Jurismania: The Madness of American Law (Studies of the German Historical Institute, London)

in jurismania, Paul Campos Asserts That Our Legal System Is Beginning To Exhibit Symptoms Of Serious Mental Illness. Trials And Appeals That Stretch Out For Years And Cost Millions, 100 Page Appellate Court Opinions, 1,000 Page Statutes Before Which Even Lawyers Tremble With Fear, And A Public That Grows More Litigious Every Day All Testify To A Judicial Overkill That Borders On Obsessive-compulsive Disorder. Campos Locates The Source Of Such Madness, Paradoxically, In Our Worship Of Reason And The Resulting Belief That All Problems Are Amenable To Legal Solutions. In Insightful Discussions Of A Wide Range Of Cases, From Ncaa Regulations Of Student-athletes To The Simpson Trial, From Our Most Intractable Social Disputes Over Abortion And Physician-assisted Suicide To The War On Drugs And The Increasingly Fastidious Attempts To Regulate Behavior In Public Spaces, Campos Shows That The Mania For More Law Exacerbates The Very Problems It Seeks To Remedy. In His Final Chapter, The Author Calls Instead For A Humbling Recognition Of The Limits Of Reason And A Much More Modest Role For Our Legal System. Clearly Written And Laced With A Delicious Wit, jurismania Gives Us A Cat-scan Of The American Legal Mind At Work. It Reveals Not Only That The Patient Is Even Worse Off Than We Imagined, But Also Clarifies The Many Reasons Why. larry A. Alexander campos Is Insightful, Witty, And Urbane. He Demonstrates Again And Again The Ludicrous And Oppressive Pretensions Of Hyperegulative Law....i Enthusiastically Recommend Jurismania To Everyone Concerned With The Ever-increasing Intrusion Of Law And Bureacracy Into Our Lives. -- Larry A. Alexander In Jurismania, Paul Campos asserts that our legal system is beginning to exhibit symptoms of serious mental illness. Trials and appeals that stretch out for years and cost millions, 100 page appellate court opinions, 1,000 page statutes before which even lawyers tremble with fear, and a public that grows more litigious every day all testify to a judicial overkill that borders on obsessive-compulsive disorder. Campos locates the source of such madness, paradoxically, in our worship of reason and the resulting belief that all problems are amenable to legal solutions. In insightful discussions of a wide range of cases, from NCAA regulations of student-athletes to the Simpson trial, from our most intractable social disputes over abortion and physician-assisted suicide to the war on drugs and the increasingly fastidious attempts to regulate behavior in public spaces, Campos shows that the mania for more law exacerbates the very problems it seeks to remedy. In his final chapter, the author calls instead for a humbling recognition of the limits of reason and a much more modest role for our legal system.Clearly written and laced with a delicious wit, Jurismania gives us a CAT-scan of the American legal mind at work. It reveals not only that the patient is even worse off than we imagined, but also clarifies the many reasons why. Contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 12 1. American Culture and the Madness of Law......Page 14 2. The Color of Money......Page 27 3. The Anarchic Panopticon......Page 38 4. Leaving Las Vegas......Page 61 5. Rationalization and Its Discontents......Page 92 6. Toward a General Theory of Unicorns......Page 115 7. Addicted to Law......Page 133 8. The Future of an Illusion......Page 149 9. The Banality of Goodness......Page 162 10. The Way of Renunciation......Page 186 C......Page 206 K......Page 207 R......Page 208 Y......Page 209 In this book, Paul Campos argues that the American worship of law and legality can at times become so pathological that it comes to resemble a type of legal madness, or Jurismania. Campos offers an intensely critical look at the role of law and legal reason in American society, and concludes that much of what is called the rule of law resembles a culturally sanctioned form of obsessive-compulsive behaviour This text argues that the American worship of law and legality can become so pathological it resembles a type of legal madness, or "Jurismania". It looks at law in American society, and concludes that much of what is called the rule of law resembles a form of obsessive-compulsive behaviour The author of this text argues that the American worship of law and legality can at times be so pathological that it comes to resemble a type of legal madness, or "jurismania". He concludes that much of the "rule of law" is simply culturally sanctioned obsessive-compulsive behaviour. Discussing a wide range of cases, from NCAA regulations of student athletes to the O.J. Simpson trial, the author argues that Americans' litigiousness and overconfidence in reason are destroying the legal system The author examines the "mania for more law" and concludes that the United States should come to "a humbling recognition of the limits of reason and a much more modest role for our legal system."--Jacket In the middle of a dull April afternoon I answer a telephone call from a reporter with the New York Times.