Jay Feinman - Law 101: Everything You Need to Know About American Law

JAY M. FEINMAN

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Jay M. Feinman 2014

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The Third Edition of Law 101 is cataloged as follows:

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Feinman, Jay M.

Law 101/Jay M. Feinman, 3rd ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 9780195395136 1. LawUnited StatedPopular works.

I. Title: Law one hundred one II. Title: Law one hundred one III. Title

KF387.F45 2006

349.73dc22

2005055481

eISBN 9780199341719

To Leah and Keith,
and, always, Carole

Law is everywhere. Check the news any day and youll hear about a notorious criminal trial, a massive lawsuit, or a new constitutional claim. And it all seems so complicated. Why are there legal technicalities that trip up the police and allow criminals to get off? Why does litigation take so long and cost so much? How do the courts figure out how the words of the Constitution apply to situations the framers never dreamed of?

Lawyers are trained to understand issues like these, and there are plenty of resources to help them. The library at my law school has almost 500,000 volumes and innumerable online resources in which lawyers can find statutes, judicial opinions, and learned commentary on the law. This book is for everybody else. Law 101 is a basic explanation of the rules and principles that lawyers and judges use. The premise of the book is straightforward: Its not easy to decide legal questions, but anyone can acquire a basic understanding of what the questions involve.

Each of the substantive chapters of the book covers one of the basic subjects that every lawyer learns during the first year of law school: constitutional law, civil rights, civil procedure and the litigation process, torts, contracts, property, criminal law, and criminal procedure. In each chapter you will learn the fundamental principles that underlie the subject, acquire a legal vocabulary, and see how the rules are applied in ordinary and unusual situations. (If you want simple definitions of even more legal terms, consult this books companion volume, 1001 Legal Words You Need to Know.) The book not only tells you about the lawmore importantly, it engages you in the process of lawmaking by asking you to think about the tough questions and troubling cases that lawyers and judges face. You will have some fun along the way as well, because the situations the law deals with are always interesting and sometimes amusing or outrageous.

After reading this book, when you hear about controversial legal issues you will have a better sense of the background and the complexity of the issues and you will be better able to make your own judgments about what the law should be. You also will be better prepared to think about the legal problems that you may encounter in everyday life, from owning a home to suing someone to asserting your constitutional rights. If you ever have considered going to law school, Law 101 will give you a taste of what it is like. And if you are a student, either in law school or elsewhere, it will give you the big picture of basic legal subjects that otherwise can be hard to obtain.

Although I am a lawyer and law professor, writing and revising this book have been as much of an education for me as I hope it will be for its readers. I have had to rethink many subjects that are not my specialties, and I have freshly examined areas I have studied for years. I am very grateful to all of those who helped me in the process. Carl Bogus, Dennis Braithwaite, Ed Chase, Kim Ferzan, Beth Hillman, Greg Lastowka, Thomas LeBien, Earl Maltz, Stanislaw Pomorski, Mike Sepanic, Rick Singer, Allan Stein, and Bob Williams gave me excellent comments. Elizabeth Boyd, Sheryl Fay, Nicole Friant, Amy Newnam, and Beth Pascal provided helpful research assistance. Chris Carr and Bill Lutz gave early support. Rutgers School of LawCamden and its deans provided an environment in which work of this kind could be done. Most of all, thanks to John Wright, who made it happen.

You Can Understand the Law

Americans are fascinated by the law. And why not? The law is important, intellectually challenging, and sometimes outrageous. Consider some cases that have made front-page news:

Stella Liebeck, seventy-nine years old, bought a cup of coffee at the drive-through window of a McDonalds in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As she placed the cup between her legs to remove the lid to add cream and sugar, she spilled the coffee, scalding herself. Liebecks injuries sent her to the hospital for seven days for burn treatment, including skin grafts, so she sued McDonalds, alleging that the coffee was dangerously hot. A jury awarded her $160,000 to compensate her for her injuries and $2.7 million to punish McDonalds, an amount the jury calculated was equal to two days of coffee sales for McDonalds. (The trial judge later reduced the punitive damage award to $480,000.) Was this an outrageous example of a tort system run amok, or a fair judgment for an injured victim against a wrongdoer? See .

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the administration of President George W. Bush claimed that the president had the authority as commander-in-chief to designate both foreign nationals and United States citizens as enemy combatants and hold them indefinitely at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Under presidential orders and Congressional legislation the detainees were denied access to the courts to review their status. The Supreme Court held the courts had the power to review the detentions, and citizens could not be held indefinitely without due process. Why does the Supreme Court get to decide issues .