If you're curious about property law, want to know what to expect when you're selected for a jury, or always wondered just what the heck a tort is, here's the book for you.

The American Legal System: Foundations, Processes, and Norms (Roxbury Publishing Co., 2003) was written by Albert Melone, professor of political science at SIUC, and Allan Karnes, professor and director of SIUC's School of Accountancy, to answer questions big and small about U.S. jurisprudence. Intended for students in fields from business to criminal justice and political science, it's very approachable for general readers too.

"I've never been satisfied with the existing texts because they didn't explore the full scope of the topic," says Melone, who has taught in this area for years.

"Most textbooks just spell out the legal rules of particular kinds of cases. We tried to cast a wider intellectual net and to bring in contemporary examples--Napster, for instance--to make it more interesting."

Melone and Karnes wanted students not just to memorize legal terms, but to get an understanding of the full landscape of the law. That means grasping how it reflects our social values, how it fits within the context of protecting civil liberties, how it shapes politics, and how it affects our personal lives and business affairs.

We should be knowledgeable about it. "After all," as the authors write, "the law has teeth and it can bite."

The 800-page book includes an overview of the legal system, discussion of its various judicial processes, chapters dealing with laws that focus on individuals, and chapters dealing with laws that focus on business and government.

Most interesting for readers may be the dozens of edited court opinions in the book. Did the Supreme Court overstep its authority in deciding Bush v. Gore? In Sheppard v. Maxwell, the case that inspired the TV series The Fugitive, why did it reverse Sam Sheppard's conviction? How did a U.S. court of appeals weigh copyright infringement against fair use in A&M Records v. Napster? Melone and Karnes comment on these and many other famous cases.

And torts? They're non-criminal, non-contractual suits in which the plaintiff seeks damages or injunctive relief for injury to her person, property, or legal interests. The infamous McDonald's hot-coffee lawsuit was a tort case--and the hefty judgment actually wasn't unreasonable, say the authors.

Why not? Well, you'll just have to check out the book.

--by Marilyn Davis, ed.

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