Delve into official and unofficial accounts of trials that fascinated Anglo-American society across four centuries.
The Making of Modern Law: Trials, 1600-1926 describes the courtroom dramas that gripped American society, the British Empire, and the world. This fully-searchable digital collection includes unofficially published accounts of trials; official trial documents, briefs, and arguments; and official records of legislative proceedings, administrative proceedings, and arbitration sessions. The collection also supports studies in government, psychology, critical theory, theater and performance, gender studies, race studies, and journalism.
The Making of Modern Law: Trials, 1600-1926 is the world's most comprehensive full-text collection of documents from Anglo-American trials. In addition to works pertaining to English-speaking jurisdictions such as the United States, Britain, Ireland, and Canada, this digital archive also contains English-language titles about trials in other jurisdictions, such as France. Users will find published trial transcripts; popular printed accounts of sensational trials for murder, adultery, and other scandalous crimes; unofficially published accounts of trials, briefs, arguments, and other trial documents that were printed as separate publications; official records of legislative proceedings, administrative proceedings, and arbitration sessions (domestic and international); and books encompassing multiple trials as well as books and pamphlets about a single trial.
Students will find this collection invaluable for its coverage of such topics as adultery, commercial law, constitutional law, dueling, elections, impeachment, international law, land, military offenses, murder, sexuality, slavery, torts, treason, and wills.
It enables researchers to:
- Access the workings of the justice system
- Delve into notorious dramas and sensational trials
- Discover an unfiltered narrative into the daily lives of everyday people -- an unparalleled source for the historical examination of sex, gender, class, marriage, and divorce
- Study precedent-setting trials associated with important constitutional and historic issues, including the Amistad slavery case, the Dred Scott case, and the Scopes "monkey" trial
The Making of Modern Law: Trials, 1600-1926 is the result of a partnership between Gale and the law libraries of Harvard University and Yale University. In addition, it includes outstanding trials from the Library of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. In addition to the full text of all works within this collection, additional details associated with each work have been captured to facilitate searching and ensure accessibility. Search indexes have been developed using this metadata, providing users with unequaled access to the content and providing details within the full citation created for each work.
Famous subjects in British history include:
- Charles I
- Henry Sacheverell
- Warren Hastings
- Queen Caroline
- Daniel O'Connell
- Oscar Wilde
Famous subjects in American history include:
- John Andre
- Aaron Burr
- John Brown
- Andrew Johnson
- Lizzie Borden
- Sacco and Vanzetti
- John Scopes
- Dred Scott
Famous subjects in French history include:
- Joan of Arc
- Martin Guerre
- Caron de Beaumarchais
- Francois Babeuf
- Alfred Dreyfus
Relive celebrated U.S. trials, including:
- Court-martial of Major General Benedict Arnold
- Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
- United Mine Workers of America vs. the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company
- Sacco and Vanzetti murder case
Discover details of historic British trials, such as:
- Condemnation of priests for high treason in 1679
- Trial of Rev. J. Smith for assisting in a slave rebellion
- Brutal bean-hook murder of Ann Pullin by George King
Learn the sordid details of famous love trials:
- The Cuckold's Chronicle, with trials for adultery, incest and imbecility
- Trial of Richard Vining Perry for abducting an heiress
- Confessions of Dr. Pritchard to the murder of his wife
Only a few of the very largest libraries hold more than a small fraction, in any format, of the trial works contained in this digital collection. Even libraries with large print holdings will benefit from the power of full-text searching -- enabling information never before available to be retrieved and correlated.
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FEATURED TESTIMONIAL
“By drawing from the collections of two premiere research libraries, Gale has created a unique resource that could be beneficial to a wide range of researchers. SUMMING UP: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty.”
- J.D. Graveline
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subjects covered
- European Studies
- Gender & Women's Studies
- Humanities & Social Sciences
- Law & Legal Studies
- U.S. History
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