Frontiers of legal theory /

After somewhat controversial forays into the debates over Bill Clinton's impeachment (An Affair of State; CH, Feb'00) and the 2000 presidential election (Breaking the Deadlock, 2001), Judge Posner is back where he seems most comfortable, waxing at length over the relationship between legal theory and other academic disciplines including economics, psychology, history, and statistics. In Frontiers of Legal Theory, Posner builds on his own earlier contributions on this subject to make the case for a more empirical study of law. The book cuts back and forth from highly technical discussions of normative law and economics (complete with regression analysis) to easy-to-read anecdotes from the courtroom. Accordingly, it will alternatively frustrate and inspire academic and lay readers alike. But his argument that legal practice itself should be treated as an academic discipline like any other is original, crisply explained, and should serve as fodder for future discussion among his colleagues in the "discipline" (if one can fairly call it that). Recommended especially for graduate students, law students, and faculty. D. Yalof University of Connecticut

Posner, a federal appellate judge (he was chosen to mediate the recent Microsoft antitrust case) and legal scholar (at the University of Chicago), examines the points of connection between law and a series of related fields, including economics, psychology, history and statistics. The purpose of the study is to determine whether these other disciplines can inform and improve the American legal system. Posner's central interest remains the intersection of law and economics, an approach featuring cost-benefit analysis as a tool for making policy choices and for steering judges toward efficient decisions. Some of the discussion is technical (e.g., regression analysis) and will be accessible only to specialists. Other chapters contain Posner's responses to recent articles by other leading adherents of the law and economics theory, and so will appeal to an academic readership. There are, however, other sections of the book that seem to reflect the author's experience in the courtroom rather than in the seminar room, and these passages are fully accessible to the general reader. For example, Posner offers insights into such controversial issues as hate-crime legislation, controls over speech on the Internet, the costs and benefits of the jury system, and the standards for excluding categories of evidence from trial. Posner's take on these issues is unfailingly original, crisply expressed and appropriately qualified by recognition of the limitations as well as the strengths of theory applied to real-world problems. Whether you agree with his conclusions or not, Posner demonstrates how to think hard and systematically about law. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

As both a federal judge and an author, Posner is well qualified to provide us with this timely overview of the leading trends currently guiding American legal thought. Promoting the concept of legal theory as a unified field of social science, the author delineates five areas for particular scrutiny: economics, history, psychology, epistemology, and quantitative empiricism. Posner cleverly argues for the transformation of the practice of law to an academic discipline by noting some of the inherent advantages. Such an approach, for example, offers a neutral standpoint on politically controversial legal topics. Legal disputes arising in such diverse areas as bankruptcy, contracts, and torts can, in this context, be illuminated, refined, and rectified upon referral to principles of economic efficiency and cost containment rather than to more traditional courtroom techniques such as fiery rhetoric. An empirical approach to the law can, the author claims, shed new light on issues such as campaign finance reform, free speech, and regulation of the Internet. The reliability of testimony is frequently crucial to the ability of the legal system to ascertain the facts of a dispute. Skeptics about testimony are therefore bound to be skeptical about the factual accuracy of verdicts. Posner devotes much attention to the comparative advantages of the adversarial vs. the inquisitorial system. This book is heavy reading, intended primarily for those with a high level of academic interest in the law. Recommended for advanced academic and law libraries only. Philip Y. Blue, New York State Supreme Court Criminal Branch Law Lib., New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.