In an extraordinary history of the criminal trial, Sadakat Kadri traces the development of criminal justice from the marbled courtrooms of Athens, past the torture chambers of the Inquisition to the judicial theatres of seventeenth-century Salem, from 1930s Moscow and post-war Nuemberg to the virtual courtooms of modern Hollywood. For as long as accuser and accused have faced each other in public, criminal trials have been establishing more than who did what to whom, and in this fascinating book Sadakat Kadri, a practicing barrister, surveys over four thousand years of courtroom drama. Encyclopaedic and entertaining, comprehensive and colourful, The Trial addresses many profound themes with verve and wit. Who has the right to judge, and why? What did past civilisations hope to achieve through scapegoats and sacrifices - and to what extent are defendants still made to bear the sins of society at large? In the book, Kadri journeys from the silence of ancient Egypt's Hall of the Dead to the clamour of twenty-first century Hollywood to show how emotions and fears have inspired western notions of justice - and the extent to which they still riddle its trials today. He explains, for example, how juries emerged in medieval England as a variation on trials by fire and water, a divinely supervised validation of vengeance, and how delusions precisely identical to those that sent witches to the stake revived as Satanic child abuse accusations during the 1980s. Although Justice's sword has always been double-edged - as ready to destroy a community's enemies as to defend its dreams of due process - the judicial contest also operates to enshrine some of the western world's most cherished values. The show trials of Stalin's Soviet Union were shams, but Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib act as a reminder that no-trials are equally unjust, and at a time when our familiar constitutional landscape seems to be melting away, an appreciation of the criminal courtroom's history is more necessary than ever.

The Trial : A History from Socrates to O.J. Simpson

Sadakat Kadri

HARPER/COLLINS

<p>Paperback. Pub Date :2006-07-03 Pages: 508 Language: English Publisher: HarperCollins UK In an extraordinary history of the criminal trial. Sadakat Kadri shows with wit. legal insight and a travel writers eye for detail. how the irrationality of the past lives on in the legal systems of the present. A bold and brilliant debut from a prize-winning new writer.The Trial spans a vast distance in time. opening in the dread silence of the Egyptian Hall of the Dead and ending with the melodramas and hubbub of the 21st-century trial circus. Reconciliation and vengeance. secrecy and spectacle. superstition and reason all intertwine continually. The book crosses from the marbled courtrooms of Athens through the ordeal pits of Anglo-Saxon England. past the torture chambers of the Inquisition to the judicial theatres of 17th-century Salem. and from 1930s Moscow and post-war Nuremberg to...</p>

The Trial: A History from Socrates to O.J. Simpson

History

Harper-perennial

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HEAVEN ON EARTH

Vintage

Straggling gothic streets take visitors past fairy-tale castles, palaces and churches, over ornate bridges and up flights of narrow steps to views over rooftops, domes and spires. Discover Hradcany Castle, the old Jewish ghetto, Charles Bridge, and Wenceslas Square. This guide is well-mapped and includes places to stay, bars, clubs and restaurants.

Prague (Cadogan City Guides)

Travel

Europe

Cadogan Guides

Globe Pequot Pr

Almost 1400 years after the Prophet Muhammad first articulated God's law - the sharia - its earthly interpreters are still arguing over what it means. Hardliners reduce it to amputations, veiling, holy war and stonings. Others say that it is humanity's only guarantee of a just society. In "Heaven on Earth", Sadakat Kadri, a London-based criminal barrister and prize-winning writer, sets out to see who is right. Travelling the Islamic world, he encounters a cacophony of legal claims. At the ancient Indian grave of his Sufi ancestor, unruly jinns are exorcised in the name of the sharia. In Pakistan's madrasas, stern scholars ridicule his talk of human rights and demand explanations for NATO drone attacks in Afghanistan. In Iran, he hears that God is forgiving enough to subsidise sex-change operations - but requires the execution of Muslims who change religion. All Muslims are guided by the sharia - whatever their interpretation of it - and the stories of compulsion and violence are just part of a much bigger picture. Many of Islam's first judges refused even to decide cases for fear that a mistake would damn them, and scholars from Delhi to Cairo maintain that governments have no business enforcing faith. In this illuminating and important book, Sadakat Kadri draws on Islam's past and present to show us why. The promise of a perfect social order can be compelling. But reality will always intrude. And when human beings attempt to apply divine justice, they risk creating not a heaven on earth - but something much closer to hell.

Heaven on Earth

Random House Export

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

Books by Sadakat Kadri

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

The Trial : A History from Socrates to O.J. Simpson

The Trial: A History from Socrates to O.J. Simpson

HEAVEN ON EARTH

Prague (Cadogan City Guides)

Prague (Cadogan City Guides)

Heaven on Earth