Lawtalk: The Unknown Stories Behind Familiar Legal Expressions - Hardcover

Clapp, James E.; Thornburg, Elizabeth G.; Galanter, Marc; Shapiro, Fred R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 030017246X ISBN 13: 9780300172461

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2011

Synopsis

Not just for lawyers, these illuminating histories of popular law-related expressions will delight anyone fascinated by words, by history, or by law and law enforcement

Law-related words and phrases abound in our everyday language, often without our being aware of their origins or their particular legal significance: boilerplate, jailbait, pound of flesh, rainmaker, the third degree. This insightful and entertaining book reveals the unknown stories behind familiar legal expressions that come from sources as diverse as Shakespeare, vaudeville, and Dr. Seuss. Separate entries for each expression follow no prescribed formula but instead focus on the most interesting, enlightening, and surprising aspects of the words and their evolution. Popular myths and misunderstandings are explored and exploded, and the entries are augmented with historical images and humorous sidebars.

Lively and unexpected, Lawtalk will draw a diverse array of readers with its abundance of linguistic, legal, historical, and cultural information. Those readers should be forewarned: upon finishing one entry, there is an irresistible temptation to turn to another, and yet another .  .  .

About this title

About the Author:

James E. Clapp, a member of the New York and District of Columbia bars and a former litigator, works primarily in the field of legal lexicography. He is the author of Random House Webster's Dictionary of the Law. Elizabeth G. Thornburg is a professor at SMU Dedman School of Law, where she teaches and writes about civil procedure and alternative dispute resolution. Marc Galanter is John & Rylla Bosshard Professor Emeritus of Law and South Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and the author of Lowering the Bar: Lawyer Jokes and Legal Culture. Fred R. Shapiro is associate librarian and lecturer in legal research, Yale Law School. He is the editor of The Yale Book of Quotations, available from Yale University Press, and a major contributor to both the second and the third editions of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Review:

"Lawtalk combines enormous erudition with loads of levity-the result being a compulsively browsable book that will leave readers wordly-wise."—Bryan A. Garner, President, LawProse, Inc., Editor in Chief, Black's Law Dictionary (Bryan A. Garner 2011-06-06)

"A genuine contribution in an area where precious little exists. Extraordinarily original and of even more extraordinary scholarship, truly erudite, researched and sourced. I would run to buy it." --Roger Newman, editor of The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law. (Roger Newman 2011-06-06)

“This imaginative book will enlighten and amuse not only lawyers, but anyone who thinks about law, talks about law, or has to deal with law—that is to say, all of us,”—Linda Greenhouse, author of Becoming Justice Blackmun

(Linda Greenhouse 2011-08-08)

"The language of the law is endlessly colorful, sometimes quite literally so: think of blue laws, green cards, blackmail and white-shoe firms. Finally we have an authoritative reference for all these terms and many more, written in a highly engaging style. Even if you're a shyster who couldn't indict a ham sandwich, at least now you'll know where those expressions came from."—Ben Zimmer, executive producer of VisualThesaurus.com and Vocabulary.com. (Ben Zimmer 2011-08-12)

“Lawtalk is not just entertaining, but also quite educational. Lawyers, judges, and lay people interested in the workings of the legal system can learn a great deal from it,”—Peter Tiersma, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.

(Peter Tiersma 2011-06-06)

“Well-researched and entertaining...a skillful mix of scholarship and readability...extensively documented with social, cultural, historic, and, of course, legal sources.”—Joan Pedzich, Library Journal (Joan Pedzich Library Journal)

"Lawtalk is serious scholarship . . . leavened with wry wit and a snappy style of writing that keeps one turning pages both to discover more and to smile more."—JoAnn Baca, The Federal Lawyer (JoAnn Baca The Federal Lawyer)

"Elegant, deliciously detailed, and authoritative . . . demonstrate[s] that learning can be fun."—Glenn C. Altschuler, Huffington Post (Glenn C. Altschuler Huffington Post)

“Lively and entertaining . . . fascinating . . . a gem of a book . . . well-documented and well-researched . . . Lawtalk yields a multitude of interesting and amusing tidbits.”—Donna M. Fisher, AALL Spectrum (American Association of Law Libraries) (Donna M. Fisher AALL Spectrum)

“Insightful and entertaining”—Spartanburg Herald Journal (Spartanburg Herald Journal)

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 030017246X
• ISBN 13: 9780300172461
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 348