Prunty, Bert S., Jr.

English

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DePaul Law Review Volume 2 Issue 2 Spring-Summer 1953 Article 22 Kinnane: A First Book on Anglo-American Law - Second Edition Bert S. Prunty Jr. Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/law-review Recommended Citation Bert S. Prunty Jr., Kinnane: A First Book on Anglo-American Law - Second Edition, 2 DePaul L. Rev. 325 (1953) Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/law-review/vol2/iss2/22 This Book Reviews is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Law at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in DePaul Law Review by an authorized editor of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact digitalservices@depaul.edu. REVIEWSA First Book on Anglo-American Law. Second Edition. By CHARLES HERMANKINNANE. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1952. Pp. xvi,810. $8.50.As was the first edition in 1932, this book is fully textual in form and iscomprehensible in style and language. There are four main parts. Part I issociological and jurisprudential in nature. Although this is probably the mostcontroversial section of the book, it fully accomplishes its purposes of demon-strating the need for law and of reducing to meaningful terms some of theambiguous abstractions by which law is described and measured. No morecan be asked of 165 pages. In Part II Professor Kinnane devotes 277 pages toa brief examination of systems outside the common law and a survey ofAnglo-American legal history. Two chapters on administrative activity repre-sent a significant addition to the first edition. Part III contains 77 pages de-scribing in some detail the modern English and American court systems, inthe latter case beginning with the colonial period. Throughout this section,the author attends to the development of the system and its function, neverlosing the reader in massive, unrelated detail. The tremendously importantidea of judicial organization and administration as keystones to substantiverights is implicitly but firmly conveyed. In the final major part of his work,Professor Kinnane outlines procedure and remedies. Procedural matters fromparties and jurisdiction through trial and proceedings subsequent to judgmentare covered. One chapter is devoted to common law actions and remedies,one to equitable remedies, and one to extraordinary and statutory remedies.This section totals 170 pages.The expert in any or all of the areas synthesized in this volume will doubt-less be troubled by the degree of generalization employed; but in the lightof the scope of material covered and the purpose of the author, generaliza-tion is not only necessary, but desirable. Equally innocuous objection maybe raised by readers who feel their favorite viewpoint has been de-emphasizedor slighted. The reviewer had such an impression in reading Part I. In hisanalysis of law's nature, the author proceeds from "justice" to "right andwrong." Although considerable effort is spent in limiting these terms to socialnorms and showing that the norms are variables, no attempt is made to explainthe variations other than as reflections of mass changes in the individual'sconcept of right and wrong. No attempt is made to indicate at least, theunderlying values or interests upon which the individual concept and mostcertainly the social concept often depends for its conformation. But this is avolume to be measured not by what others can find excluded, but by howwell the material presented serves the purpose in view.The book is beamed primarily to two groups: pre-legal students and begin-ning law students. Members of both groups will search well to unearth moregross reading profit between two covers. Pre-legal education continues tobe a subject on which law faculties refuse to become specific. But few willdeny a need for more effective college preparation. Devices short of courseprescription which are effective in identifying and motivating pre-legal stu-dents are needed to provide law schools with better minds, better prepared.3255Lo DE PAUL LAW REVIEW4 First Book on Anglo-American Law, used as a course tool, or effectively)ublicized and assigned for outside reading, is suited to this purpose. Theincertain student will find in it some basis for judgment; the student withJefinite law school aspirations is given relevant material for thought andwork.What then, of this book as the basis for a first year law school course orseminar? As a pioneer in this area,' Professor Kinnane might take muchcomfort from its great expansion. Rather he seems to feel the ball has beencarried in the wrong direction or, at least, not in enough directions. 2 Theneed for broadened perspective for law study remains acute. The unansweredquestion is: Is this the most pressing need in the first year? The reviewerfeels it is not if a choice must be made to exclude other introductory materi-al. Basic training in legal skills, language, and thinking habits still seems tobe the overwhelming burden of the first year. But the choice of materialsneed not be mutually exclusive. The reviewer makes most of Kinnane re-quired reading in an introductory seminar but devotes class time largely toother materials. One of the many merits of this book is its readability; evenbeginners can extract much of its wealth on their own.The author expresses the hope that readers outside these groups will findhis work useful. In the opinion of the reviewer, they will. In particular theadvanced law student and the lawyer will find Professor Kinnane's bookvaluable as a source of perspective for thought on legal and political prob-lems of many ranks.BERT S. PRUNTY, JR.*Cases on the Law of Bills and Notes. By WILLIAM EVERETT BRITTON. Chicago:Callaghan & Company, 1951. Pp. v, 861. $8.00.I reluctantly admit that students frequently undertake the study of Negoti-able Instruments with all the anticipation which precedes a great and difficulttask. The instructor who attempts honestly to appraise his students' diffi-culties will probably agree that most of them could be summarized in thestatement of a student of mine, "I have learned a lot of separate principles sofar, but I can't fit them together." I have often wondered why a negotiablecontract should afford the student any greater problem than those arisingin Agency, Partnership or Sales or any of the other projections of funda-mental contract law. I believe the major source of student difficulty lies in thefact that at any given point where student and instructor begin the study ofNegotiable Instruments, it must be presumed the student enjoys a generalunderstanding of much of the other and related course material. Such Ibelieve to be the exceptional rather than the usual student. Therefore, thoughorganization of material is the distinguishing feature of all casebooks, in myopinion it achieves its greatest import in connection with the study of Billsand Notes. Professor Britton has devised and retained a most orderly andlogical presentation of his subject.Professor of Law, New York University School of Law.1 Of the many books designed for such use, only Morgan's, The Study of Law(Ist edition, 1926) predates Kinnane's first edition in 1932.2 p. vii.

Kinnane:  A First Book on Anglo-American Law - Second Edition

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Kinnane: A First Book on Anglo-American Law - Second Edition

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