The Origins of Adversary Criminal Trial

By:

John H Langbein

Format:

Hardback

Series:

Oxford Studies in Modern Legal History

Show Hide Adult Content

$317.99

Available from supplier

Usually ships in 3-4 weeks

0 in Trolley

Price Match

Wrap this item as a gift ($5.90) - add a free gift card on the next page

Buy Now, Pay Later with:

4 payments of $79.50 with Afterpay Learn more

Availability

Delivering to:

Estimated arrival:

Around 24 Jun - 4 Jul using International Courier

Description

The adversary system of trial, the defining feature of the Anglo-American criminal procedure developed late in English legal history. For centuries, defendants were forbidden to have counsel, and lawyers seldom appeared for the prosecution either. Trial was meant to be an occasion for the defendant to answer the charges in person. The transformation from lawyer-free to lawyer-dominated criminal trial happened within the space of about a century, from the 1690s to the 1780s. This book explains how the lawyers captured the trial. In addition to conventional legal sources, Professor Langbein draws upon a rich vein of contemporary pamphlet accounts about trials in London's Old Bailey. The book also mines these novel sources to provide the first detailed account of the formation of the law of criminal evidence. Responding to menacing prosecutorial initiatives (including reward-seeking thieftakers amd crown witnesses induced to testify in order to save their own necks), the judges of the 1730s decided to allow the defendant to have counsel to cross-examine accusing witnesses. By restricting counsel to the work of examining and cross-examining witnesses, the judges intended that the accused would still need to respond in person to the charges against him. Langbein shows how counsel manipulated the dynamics of adversary procedure to defeat the judges' design, ultimately silencing the accused and transforming the very purpose of the criminal trial. Trial ceased to be an opportunity for the accused to speak, and became instead an occasion for defense counsel to test the prosecution case.

Author Biography:

John Langbein is Sterling Professor of Law and Legal History at Yale Law School. He teaches and writes in four fields: trust and estate law, pension and employee benefit law, Anglo-American and European legal history, and modern comparative law.

Release date Australia

February 6th, 2003

Author

John H Langbein

Audiences

Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Professional & Vocational
Undergraduate

Illustrations

11 halftones

Pages

376

Series

Oxford Studies in Modern Legal History

Dimensions

163x242x25

ISBN-13

9780199258888

Product ID

2132638

Customer reviews

Nobody has reviewed this product yet. You could be the first!

Write a Review

Marketplace listings

There are no Marketplace listings available for this product currently.
Already own it? Create a free listing and pay just 9% commission when it sells!

Sell Yours Here

Get free delivery, exclusive deals, and more^*

Non-Fiction Books:

The Origins of Adversary Criminal Trial

By:

Format:

Series:

Buy Now, Pay Later with:

Availability

Description

Author Biography:

Customer reviews

Marketplace listings

Help & options

Filed under...

Get free delivery, exclusive deals, and more*

Buy Now, Pay Later with:

Author Biography:

Get free delivery, exclusive deals, and more^*