Illicit sex is the catalyst in all the Texas murder trials recounted here. In each account the victim, at least in the perception of the defendant, had committed some sexual misconduct. In every case the defendant opened fire with premeditated intent to kill. And in all the resulting trials, the defense relied at least in part on "unwritten law." From the 1880s until after World War I, formal penal code seemed insufficiently stringent to southerners demanding redress for sexual misconduct. "Unwritten law" seemed to justify ...
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Illicit sex is the catalyst in all the Texas murder trials recounted here. In each account the victim, at least in the perception of the defendant, had committed some sexual misconduct. In every case the defendant opened fire with premeditated intent to kill. And in all the resulting trials, the defense relied at least in part on "unwritten law." From the 1880s until after World War I, formal penal code seemed insufficiently stringent to southerners demanding redress for sexual misconduct. "Unwritten law" seemed to justify the killing--or at least maiming--of almost anyone who by actual physical contact or inappropriate comment offended southern notions of female virtue, male honor, or sanctity of marriage. In this third book drawn from the legal annals of the American frontier, attorney Bill Neal explores the imaginative machinations of defense lawyers who outmaneuvered prosecutors and judges to extricate their obviously guilty clients. These courtroom triumphs and underlying strategies are remarkable to lawyers, historians, and laypersons alike.
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Fine in Fine jacket. Signed by Author(s) 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Signed on half-title page by Neal. 280 pp. Bright, crisp, tight and clean copy with like dust jacket. Unread.
