cover image How Would You Rule?: Legal Puzzles, Brainteasers, and Dilemmas from the Law's Strangest Cases

How Would You Rule?: Legal Puzzles, Brainteasers, and Dilemmas from the Law's Strangest Cases

Daniel W. Park. Univ. of California, $29.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-520-29058-7

In this intriguing and thought-provoking series of true cases, Park (The Legal Mind: How the Law Thinks) strips each case of its legal jargon, leaving readers with the facts and arguments of each side and the hypothetical question: how would you interpret the laws to rule in such unusual situations? When lost at sea and faced with almost certain death, is it murder if you kill the weakest member of your party to prolong your own life? Does coercing an email host to share private emails constitute a Fourth Amendment violation? Readers are invited to weigh in on difficult cases with no clear and simple answer, and then encouraged to read what decisions the presiding judges reached and why they made the decisions they did. Park presents information very clearly, makes the cases well, and brings up interesting arguments for consideration. This is a fun theoretical exercise for anyone interested in law, including those who don't plan to pursue it professionally. (Nov.)