There is no question that at the beginning of the 21st century the United States stands at the apex of world economic supremacy. How did this relatively young and diverse nation reach such a level of preeminence? In The Transformation of American Law 1780-1860 Morton J. Horowitz attempts to demonstrate that the rulings of antebellum judges in cooperation with lawyers and big business directly and consciously effected the common law of the United States. Mr. …showed first 75 words of 1056 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1056 total…cannot present a seamless case, because the active participants in what he believes to have been a conscious restructuring of civil law are long gone. He does not present excerpts from private writings, such as diaries or journals. Mr. Horowitz therefore presents a challenging theory to our ideological ancestry, yet we will probably never know beyond a reasonable doubt if our civil laws evolved naturally or by coerced means. Critical Book Review By Rusty Belopolsky