In the United States, almost 90 percent of state judges have to run in popular elections to remain on the bench. In the past decade, this peculiarly American institution has produced vicious multi-million-dollar political election campaigns and high-profile allegations of judicial bias and misconduct. The People’s Courts traces the history of judicial elections and Americans’ quest for an independent judiciary—one that would ensure fairness for all before the law—from the colonial era to the present. In the aftermath of economic disaster, nineteenth-century reformers embraced popular elections as a way to make politically appointed judges less susceptible to partisan patronage and more independent of the legislative and executive branches of government. This effort to reinforce the separation of powers and limit government succeeded in many ways, but it created new threats to judicial independence and provoked further calls for reform. Merit selection emerged as the most promising means of reducing partisan and financial influence from judicial selection. It too, however, proved vulnerable to pressure from party politics and special interest groups. Yet, as Shugerman concludes, it still has more potential for protecting judicial independence than either political appointment or popular election. The People’s Courts shows how Americans have been deeply committed to judicial independence, but that commitment has also been manipulated by special interests. By understanding our history of judicial selection, we can better protect and preserve the independence of judges from political and partisan influence.

Between 15 and 20 million viewers each day watch Judge Joseph Wapner's wise decisions and gruff wit on TV's "The People's Court". But before Wapner sat on his television bench, he spent 20 years as a municipal and superior court judge. In this book he recalls some of his favorite cases. (Ships late Sept.

From 1983 to 1987, author Mark Dunn worked as a court clerk for a justice of the peace in Travis County, Texas, where, he says, "I learned more about human nature . . . than I could have learned in any other job I might have taken up as a bushy-tailed kid from Tennessee." Based on interviews with 200 justices of the peace from all parts of Texas, Texas People's Court promises to take readers on a tour of what it means to be a Texas justice of the peace: an experience that is by turns hilarious, sobering, heart-wrenching, and, from one end to the other, fascinating. Here in the Texas justice court, wrongs can be righted and lives changed in profound ways. A priceless family necklace might finally be restored to the rightful owner; an occupational driver's license fortuitously granted. A death inquest may become an opportunity for family reflection and valediction, with the attending judge as sympathetic witness. In each of its chapters, Texas People's Court takes up a different aspect, duty, or area of thought related to the profession of justice of the peace taken from conversations with JPs throughout the state of Texas--from those who serve in its most populous municipalities to rural county JPs--putting a human face on the responsibilities, attitudes, and perspectives that motivate their judgments. The result is a thoroughly entertaining, sympathetic view of what Dunn calls "the day-to-day observation of human conflict in microcosm."

A comprehensive history of the people and cases that have changed history, this is the definitive account of the nation's highest court featuring a forward by Howard Zinn Recent changes in the Supreme Court have placed the venerable institution at the forefront of current affairs, making this comprehensive and engaging work as timely as ever. In the tradition of Howard Zinn's classic A People's History of the United States, Peter Irons chronicles the decisions that have influenced virtually every aspect of our society, from the debates over judicial power to controversial rulings in the past regarding slavery, racial segregation, and abortion, as well as more current cases about school prayer, the Bush/Gore election results, and "enemy combatants." To understand key issues facing the supreme court and the current battle for the court's ideological makeup, there is no better guide than Peter Irons. This revised and updated edition includes a foreword by Howard Zinn. "A sophisticated narrative history of the Supreme Court . . . [Irons] breathes abundant life into old documents and reminds readers that today's fiercest arguments about rights are the continuation of the endless American conversation." -Publisher's Weekly (starred review)

This volume includes guiding cases of the Supreme People’s Court, cases deliberated on by the Judicial Council/Committee of the Supreme People’s Court, and cases discussed at the Joint Meetings of Presiding Judges from the various tribunals. This book is divided into four sections, including Cases by Justices, Selected Judicial Opinion(s), “Hot Cases” and “Typical Cases”, which will introduce readers to Chinese legal processes, legal methodologies and ideology in an intuitive, clear, and accurate manner.This volume presents cases selected by the trial departments of the Supreme People’s Court of China from their concluded cases. In order to give full weight to the legal value and social functions of cases from the Supreme People’s Court, and to achieve the goal of “serving the trial practices, serving economic and social development, serving legal education and legal scholarship, serving international legal exchanges among Chinese and foreign legal communities and serving the rule of law in China”, the China Institute of Applied Jurisprudence, with the approval of the Supreme People’s Court, opted to publish “Selected Cases from the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China” in both Chinese and English, for domestic and overseas distribution.

Presents research findings on city courts and their processing of misdemeanors, illuminating the conditions under which bias is maximized and minimized in the lower courts.

Much of today's political rhetoric decries the welfare state and our maze of government regulations. Critics hark back to a time before the state intervened so directly in citizens' lives. In The People's Welfare, William Novak refutes this vision of a stateless past by documenting America's long history of government regulation in the areas of public safety, political economy, public property, morality, and public health. Challenging the myth of American individualism, Novak recovers a distinctive nineteenth-century commitment to shared obligations and public duties in a well-regulated society. Novak explores the by-laws, ordinances, statutes, and common law restrictions that regulated almost every aspect of America's society and economy, including fire regulations, inspection and licensing rules, fair marketplace laws, the moral policing of prostitution and drunkenness, and health and sanitary codes. Based on a reading of more than one thousand court cases in addition to the leading legal and political texts of the nineteenth century, The People's Welfare demonstrates the deep roots of regulation in America and offers a startling reinterpretation of the history of American governance.

A study of the decision-making process of Chinese courts and the non-legal forces and regional factors that influence judicial outcomes.

A review chapter is also included to bring the story up-to-date."--Jacket.