Synopses & Reviews
The Legal 100 is a unique analysis of the development of Western law over the last 4,000 years. In vivid biographical sketches, the author chronicles the lives and accomplishments of those individuals who have most influenced the law. And in the tradition of the acclaimed Citadel Press "100" series, he also ranks them, judging each by his impact on history -- the lives of people affected and the governmental and civil developments his actions shaped.
More than simply a ranking of lawyers, The Legal 100 consists of judges: John Marshall and Earl Warren; legislators: Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone; legal writers: William Blackstone and Edward Coke; legal philosophers: John Locke and Jeremy Bentham; revolutionaries: Lenin and Gandhi; presidents: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln; and agitators for legal change: Martin Luther King Jr. and Susan B. Anthony.
Here is a sampling: James Madison (1), the author of the Bill of Rights; Alexander Hamilton (2), the moving force behind the ratification of the U.S. Constitution; John Marshall (3), the first significant Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court; and Cicero (4), the first of the great lawyers and perhaps the world's most skillful and persuasive orator.
The Legal 100 is a unique volume -- both as a pleasure to browse and a ready reference for the general reader. As informed and provocative as its predecessors in the Citadel "100" series, it is bound to generate controversy, debate, and discussion as readers eagerly scrutinize the list and each person's ranking. Reading these biographies will remind everyone who lives in a democracy of the debt they owe to a handful of legal thinkers, lawyers, and philosophers whodevoted their lives to making freedom a reality.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 389-390) and index.