Ronald Kahn, Department of Politics, Oberlin College. This is a superbly written, pedagogically rich, historically and conceptually informed introduction to legal reasoning. This may well be the very best introductory text to legal reasoning for students of political science and legal institutions because it is rigorous and complex in its discussion of concepts, places legal reasoning in political and societal contexts, and is so cleanly and thoughtfully written. With regard to conceptual framework, it is difficult to label this book as primarily providing an institutional, behavioral, or cultural approach, because there is a weaving together of all these aspects of the study of judicial politics, and more. Moreover, Carter elegantly informs the reader of the impact of British legal history on American law, without being pedantic.
Students also get a subtle feel for judges and lawyers making highly discretionary decisions.
This is a book about legal reasoning in the context of the study of politics, power, societal change, as part of a liberal arts curriculum. It is not a book on how pre-law students can be lawyers. At the core of the book is Carter's pragmatic views on the relationships among politics, legal reasoning, and society. It is now particularly hard to justify that there is anything to get right in the abstract except as it matters in practice. To understand Carter's disciplined, pragmatic, and, at times, passionate views on legal reasoning, lets first consider the functions that law serves in society.