A Book of Legal Lists

A Book of Legal Lists
Author: the late Bernard Schwartz
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 303
Release: 1997-04-17
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0198026943

Who are the top ten greatest Supreme Court Justices of all time? Who are the worst ten? Which Supreme Court decision helped lead to the Civil War? What are the ten greatest and worst Supreme Court decisions? What are the ten best courtroom movies? Who was the last to use the Supreme Court spittoon? Who was the first Justice to wear trousers beneath his Supreme Court robes? From John Marshall, the greatest Supreme Court Justice, to Alfred Moore, one of the worst, Bernard Schwartz's A Book of Legal Lists--the first ever compiled--provides the Ten Bests and Worsts in American law (and also includes answers to 150 trivia questions about the legal world). The lists include the greatest dissents and Supreme Court "might have beens;" greatest non-Supreme Court judges (Lemuel Shaw, number one on the Greatest list, played a prominent role in recasting common law into an American mold); greatest and worst non-Supreme Court decisions; greatest law books; lawyers (including Alexander Hamilton, Clarence Darrow "Attorney for the Damned", and Abraham Lincoln); trials; and greatest legal motion pictures. Each list entry has a short essay by Schwartz explaining why it is a best or a worst, and it is in these essays that we gain a wealth of information about the legal world. We learn, for instance, that Sherman Minton, number ten on the Worst Supreme Court Justices list, was such a nonentity that he may be best remembered as the last to use the spittoon provided for each Justice behind the bench. Before he became Chief Justice, William H. Rehnquist was known for playing Trivial Pursuit on the bench, Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote 873 opinions for the Court (the most in its history), and Roger Brooke Taney, number ten on the Greatest Supreme Court Justices list, was the first Chief Justice to wear trousers beneath his robes (his predecessors had always given judgment in knee breeches). Stretching back to the early 1700s, the law and the judges who interpret it have maintained a steady presence in our lives--sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. From disappointments like Plessy v. Ferguson (number two on the Ten Worst Supreme Court Decisions list), which gave the lie to the American ideal "that all men are created equal," to lesser known but no less important decisions such as the 1933 United States v. One Book Called "Ulysses", (number nine on the Ten Greatest Non-Supreme Court Decisions) the landmark First Amendment case that eased the law governing censorship, Bernard Schwartz provides legal experts and non-experts alike with entertaining information in a format that can be found nowhere else.

Every Root an Anchor

Every Root an Anchor
Author: R. Bruce Allison
Publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society
Total Pages: 128
Release: 2014-05-20
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0870205285

In Every Root an Anchor, writer and arborist R. Bruce Allison celebrates Wisconsin's most significant, unusual, and historic trees. More than one hundred tales introduce us to trees across the state, some remarkable for their size or age, others for their intriguing histories. From magnificent elms to beloved pines to Frank Lloyd Wright's oaks, these trees are woven into our history, contributing to our sense of place. They are anchors for time-honored customs, manifestations of our ideals, and reminders of our lives' most significant events. For this updated edition, Allison revisits the trees' histories and tells us which of these unique landmarks are still standing. He sets forth an environmental message as well, reminding us to recognize our connectedness to trees and to manage our tree resources wisely. As early Wisconsin conservationist Increase Lapham said, "Tree histories increase our love of home and improve our hearts. They deserve to be told and remembered."

Crimes Committed by Terrorist Groups

Crimes Committed by Terrorist Groups
Author: Mark S. Hamm
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2011
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1437929591

This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. Examines terrorists¿ involvement in a variety of crimes ranging from motor vehicle violations, immigration fraud, and mfg. illegal firearms to counterfeiting, armed bank robbery, and smuggling weapons of mass destruction. There are 3 parts: (1) Compares the criminality of internat. jihad groups with domestic right-wing groups. (2) Six case studies of crimes includes trial transcripts, official reports, previous scholarship, and interviews with law enforce. officials and former terrorists are used to explore skills that made crimes possible; or events and lack of skill that the prevented crimes. Includes brief bio. of the terrorists along with descriptions of their org., strategies, and plots. (3) Analysis of the themes in closing arguments of the transcripts in Part 2. Illus.