Includes bibliographical references (pages 783-796) and index.

The republic of bees -- Outposts of the law : the frontier and the civil law fringe -- Law and the economy : 1776-1850 -- The law of personal status : wives, paupers, and slaves -- An American law of property -- The law of commerce and trade -- Crime and punishment : and a footnote on tort -- The bar and its works -- Blood and gold : some main themes in the law in the last half of the nineteenth century -- Judges and courts : 1850-1900 -- Procedure and practice : an age of reform -- The land and other property -- Administrative law and regulation of business -- Torts -- The underdogs : 1850-1900 -- The law of corporations -- Commerce, labor, and taxation -- Crime and punishment -- The legal profession : the training and literature of law -- The legal profession : at work -- Leviathan comes of age -- The growth of the law -- Internal legal culture in the twentieth century : lawyers, judges, and law books -- Regulation, welfare, and the rise of environmental law -- Crime and punishment in the twentieth century -- Family law in the twentieth century.

"Renowned legal historian Lawrence Friedman presents an accessible and authoritative history of American law from the colonial era to the present day. This fully revised fourth edition incorporates the latest research to bring this classic work into the twenty-first century. In addition to looking closely at timely issues like race relations, the book covers the changing configurations of commercial law, criminal law, family law, and the law of property. Friedman furthermore interrogates the vicissitudes of the legal profession and legal education. The underlying theory of this eminently readable book is that the law is the product of society. In this way, we can view the history of the legal system through a sociological prism as it has evolved over the years." --Amazon.com