The annotated Common Law: with 2010 Foreword and Explanatory Notes (Legal Legends Series)

Book Synopsis: A whole new take on Holmes' classic study of law and judicial development of rules: "the life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience." Annotated throughout with straightforward clarifications — decoding and demystifying it for the first time — at long last it's accessible to a new generation of readers. Features 2010 Foreword and extensive notes by Steven Alan Childress, a law professor at Tulane. Active Table of Contents, linked footnotes with correct numbers, and original page numbers for citing. Careful proofreading and formatting, unlike any digital or online version previously available. Contains rare photographs and biographical section as well.

As lamented by Holmes' premier biographer in 2006, The Common Law "is very likely the best-known book ever written about American law. But it is a difficult, sometimes obscure book, which today’s lawyers and law students find largely inaccessible." No longer. With hundreds of insertions and simple definitions of the original's language and concepts, this version makes it live for college students (able to "get it" at last, with legal terms explained), plus law students, lawyers, and anyone wanting to understand his great book. No prior edition, even in print, has annotations; even without the notes, Quid Pro offers the only digital or online versions that respect Holmes by being accurate.

Answer Key to using the other digital or online versions: docs=does, modem=modern, tiling=thing, ease=case, casement=easement, duly=duty. Etc. However, their book docs one tiling that no modem version of Holmes docs: it brings the eases to lite for those reading it. And you saved $ bucks!

All prior digital and online sources — sold or free — are simply wrong and unusable (e.g., over 250 footnote 1's, none linked; and repeatedly missing crucial words from the inside margins). They trace back to one poor scan job, even a "2006 corrected" edition. Finally fixed from the original 1881 source, and updated to bring the text alive to modern readers, this ebook is both usable and affordable.

Oliver Wendell Holmes compiled his master work in 1881 from lectures on the origins, reasoning, and import of the common law. It jump-started legal realism and established law as a pragmatic way to solve problems and make policy, not just a bucket of rules. It has stood the test of time as one of the most important and influential studies of law. This book is interesting for a vast audience, including historians, students, and political scientists. It is also a recommended read before law school or in the first year of law study.

Quid Pro's 'Legal Legends' Series offers high-quality digital editions of legal scholarship, with active footnotes and contents. In addition, each book contains a scholar's new Foreword, to place the works in historical context and explain the work to readers. A non-annotated ebook is also available in the Series, likewise proofed and corrected with care. A paperback edition of this annotated resource is available at multiple retail outlets and online.

Steven Alan Childress is the Conrad Meyer III Professor of Law at Tulane Law School and coauthor of the three-volume treatise, Federal Standards of Review (LexisNexis, 4th ed. 2010). He received his law degree from Harvard and a Ph.D. and M.A. in Jurisprudence & Social Policy from Berkeley. He served as the editor for another Series work, Warren & Brandeis' The Right to Privacy.