Is Eating People Wrong?
Great Legal Cases and How they Shaped the World

This book explores the consequences of eight exemplary cases around which the common law developed to reveal the diverse and uncoordinated attempts by the courts to adapt the law to changing conditions.

Allan C. Hutchinson (Author)

9781107000377, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 December 2010

260 pages, 21 b/w illus.
23.6 x 15.6 x 1.8 cm, 0.53 kg

'Hutchinson here, as with all the cases, proves an adept storyteller. One may wonder whether this case is as important as he believes, but it is hard not to be interested in its outcome.' John M. Sands, The Federal Lawyer

Great cases are those judicial decisions around which the common law develops. This book explores eight exemplary cases from the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia that show the law as a living, breathing and down-the-street experience. It explores the social circumstances in which the cases arose and the ordinary people whose stories influenced and shaped the law as well as the characters and institutions (lawyers, judges and courts) that did much of the heavy lifting. By examining the consequences and fallout of these decisions, the book depicts the common law as an experimental, dynamic, messy, productive, tantalizing and bottom-up process, thereby revealing the diverse and uncoordinated attempts by the courts to adapt the law to changing conditions and shifting demands. Great cases are one way to glimpse the workings of the common law as an untidy but stimulating exercise in human judgment and social accomplishment.

1. In praise of great cases - the big, the bad and the goodly
2. Is eating people wrong? - the law and lore of the sea
3. Bearing witness - in support of the rule of law
4. In the hunt - power, property, and possession
5. Shades of brown - a constitutional catharsis
6. A snail in a bottle - nature, neighbours, and negligence
7. An aboriginal title - the lie and law of the land
8. Grinding at the mill - putting limits on agreements
9. Of crimes and cautions - the rights and rites of investigation
10. Coming up for air - the common law at 2010.

Subject Areas: Legal history [LAZ], Jurisprudence & philosophy of law [LAB], Jurisprudence & general issues [LA], Law [L]