Appellate Courts in the United States and England

Considered a classic of comparative law and legal systems, this book has been twice reprinted since its first appearance 50 years ago, and is now available in a high-quality, modern edition. No work has so openly and extensively-using hands-on observations by leading legal figures of the time-compared appellate courts in two common law countries. While much comparative work contrasts civil law systems with those of the common law, this study teased out substantial, impactful differences even within two traditional common law systems. The original project grew out of an intensive experiment in comparing the U.S. and English appellate courts, by which highly recognized American and English judges and lawyers met repeatedly to study and report on the appellate courts of each other’s countries, with the goal of improving such courts in their own. Distinguished U.S. proceduralist Delmar Karlen of NYU then described in detail the tribunals studied, the observations of the participants, and areas of judicial administration; then, in an extensive conclusion, he compared and contrasted appellate procedures in each country. The work remains invaluable for legal scholars, judicial administrators, and political scientists. The 2014 edition by Quid Pro Books is an unabridged and carefully produced republication of the original work (in substance the same as the 1984 and 2004 reprint editions by other publishers). It embeds the original pagination to promote consistency with prior versions and continuity of referencing. Part of the Classics of Law & Society Series from Quid Pro Books.