| A Judgment for Solomon: The d'Hauteville Case and Legal Experience in Antebellum America Contributor(s): Grossberg, Michael (Author) |
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ISBN: 0521552060 ISBN-13: 9780521552066 Publisher: Cambridge University Press OUR PRICE: $122.55 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: January 1996 Annotation: From the Salem witchcraft trials of the 1690s to the Rodney King and O. J. Simpson trials of the 1990s, highly publicized court cases have both disclosed and shaped changes in American society. In this volume, Michael Grossberg examines the d'Hauteville child custody battle of 1840 to explore some timebound and timeless features of American legal culture. He recounts how marital woes led Ellen and Gonzalve d'Hauteville into what Alexis de Tocqueville called the "shadow of the law". Their bitter custody fight over their two-year-old son forced the pair to confront contradictions between their own ideas about justice and the realities of the law, as well as to endure the transformation of their domestic unhappiness into a public legal event with lawyers, judges, newspaper reporters, and a popular following. The d'Hautevilles' multiple legal experiences culminated in an eagerly followed Philadelphia trial that sparked a national debate over the legal rights and duties of parents and spouses. The story of the d'Hauteville case explains why popular trials become "precedents of legal experience" - mediums for debates about highly contested social issues. It also demonstrates the ability of individual women and men to contribute to legal change by turning to the law to fight for what they want. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - 19th Century |
| Dewey: 347.306 |
| LCCN: 95017548 |
| Series: Cambridge Historical Studies in American Law and Society |
| Physical Information: 1.02" H x 6.19" W x 9.19" (1.23 lbs) 296 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1800-1850 - Chronological Period - 19th Century |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: A Judgment for Solomon tells the story of the d'Hauteville case, a controversial child custody battle fought in 1840. It uses the story of one couple's bitter fight over their son to explore some timebound and timeless features of American legal culture. This eagerly followed trial sparked a national debate over the legal rights and duties of mothers and fathers, husbands and wives. The d'Hauteville case explains why popular trials become precedents of legal experience-- mediums for debates about highly contested social issues. It also demonstrates the ability of individual women and men to contribute to legal change by turning to the law to fight for what they want. |