging source materials, and lavish illustrations breathe life into nearly 1,000 years of Anglo-American legal history. Concise summaries, manageable extracts, clear organization, and a detailed Teacher's Manual consistently support your teaching. *Teacher’s Manuals are a professional courtesy offered to professors only. For more information or to request a copy, please contact Aspen Publishers at 800-950-5259 or legaledu@wolterskluwer.com.

History of the Common Law: The Development of Anglo-American Legal Institutions (Aspen Casebook)

Lerner, Renée Lettow

Smith, Bruce P.

Aspen Publishers

Book by Langbein, John H., Wolk, Bruce A.

Pension and Employee Benefit Law (University Casebook Series)

Wolk, Bruce A.

Rules & Procedures

Foundation Pr

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Langbein, John H.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Langbein, John H.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Langbein, John H.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Origins of Adversary Criminal Trial (Oxford Studies in Modern Legal History)

The Origins of Adversary Criminal Trial (Oxford Studies in Modern Legal History)

The Privilege against Self-Incrimination: Its Origins and Development

Torture and the Law of Proof: Europe and England in the Ancien Régime

Torture and the Law of Proof: Europe and England in the Ancien Régime

Comparative Criminal Procedure: Germany

Prosecuting Crime in the Renaissance: England, Germany, France (Studies in Legal History, 3)

Prosecuting Crime in the Renaissance: England, Germany, France (Studies in legal history)

History of the Common Law: The Development of Anglo-American Legal Institutions (Aspen Casebook)

Pension and Employee Benefit Law (University Casebook Series)