Whose Monet?: An Introduction to the American Legal System (Introduction to Law Series)

This extraordinary paperback provides a highly accessible and appealing orientation to the American legal system and presents basic concepts of civil litigation to first-year law students. <b>Whose Monet? An Introduction to the American Legal System</b> focuses on a lengthy dispute over the ownership of a painting as a vehicle for introducing students to the basic law school tasks of reading analytically, understanding legal materials, and working with the common law. <p class="copymedium"><b>The author and his colleagues have used these materials successfully in their classrooms for many years, ensuring their teachability and effectiveness:</b></p><ul><li class="copymedium"> Whose Monet? can be used as primary course material in orientation courses or seminars, as well as collateral reading for in-semester Legal Process or Civil Procedure courses </li><li class="copymedium"> The organization is logical and straightforward and the accessible writing style—lucid, descriptive, and conversational—is ideal for incoming students </li><li class="copymedium"> The major events in a lawsuit are considered, and the text sheds light on how the law is applied in a civil dispute, introducing common law and statutory law and the various courts and their interrelationship (trial/appellate, state/federal) </li><li class="copymedium"> The author draws on judicial opinions, litigation papers, transcripts, and selections from commentators and various jurisprudential sources, thereby exposing the first-year student to as broad a spectrum of materials as possible </li><li class="copymedium"> Telling the story of a real lawsuit (DeWeerth v. Baldinger)—from client intake through trial and various appeals—draws students into the legal process by means of an engaging narrative and makes for a truly enjoying teaching experience for professors </li><li class="copymedium"> The lawyer's role is examined in both its functional and moral dimensions: What do lawyers do? What does society legitimately expect lawyers to do? </li><li class="copymedium"> This book is suitable for both classroom and stand-alone assigned reading </li></ul><p class="copymedium"><b>Professor Humbach, with over 30 years of experience teaching and writing articles and instruction programs for first-year property students, includes a separate Teacher's Manual. Drawing upon his own classroom experience with these materials, he:</b></p><p class="copymedium"></p><ul><li class="copymedium"> suggests "learning objectives" for each chapter </li><li class="copymedium"> offers different teaching approaches </li><li class="copymedium"> provides answers to questions in the book </li><li class="copymedium"> suggests sample syllabi </li></ul><p></p><p></p>