Encyclopedia of Law and Society: American and Global Perspectives
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There are two aspects of scholarship about the legal systems of our day that are especially salient--one being for the first time there is a fair amount of genuine research on legal systems, and two, that this research is increasingly global. As soon as you cross a jurisdictional line, even if it separates countries that are very similar, you enter a different legal system. It cannot be assumed that any particular rule, doctrine, or practice is the same in any two jurisdictions, regardless of how close these jurisdictions are, in terms of history and tradition. The Encyclopedia of Law and Society is the largest comprehensive and international treatment of the law and society field. With an Advisory Board of 62 members from 20 countries and six continents, the three volumes of this state-of-the-art resource represent interdisciplinary perspectives on law from sociology, criminology, cultural anthropology, political science, social psychology, and economics. By globalizing the Encyclopedia's coverage, American and international law and society will be better understood within its historical and comparative context. Key Features: Includes more than 700 biographical entries that are historical, comparative, topical, thematic, and methodologicalPresents the rich diversity of European, Latin American, Asian, African, and Australasian developments for the first time in one place to reveal the truly holistic, interdisciplinary virtues of law and society Examines how and why legal systems grow and change, how and why they respond (or fail to respond) to their environment, howand why they impact the life of society, and how and why the life of society impacts in turn these legal systemsWith borders more porous than ever before, this Encyclopedia reflects the paradoxical reality of modern life, including legal life. This valuable resource aims to present research, along with the theories on which it is grounded, fairly and comprehensively and is a must-have for all academic libraries. Mary Rumsey - Library Journal Editor Clark (law, Willamette Univ.) has assembled an excellent collection of brief articles on law and society that illustrates the many complex ways in which law and people interact. Topics include sociology, criminology, cultural anthropology, political science, social psychology, and economics. Five hundred well-qualified authors-mostly U.S. and foreign law professors, though other disciplines are represented-contributed over 700 A-to-Z signed entries ranging in length from 500 to 5000 words. Each entry ends with a brief list of further readings. The entries vary from biographies of key figures (Max Weber, Jean-Jacques Rousseau), to essays on technical concepts like transaction costs and utility maximization, to pieces on witchcraft, serial killers, and mental disorders. Finding aids include a list of entries and a 75-page index. Entry quality is uniformly high, but some entries address complex topics in equally complex language. A polemical tone also creeps in at times. For example, the author of the "Waste" essay writes, "[P]eople today . . . are often treated as if they were as disposable as Styrofoam cups." But most authors acknowledge varying perspectives on their topic. The work aims to incorporate international viewpoints, thus, many entries include foreign comparisons. However, the focus is on U.S. law and society. Separate entries on 32 countries and a few regions (e.g., Scandinavia, Sub-Saharan Africa) increase the global dimension, while historical perspectives on most issues add depth and insight.
