Americanization of the Common Law - Paperback

by William E. Nelson (Author)

Americanization of the Common Law remains one of the standard works on the transformation of law in America from the late colonial period to the end of the early republic. In a straightforward manner, William E. Nelson analyzes the profound ideological movement that grew out of the American Revolution and caused substantial structural change in the legal and social order of Massachusetts and, by extension, in the nation at large. The Revolution, Nelson argues, transformed a hierarchical and communitarian legal and social order into an egalitarian and individualistic one.

For this edition, Nelson has written a new preface in which he discusses the book's initial reception and the relevant historiographical issues that have arisen since it was first published in 1975.

Author Biography

William E. Nelson is a professor of law at New York University. His book "The Fourteenth Amendment: From Political Principle to Judicial Doctrine" won the Littleton-Griswold Prize of the American Historical Association.