Salem Press

	A good introductory resource, this is one of the more useful titles in Salem's Magill's Choice series, because it pulls together content that is scattered throughout so many other sets.
Booklist

Criminal Justice
Clear, authoritative treatment of all aspects of criminal justice - emphasis on justice in the media.

U.S. Laws, Acts,
and Treaties
Provides the much-needed service of selecting, from literally thousands of U.S. laws, those most likely to come up in classroom discussions.

The Bill of Rights
A comprehensive survey of all aspects of the U.S. Bill of Rights; from its origins to its role in modern American history.

U.S. Legal System
This set includes articles emphasizing basic legal concepts and offer a practical guide to how the federal and state legal systems work.

U.S. Court Cases

The 1990's saw a growing public awareness of the importance of the courts in American society that was reflected in high school and college curricula. Growing academic interest, in turn, has spurred a demand for reliable reference materials on court decisions. U.S. Court Cases is designed to help meet this demand by supplying authoritative and easily understood essays on leading court decisions in U.S. history.

Material in these volumes is divided into two parts. The first part comprises thirteen chapters discussing such fundamental issues as where American law comes from, what is meant by "justice," and how our courts are organized and function. Of special interest to those studying court cases are the chapters on judicial review and the incorporation doctrine. All these chapters include annotated bibliographies.

The second part of the set presents alphabetically arranged articles on 212 court cases. Most of these cases were decided by the U.S. Supreme Court; others were decided by lower federal courts and state courts. Concise information on the courts in which cases were decided, when their decisions were passed down, and what their significance has been is summarized at the beginning of each article. The essays themselves, which average about 500 words in length, discuss the origins, adjudication, and outcome of the cases. Special attention is paid to the place of each case in legal history and particularly to its relationship to other important court decisions. Additional information on many cases, as well as other subjects, can be found in the detailed index at the end of volume 2.

Three appendices appearing at the end of volume 2 offer additional help to users of this set. They include a comprehensive bibliography, an annotated list of all Supreme Court justices, and the complete text of the U.S. Constitution.

Perhaps the least understood branches of American government are the judiciary branches of the state and federal governments. The United States has a dual judicial system composed of federal and state courts that are organized as separate and independent systems; these systems are integrated and coordinated in subtle and complex accommodations of judicial federalism. What is called the U.S. judicial system encompasses the broad organization and interrelatedness of the courts of the federal government with the courts in the fifty states.

Actions undertaken by members of the various state and federal executive and legislative branches tend to be more visible than what judges and justices do. It is not because American courts work in secret; they do not. It is more likely due to the fact that most top executive and legislative offices are elective, and voters want to know what their political leaders do after they are elected. By contrast, most high-level state judges and all federal judges and Supreme Court justices are appointed. Judges tend to labor away from the public eye, with only the most dramatic of their decisions likely to attract public attention.

Despite their comparative anonymity, courts play a role in interpreting, applying, and, occasionally, modifying laws comparable in importance to that of the legislatures that create the laws and the executive branches charged with enforcing them. Under the common-law tradition and the practices that have evolved along with our national Constitution, decisions passed down by the courts become part of American law. For this reason alone they merit attention. Moreover, the processes by which cases reach the courts and contribute to our ever-changing legal system are themselves of great interest. The stories of individual court cases offer often poignant insights into American history and the development of our legal system, and many are filled with human drama.

All articles in these volumes originally appeared in other Salem Press publications, including four award-winning Ready Reference series: American Indians (1995), American Justice (1996), Censorship (1997), and Women's Issues (1997). Every court case covered in an individual essay in those four volumes, and in Salem's new Encyclopedia of Family Life (1998), is covered in U.S. Court Cases. Selected articles on court cases are also taken from Ethics (1994), Great Events from History II: Human Rights Series (1992) and Great Events from History: North American Series (rev. 1997). The thirteen overview chapters are taken from American Justice and Survey of Social Science: Government and Politics (1995).

Other Resources
Salem Press publishes a number of titles covering American justice, criminal justice, world and U.S. government, the court system, the legal system and a compelling legal guide. To view a listing of these titles, click Law & Legal Studies.