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When Brian Dickson was appointed in 1973, the Supreme Court of Canada was preoccupied with run-of-the-mill disputes. By the time he retired as Chief Justice of Canada in 1990, the Court had become a major national institution, very much in the public eye. The Court's decisions, reforming large areas of private and public law under the Charter of Rights, were the subject of intense public interest and concern.

Brian Dickson played a leading role in this transformation. Engaging and incisive, Brian Dickson: A Judge's Journey traces Dickson's life from a Depression-era boyhood in Saskatchewan, to the battlefields of Normandy, the boardrooms of corporate Canada and high judicial office, and provides an inside look at the work of the Supreme Court during its most crucial period. Dickson's journey was an important part of the evolution of the Canadian judiciary and of Canada itself. Sharpe and Roach have written an accessible biography of one of Canada's greatest legal figures that provides new insights into the work of Canada's highest court.

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Customer Reviews (9)

Required Reading
I teach economics at Fort Lewis College and this book is required reading for my economics of crime class. It is an excellent application of game theory to the specific topic of law.

A Toolkit For All Professions
This book is not about legal rules but about how to analyze laws and legal problems.It highlights crucial foundations of laws in the United Sates and the tools with which legal decisions are made.

Ward Farnsworth through a fluent and uncomplicated language and using many vivid real-world examples guides readers into the fascinating world of legal thought. He picks up complicated subjects in game theory such as "Prisoner's Dilemma," Lean concepts such as "Waste minimization and Efficiency,"psychological principles such as "Hindsight Bias," or ideas in jurisprudence such as the "Slippery Slope" to guides us, using uncomplicated and nontechnical language, on how each technique can be applied to solve a variety of problems.The book will improve your personal and managerial decision making skills as well.Once you started reading a few pages of it, you would not want to put it down.

The author points out that the intent of US Primary Founders was prevention of absolute power through separation of power into legislative, judicial, and executive branches. However, we observe the extreme domination of laws and lawyers in all aspects of lives and in all three branches of the Government to the extent that if Abraham Lincoln was alive today, he would probably be modifying his famous statement by whispering into our ears: "A government of lawyers, by the lawyers, for the lawyers!" The author highlights how this separation of powers has led to "Rent Seeking" activities by Congress and how it causes making any changes in the system so difficult and painful.

What is so fascinating about this book, requiring further scrutiny, is its strong emphasis on the Principle of "Wealth Maximization" in decision making and legal thought. In a vivid example given in the book, a neighbor's ferocious ox has trespassed into your farm and is about to gore your goat. You'll have to choose between shooting the ox and letting your goat die. So you shoot it. Do you owe your neighbor a new ox?(Think about this before reading further.)

Well, I'm not going to give you the answer! But through the concept of a "Single Owner," the author skillfully gives us the answer and the why. If you owned both farms, the goat, and the ox (single-owner rule) and your ox was worth five times that of your goat, would you still be that trigger happy to kill your ox instead of letting your goat die?The death of either animal would be a cost to you and the principle of "Wealth Maximization" comes into effect. Doesn't this "Single Owner" concept remind you of the proposed "Single Payer" in the health care reform plan?

The author brings up so many diverse and at times surprising applications of the Rational "Wealth Maximization "principle, which is consciously or unconsciously behind many US Judicial decisions. It shows that "Justice" and "Rights" are concepts that have a price associated with them. There is a "Price" at which you would be willing to sell your "right." A court may actually rule against the party who values a right much more than the opposing side does in order to force further negotiations between the two sides of the dispute so that the losing side may buy the winning side's right to the claim! In this case how much of "Justice" can you afford to buy?

Reading this book, you may become convinced that the traditional Judeo-Christian values in the United States have heavily shifted toward Judean values, deemphasizing ethics in economic rationalism. As a contemporary example, one would have thought that after all the taxpayers had done for the executives of "too big to fail" companies, they would have shown appreciation by not giving themselves such huge bonuses but they followed:"Do whatever you want, whenever you can, if you can get away with it! "It's unlawful only if you get caught!"

Indeed for a long time the question of "Why should I be moral?" has been a vexing question for philosophers. This book gives substantial evidence to how much moral virtues such as justice and benevolence have been ignored as reasons to act in a system of economic rationalism. Perhaps the dire consequences of this ignorance would be nowhere more pronounced than in health care and education systems if they were solely run as businesses under strict economic rationalism.

This is a 5-Star book and I highly recommend it.

Legal tools for the quintessential lawyer
When I was deciding whether to purchase this book or not, my perceived expectations and fears were that it would lean heavily on legal and philosophical jurisprudence with little practical significance. I was wrong. Ward Farnsworth's 'Legal Analyst' is the most interesting legal/professional book I have read thus far. As a young lawyer from the common law orientation, I have gained invaluable aids and tools which (by default or omission) I did not encounter in my entire five year law school experience. Mr. Farnsworth weaves delicately and precisely the tools with practical examples of how the same occur in everyday legal subjects such as torts, criminal law, property law, intellectual property and so on. Numerous examples demonstrating why and how the legal tools feature at the cornerstone of most judicial decisions and how every lawyer will be advantaged to have them in mind in practice daily have been aptly useful. I have obtained invaluable insights not only as to how Professors think but also how judicial umpires think and invariably, how I as a lawyer should think about the law daily.

Excellent, but dense reading
The author says he intends his book to be of interest to "law students, lawyers, scholars, and anyone else with an interest in the legal system". The pity is that most people are unaware of the impact of the legal system and its impact on their daily lives. A book like "The Legal Analyst", unfortunately, is not for the average citizen. It took me months of nibbling, reading a bit at a time, to get through these fascinating, but densely written book.

"The Legal Analyst" is excellent: informative, learned and challenging, all at the same time. The alternative title considered was "Thinking Like a Law Professor" and that might have been more appropriate.

The value of the book is that instead of discussing rules as so many law texts do, Professor Farnsworth introduces us here - quite effectively - to tools for thinking about the law.

I am not a lawyer, but lawyers are my clientele and I play a role in litigation as an expert witness and consultant. I am also an American who is very concerned about the direction of the nation and the fate of its Constitution, the very document that makes us a nation of laws.

Professor Farnsworth is a gentle guide. He avoids footnotes. He doesn't use dry academic language. He is, matter of fact, pretty straightforward. But the subject matter itself, while always challenging, is sometimes dry. There are thirty chapters on the tools of legal thought, prefaced by a introduction that poses an interesting challenge. If a robber enters a bank, takes customer hostage and threatens to kill a hostage if he doesn't get $5,000, should the bank be held liable when the robber gets no money and kills the hostage? (I'm not going to tell.)

On the whole, only the truly committed will make it through this book. It is not because of any lack of quality or scholarship: it is simply a difficult read. Those who do complete the trek will be rewarded with an expanded knowledge of the logic of the law.

I do wish Professor Farnsworth would consider writing a version of "The Legal Analyst" for the average person - such a book is truly needed.

Jerry

Thought provoking and not just for lawyers
It's unfortunate that this book uses the term legal in the title since that might turn off potential readers who are not lawyers. The topics covered in this book would be interesting to anyone with an interest in politics, economics, public policy, and of course law. Some of the discussion is geared a little more towards law, but it doesn't take too much thought to extend the ideas.

Each chapter gives an introduction to the topic it concerns itself with, such as game theory, slippery slopes, hindsight bias, etc. It then goes on to discuss some problems drawn from areas such as a law, economics, or social issues, and how considering them in light of the topic of the chapter can give a new perspective.

The chapters are short and not so interdependent that you couldn't skip around a little to read the ones you find most interesting first. I think all the chapters were interesting, and recommend just starting at the beginning.

Amazon doesn't give a table of contents, but you can look up the author's website which has a link to a website for the book. There you can find the table of contents and a few sample chapters.



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A Wonderful Resource
This book is just an amazing and wonderful resource for anyone interested in the history and development of American law.The editor is the author of an outstanding biography of Justice Black, so he knows his stuff when it comes to writing biography. A publication of the "Yale Law Library Series in Legal History and Reference," the editor's expertise is reinforced by that of the series' editorial board, comprised of nine leading practitioners of American legal history and biography.The book, which is beautifully printed on fine paper and oversized pages, contains around 700 short biographies, many with pictures of their subjects. They run in length from a page or so to several pages.Each biography, such as Andrew L. Kaufman's on Justice Cardozo, has several published references attached for further reading.Nearly 600 scholars contributed the bios, many of whom had written extensively on their subject. In his Introduction, the editor explains how the subjects were selected, his decision to include living figures, his election making 2005 the cutoff date, and his commitment to include individuals from groups previously excluded from such scholarly endeavors. A complete list of the contributors and their affiliations is included.I was surprised to see Edwin S. Gaustad, my old colonial history professor from the University of California, Riverside, included. So the range of contributors and their backgrounds is quite diverse and adds to the valuable perspectives articulated in the bios.

The editor opines: "To understand law, one must understand its leading figures." These bios go a long way toward helping us attain that goal.I must warn that these bios are like bon bons or potato chips--"one is never enough."You can turn to any page at random and find several interesting bits of information. The bios also strike the golden mean: long enough to be complete and full of substance; short enough that an inordinate amount of time is not required to read them. Reading one gives you a pretty good initial perspective on the individual under discussion. Good scholarship can be fun to read, as well as informative--this book certainly proves it. ... Read more

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In Reconstructing the Household, Peter Bardaglio examines the connections between race, gender, sexuality, and the law in the nineteenth-century South. He focuses on miscegenation, rape, incest, child custody, and adoption laws to show how southerners struggled with the conflicts and stresses that surfaced within their own households and in the larger society during the Civil War era. Based on literary as well as legal sources, Bardaglio's analysis reveals how legal contests involving African Americans, women, children, and the poor led to a rethinking of families, sexuality, and the social order.

Before the Civil War, a distinctive variation of republicanism, based primarily on hierarchy and dependence, characterized southern domestic relations. This organic ideal of the household and its power structure differed significantly from domestic law in the North, which tended to emphasize individual rights and contractual obligations. The defeat of the Confederacy, emancipation, and economic change transformed family law and the governance of sexuality in the South and allowed an unprecedented intrusion of the state into private life. But Bardaglio argues that despite these profound social changes, a preoccupation with traditional notions of gender and race continued to shape southern legal attitudes. ... Read more

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Thought provoking
Peter Bardaglio's "Reconstructing the Household: Families, Sex, and the Law in the Nineteenth-Century South" is a polite reassessment of, as well as an expansion upon, Michael Grossberg's "Governing the Hearth: Law and the Family in Nineteenth-Century America." Through the use of similar primary sources, i.e. records from lower and appellate courts, legal treatises, and personal papers, Bardaglio challenges Grossberg's assertion that America uniformly moved from a family structure dominated by patriarchs to one shaped by jurists and the state over the course of the nineteenth century. The author of "Reconstructing the Household" claims that the American South served as a massive exception to that argument by maintaining a strict adherence to an organic, or patriarchal, family organization until the Civil War fundamentally changed many aspects of domestic relations law in the region. Moreover, Bardaglio contends that this male centered family unit served as the central organizing feature of the southern state, a unit that acted as an intermediary between the state and the rest of society.

The author divides his study into two sections: one outlining the hierarchy of the southern legal system and the organization of the family prior to the Civil War, and one examining the radical restructuring of domestic relations law after the conflict of 1861-65. Antebellum society centered on the heads of the household, which in the South meant free white males. All aspects of the family unit--including women, children, and even slaves--revolved around this all-powerful male figure. The law not only recognized but also encouraged this reality in its rulings concerning family relations. For example, in the rare cases of divorce or other instances of family dissolution the courts routinely awarded custody of children to the father. Women possessed few rights outside of their husband's domain, and could usually only maintain control over the children when their spouse specifically granted guardianship to his wife in his will. Slaves, tied to their owners and thus nominally under their absolute control, presented southern jurists with a dilemma. The fear of miscegenation led state governments and courts to interfere in the family arena, which Bardaglio indicates was the most significant instance of state intrusion into private life in the South before the Civil War.

The Civil War was a catastrophic disaster for the southern legal system. The widespread destruction of court records and the loss of talented legal scholars and lawyers on the battlefields represented a momentous setback to antebellum legal practices. But the subsequent resurrection and reshaping of courts by northern authorities rapidly brought about a massive change in how new southern judges and advocates practiced domestic relations law. Just as significant was the introduction of market capitalism, which eroded the agrarian based economic system over the following decades. This change had the same effect it did in the North; it translated into an emerging legal emphasis that shattered the monolithic patriarchal family by recognizing the individual. The terms seen in Grossberg's book, the "tender years" doctrine and the "best interests of the child" among them, moved to the forefront in southern legal rulings. Tentative recognition of rights for women and children that began as a trickle before the Civil War became a flood as judges paved the way for the state to decide who could adopt children, who could raise children, what constituted rape, and a host of other family related matters. In other words, the southern family morphed into Grossberg's republican family, or an amalgamation of individuals within the family possessing rights not contingent on the traditional head of the household.

Bardaglio's book is most effective when it describes how southern judges avoided intruding on the patriarchal society. The author discovered that the issue of incest presented a startling example of how the legal system could function as a protector of the elite class and its beliefs. Relationships between family members or in-laws are not rare occurrences in any society, and the American South was no exception. Judges spoke out about the practice in an unequivocally hostile manner, arguing that sexual contact between kin relations was a practice that would undermine the society built upon elite conceptions of how that culture should function. But, as Bardaglio convincingly argues, southern jurists went out of their way to condemn the behavior on an individual basis instead of denouncing the patriarchal system as a whole. Because the organic family fosters an environment of extraordinarily close physical and emotional contact between the dominant male and subordinate females, the author contends that the result often drifted into a sexual relationship. For the judges who had to preside over the resolution of such distasteful behavior, it was easier for them to believe incest was an anomaly instead of an inherent problem in the structure of southern domestic relations.

Arguably the biggest difference between the Grossberg and Bardaglio treatments of domestic relations law in the nineteenth century deals with abortion and contraceptive practices. Grossberg examined these two aspects in great detail while Bardaglio omits them. Why? Both methods of birth control must have played some part in southern life, if not in the years before the Civil War then definitely afterwards when market capitalism made major inroads into the South. It is no secret that slave owners looked forward to bondswomen giving birth to children because they could hold them as property. Were there stringent bans on black women practicing birth control? How did southern slave owners enforce these bans, if they existed? Moreover, was there a change in law and public opinion on the issue of birth control after emancipation? If so, how and why did it change? None of these questions begin to scratch the surface of the role birth control played amongst the white inhabitants of the region. These questions are fascinating, and the potential answers might very well increase the understanding of how southern domestic relations law differed from its northern counterpart in the nineteenth century.


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This book is better than the carvings!
The carvings sit, unnoticed by most, on a shelf locked behind glass at theYellowknife court house. Anybody who walked up and saw them would have noidea of their origin, would have no idea of the social history behind theselumps of soapstone (and one stuffed bird).

Eber's book provides the link.I walked past these carvings virtually every day before reading Eber'sbook, barely noticing their existence. Now, knowing the stories behind themand the people behind them, I have a much greater appreciation.

This bookis a must for anyone interested in Inuit art or the social history ofNorthern Canada. Recommended highly. ... Read more

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On 11 November 1918, the last day of the Great War, the Canadian Corps, led by Sir Arthur Currie, liberated Mons after four years of German occupation. The push to Mons in the last days and weeks of the war had cost many lives. Long after the war, Currie was blamed by many for needlessly wasting those lives. When the Port Hope Evening Guide published an editorial in 1927 repeating this charge, Currie was incensed. Against the advice of his friends, he decided to sue for libel and retained W.N. Tilley, Q.C., the leading lawyer of the day, to plead his case.

First published in 1988, The Last Day, the Last Hour reconstructs the events - military and legal - that led to the trial and the trial itself, one of the most sensational courtroom battles in Canadian history, involving many prominent legal, military and political figures of the 1920s. Now back in print with a new preface by the author, judge and legal scholar Robert J. Sharpe, The Last Day, the Last Hour remains the definitive account of a landmark legal case.

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R.C. Van Caenegem is one of the few legal historians to have crossed national boundaries successfully. His knowledge of the various codes and customs of the European Continent in general and the Low Countries in particular enables him to bring a fresh eye to the English Common law. Four of these nine essays have not been published in English before.
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This study presents a full account of Sheppard's employment under Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate as well as an examination of his family background and education, his religious commitment to John Owen's party of Independents and his legal philosophy. An appraisal of all Sheppard's legal works, including those written during the Civil War and the Restoration period, illustrates the overlapping concerns with law reform, religion and politics in his generation. Sheppard had impressively consistent goals for the reform of English law and his prescient proposals anticipate the reforms ultimately adopted in the nineteenth century, culminating in the Judicature Acts of 1875-8. Dr Matthews examines the relative importance of Sheppard's books to his generation and to legal literature in general. The study provides a full bibliography of Sheppard's legal and religious works and an appendix of the sources Sheppard used in the composition of his books on the law. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Do not do business with Good Will Books
I ordered both Volume 1 and Volume 2 of Documents of American Indian Diplomacy, however, I received only Volume 2. I contacted the seller three times before I received a response. Good Will Books claimed that they do not always know what is in their inventory if it is multi-volume set. They extended their apologies and offered to send me a return label. Yet, I was not entitled to a credit card refund, but rather a credit to their store. I responded that this was not good or fair business, since the books were advertised as a set. And, due to the expense of the volumes--$54.69. I never heard from Good will Books again nor did I receive a return label address. I have tried to find Volume 1 without Volume 2, but have had no luck. I need both volumes, as I teach a course on American Indian Identity. I am a graduate teaching assistant at a big 10 university, so my paycheck is below poverty level. This was a huge expense to me. Good Will Books is the complete opposite of what their name suggests. BEWARE!

An essential compilation.
This two volumes compilation of Indian Treaties is essential for anyone who wants to learn Native American Diplomacy with the U.S.A., Spain, Mexico and a great number of U.S. states, particulars, etc...

Two regrets :first, the references end with year 1979 (end of President CARTER'speriode), but so many laws were established during Presidents REAGAN, BUSHand CLINTON... should have found its place here;

second, it's quitedifficult to find a particular problem, while an important final index(pages 1500 to 1540) offers interesting possibilities. If You want to learnhow Treaties were written and failed, You have to buy (or consult) thosetwo books.

(Please excuse my bad English; I'm a natural French writer)

An important publication on treaties with the Indian Nations
This is an extremely important book for readers interested in the history of treaties between the United States ( and others ) and the Indian Nations.

This is a two volume, 1500 page work. This is surprising enoughwithout considering that the texts of the 350+ traditionally acknowledgedtreaties - that have been accessed over the years through Charles J.Kappler's "Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties" - are not included here. Citations to Kappler's compilation are provided in Chapter 5 on "ValidTreaties."The scope of this work is demonstrated by the inclusion ofearly and very late treaties or agreements; by an analysis of therailroad/irrigation agreements; and by the enumeration of treaties andagreements rejected by Congress or by the Nations.This last group ofdocuments is added to land grants to private parties, and to unratified ormiscellaneous treaties or agreements, that collectively comprise the entiresecond volume.

Deloria and DeMallie state ( page 1475 ): "The goal ofthis collection is to identify every document that can be understood asrepresenting a diplomatic negotiation by an Indian nation."For thoseinterested in this area of history, this publication will be an asset totheir collection. ... Read more

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This fifth volume in the distinguished series on the history of Canadian law turns to the important issues of crime and criminal justice. In examining crime and criminal law specifically, the volume contributes to the long-standing concern of Canadian historians with law, order, and authority.

The volume covers criminal justice history at various times in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes. It is a study which opens up greater vistas of understanding to all those interested in the interstices of law, crime, and punishment. ... Read more

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This study of the documents used in medieval England for the creation and transfer of interests in real property is the first book devoted exclusively to the subject since the publication of Thomas Madox's Formulare Anglicanum in 1702. The transactions covered include grants in fee and in perpetual alms, leases for life and for years, exchanges, surrenders and releases. Analysis of each kind of transaction is partly by way of commentary on the formulae of deeds, selected from the many thousands found in published cartularies and collections, and partly by relating the deeds to the relevant law of their periods, as found in early treatises, decided cases and the Year Books. The aim is to enable readers to identify and categorise deeds accurately, to appreciate their legal effects and to note instances where the practice of conveyancers and their clients differed from what is supposed to have been the law. ... Read more

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Historically Canadians have considered themselves to be more or less free of racial prejudice. Although this conception has been challenged in recent years, it has not been completely dispelled. In Colour-Coded, Constance Backhouse illustrates the tenacious hold that white supremacy had on our legal system in the first half of this century, and underscores the damaging legacy of inequality that continues today.

Backhouse presents detailed narratives of six court cases, each giving evidence of blatant racism created and enforced through law. The cases focus on Aboriginal, Inuit, Chinese-Canadian, and African-Canadian individuals, taking us from the criminal prosecution of traditional Aboriginal dance to the trial of members of the 'Ku Klux Klan of Kanada.' From thousands of possibilities, Backhouse has selected studies that constitute central moments in the legal history of race in Canada. Her selection also considers a wide range of legal forums, including administrative rulings by municipal councils, criminal trials before police magistrates, and criminal and civil cases heard by the highest courts in the provinces and by the Supreme Court of Canada.

The extensive and detailed documentation presented here leaves no doubt that the Canadian legal system played a dominant role in creating and preserving racial discrimination. A central message of this book is that racism is deeply embedded in Canadian history despite Canada's reputation as a raceless society.

Winner of the Joseph Brant Award, presented by the Ontario Historical Society

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Timely insights
The king has no clothes on. Canada isn't so innocent of crimes and injustice.

Finally a statement that traces the roots of systemic racism in this country. From cross-burning, to acts of violence, to weilding the power of law, the courts and the legal system, White Canada oppressedminorities and created advantage while forcing others to try to survive onan unlevel playing field (while making sure minorities "feelCanadian" when it comes to paying taxes to the system).

We'veinherited a legacy of limitation of access, to say the least. This historyhelps us challenge the assumption that how things are now is"normal."

Thanks, Ms. Backhouse, for challenging the Whiteestablishment to stand up and acknowledge this dark history of shame. ... Read more

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In the years after World War II, as the world grappled with the enormity of the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazi regime, two Hoosiers had a significant role in the American response to unfolding events in Germany. Frank Richman of Columbus, Indiana, and Curtis Shake of Vincennes, Indiana, both served with distinction as members of the Indiana Supreme Court. By early 1947 both justices had stepped down from the court to begin new phases in their profession. Shake resumed his law practice in Vincennes, and Richman planned to teach law. World events intervened when both men were called to serve as civilian judges in tribunals convened in Nuremberg to try secondary Nazi war criminals. Shake and Richman sat on the bench in the trials of leading German industrialists for crimes against humanity, applying international law according to American concepts of fairness.Despite lingering doubts about the legitimacy of American judges having jurisdiction over German nationals, Richman and Shake responded with grace, competence, and high ethical standards, along with a little controversy. The book highlights the role two leading citizens of Indiana played in events that, more than sixty years later, still resonate across the world. ... Read more

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Shows how two sets of ideas about law and authority emerged in the late-medieval period, one stressing the moral basis of law, the other advancing the view that laws are authoritative simply because they originate in the human will. ... Read more

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Historians have long recognized that members of the lower branch of the legal profession, the ancestors of the modern solicitors, played an important part in early modern English society, but difficulties in establishing their identities and recovering their career patterns have hitherto left them virtually unstudied. This work charts the massive sixteenth-century increase in central court litigation and offers an explanation of it largely in terms of social change and the decline of local jurisdictions. At the same time, it argues that the period witnessed a major turning point in the relationship between the legal profession and English society. The number of practitioners in the lower branch who were associated with the legal institutions of London grew to such an extent that by 1640 the ratio of lawyers to population was not much different from that in the early twentieth century. Although this tremendous growth in the amount of legal business and the number of legal practitioners created some serious administrative problems, the commonly held view that the lower branch in this period was largely untrained, dishonest, and uncontrolled is no more than a myth. ... Read more

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This book tells one part of the long history of the institution of marriage. Questions concerning the formation and annulment of marriage came under the exclusive jurisdiction of the church courts during the Middle Ages. Drawing on unpublished records of these courts, Professor Helmholz describes the practical side of matrimonial jurisdiction and relates it to his outline of the formal law of marriage. He investigates the nature of the cases heard, the procedure used, the people involved and changes over the period covered, all of which add to what is known about marriage and legal practice in medieval England. The concluding assessment of canonical jurisdiction over marriage suggests that the application of the law was more successful than is usually thought. ... Read more

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Best nonfiction book EVER!
Very few lawsuits in Medieval England, concerning marriage, were for divorce; in fact, most lawsuits were actually demanding that the two people in question were married and not single.Weird, huh....

This book confronts many commonly held views on medieval marriage.It was originally a Ph.D. dissertation by Helmholz, but it reads more smoothly and is more engaging than most fiction books.Part of what makes it so interesting is that the book primarily deals with people who are not from the nobility.Other books, such as Medieval Marriage: Two Models from Twelfth-Century France (The Johns Hopkins Symposia in Comparative History) or The Knight, the Lady and the Priest: The Making of Modern Marriage in Medieval France, both by Georges Duby, or The Medieval Idea of Marriage, by Christopher Brooke, only focus on the nobility, leaving the reader to wonder what the other 90% of the population did about marriage.Granted, the sources used by Helmholz are limited in scope (as any primary source), and they have the disadvantage of being recollections from courtroom proceedings, having been translated by the clergy recording the transactions from the native tongue to Latin.Nevertheless, these court records reveal astonishing characteristics of medieval marriage.Marriages were often contracted on the fly: grab a couple witnesses, declare marriage (this got sticky with present and future intentions and corresponding consummation), and *pow* you're married.Easy as 1, 2, 3, and yet so complicated as to leave an abundance (relatively speaking) of records.
You don't have to hold a Ph.D. in History or be obsessed with medieval history to appreciate this book.It's not a cheap book, but this is a great book and time well spent reading it. ... Read more