Ludicrous Laws and Mindless Mismeanors


Book Description

An entertaining collection of actual laws, which seem to be quite silly.




Guilty Pleasures


Book Description

In Guilty Pleasures, legal scholar Laura Little provides a multi-faceted account of American law and humor, looking at constraints on humor (and humor's effect on law), humor about law, and humor in law.




Guilty Pleasures


Book Description

Few people associate law books with humor. Yet the legal world--in particular the American legal system--is itself frequently funny. Indeed, jokes about the profession are staples of American comedy. And there is actually humor within the world of law too: both lawyers and judges occasionally strive to be funny to deal with the drudgery of their duties. Just as importantly, though, our legal system is a strong regulator of humor. It encourages some types of humor while muzzling or punishing others. In a sense, law and humor engage a two-way feedback loop: humor provides the raw material for legal regulation and legal regulation inspires humor. In Guilty Pleasures, legal scholar Laura Little provides a multi-faceted account of American law and humor, looking at constraints on humor (and humor's effect on law), humor about law, and humor in law. In addition to interspersing amusing episodes from the legal world throughout the book, the book contains 75 New Yorker cartoons about lawyers and a preface by Bob Mankoff, the cartoon editor for the New Yorker.




Lowering the Bar


Book Description

What do you call 600 lawyers at the bottom of the sea? Marc Galanter calls it an opportunity to investigate the meanings of a rich and time-honored genre of American humor: lawyer jokes. Lowering the Bar analyzes hundreds of jokes from Mark Twain classics to contemporary anecdotes about Dan Quayle, Johnnie Cochran, and Kenneth Starr. Drawing on representations of law and lawyers in the mass media, political discourse, and public opinion surveys, Galanter finds that the increasing reliance on law has coexisted uneasily with anxiety about the “legalization” of society. Informative and always entertaining, his book explores the tensions between Americans’ deep-seated belief in the law and their ambivalence about lawyers.




How to Hold on to Your Guy Card (In a Chick's World)


Book Description

Men come in all packages: a king by the name of Elvis, a duke by the name of John, a freak by the name of Glenn, a cowboy by the name of Clint, a cable installer by the name of Larry, and an idol by the name of David. A man doesn't have to be (sorry Ted) an Alpha male to be a man.




Ludicrous Laws and Mindless Misdemeanors


Book Description

Did you know that ... In Maine it is illegal to catch a lobster with your bare hands? A Kentucky law specifies that you must remove your hat if you come face-to-face with a cow on the road? Arizona has enacted a "veggie hate crimes act" that makes disparaging its produce a crime? Who says the law must always make sense? This book proves beyond a reasonable doubt just how absurd our laws can be; it takes a hilariously irreverent look at our legal system, featuring downright logic defying decisions, preposterous defenses, and scores of silly statutes that pepper our nation's law books. Here's the whole truth and nothing but on laughable lawsuits, judicial jokesters, and classic courtroom capers.




Law and Philosophy


Book Description

This analytical anthology introduces students with little background in either to both law and philosophy using prominent classic political philosophers, legal theorists, and abundant landmark court cases. Legal issues are placed in their historical and philosophical contexts. The book considers critical issues such as civil disobedience, war crimes, and the death penalty. It teaches the basics of international, constitutional, and criminal law and shows how philosophy of law helps makes sense of and unifies the seeming scraps and fragments of law. The chapters focus on different areas of law and on different philosophers and philosophies. A classical political philosopher anchors each area of law covered. The anthology includes writings from prominent political philosophers (Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Kant, Mill, Nietzsche, and Rawls), from classical legal theorists (Aquinas, Grotius, Austin, Fuller, Hart, and Dworkin), and from judicial opinions (Justices Blackmun, Brennan, Marshall, Rehnquist, and Scalia).




Loony Lawsuits


Book Description