The law has captured the public's attention and imagination for centuries, with its servants demonstrating time and again their fallibility. A former lawyer and celebrated crime writer, Michael Gilbert has compiled a vastly entertaining collection of over three hundred fifty anecdotes about legal goings-on over the past two hundred fifty years, and about the individuals who have won distinction in the legal profession. Drawn from the reminiscences of lawyers, criminals, witnesses, and clerks, these irresistibly readable stories present the foibles as well as the authority of judges and other legal practitioners. We find many celebrated legal battles retold here, including Edward Carson's cross-examination of Oscar Wilde and Clarence Darrow's defense of J.T. Scopes for teaching the theory of evolution. We also discover countless less-familiar treasures such as the story of the letter received by Judge Benjamin Cardozo which "I read in the newspapers that you are a liberal judge. Will you send me ten dollars as I'm really very hard up." Gilbert has arranged the entries alphabetically by the name of their principal subject. He also includes headnotes which set the context and describe each subject's occupation (i.e. "judge", "attorney general") and a useful note which explains the differences between the British, European, and American legal systems.
Author
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. Born in Lincolnshire in 1912, Michael Francis Gilbert was educated in Sussex before entering the University of London where he gained an LLB with honours in 1937. Gilbert was a founding member of the British Crime Writers Association, and in 1988 he was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America - an achievement many thought long overdue. He won the Life Achievement Anthony Award at the 1990 Boucheron in London, and in 1980 he was knighted as a Commander in the Order of the British Empire. Gilbert made his debut in 1947 with Close Quarters, and since then has become recognized as one of our most versatile British mystery writers. He was the father of Harriett Gilbert.
