The Common Law Tradition: Deciding Appeals

Karl N. Llewellyn

May 2016 · Legal Legends Book 16 · Quid Pro Books

About this ebook

Karl Llewellyn, a legal realist whose views on jurisprudence were influential and sometimes controversial, was also one of the leading teachers of fundamental legal thought. He took seriously the functions of courts, the use of precedent, and the power of rules. In this important book, he laid bare these jurisprudential tools, in support of appellate court thinking at all levels in the legal system. Legal analysis is so clearly picked apart that this work has served as a tool-kit for judicial thinking — and persuasive argument to courts — since it was first published in 1960. And his invaluable appendices show in detail how arguments and judicial expressions can be turned around to the advocate's advantage. 

This book is the culmination of a lifetime of analysis of legal thought from one of the legal system’s most important legends. The new digital edition from Quid Pro Books adds a 2015 Foreword by Tulane law professor Steven Alan Childress. It is part of the Legal Legends Series from Quid Pro. Quality ebook formatting includes linked notes, active Contents, active cross-references in text, and proper presentation of text and notes. Other convenient features include fully-linked Index and Table of Cases (using original pagination), so that the reader can easily navigate to the topic or case of interest, and locate references from the original printings. The ebook is carefully proofread and properly presented, unlike many such digital republications today. 

Also available in an affordable new paperback reprint edition from Quid Pro Books, and a library-quality hardcover format, both of which embed the original pagination from the original editions so as to maintain continuity across printings. These new printings also feature the 2015 introduction from Prof. Childress.

A compelling new addition to the Legal Legends Series.

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About the author

Karl N. Llewellyn (1893-1962) was a professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School and, for more than 25 years, at Columbia University Law School. His law reform efforts include serving as a drafter of the Uniform Commercial Code. A leading figure in legal realism, his books include The Bramble Bush: On Our Law and Its Study, The Cheyenne Way, Jurisprudence, The Theory of Rules, and The Case Law System in America.