West's Encyclopedia of American Law, Volume 1

West's Encyclopedia of American Law contains a comprehensive overview of American law in 13-volumes covering historical and current terms, concepts, events, movements, cases, and persons significant to U.S law. Including 5,000 entries that range from brief definitions of legal jargon to exhaustive examinations of court-room procedure, from explanations of complex topics such as civil rights to biographies of standout attorneys, from analyses of controversial issues such as gun control to transcripts of crucial Supreme Court decisions. Each entry was written, updated, and reviewed by lawyers and professors with the layperson or beginning student in mind.The layout of this edition includes: Entries contain definition and explanatory text The 94 sidebars provide brief highlights and add informative details of some facets of main entries while the 89 In Focus pieces complement main entries with details and arguments on interesting, important, or controversial issues Two appendix volumes contain over one hundred primary documents, including: milestone Supreme Court decisions & briefs; foundations of U.S. law; civil rights laws and commentary; presidential speeches; and scholarly essaysTopics in this edition include: Abandonment Absentee voting Defamation Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty Internet Fraud Movie rating Patent and Tradem Roman Law Martin Van Buren And much more