"The study of law attracts students for a variety of reasons. Many see the study of law as a career choice - as the opportunity to become a lawyer, a paralegal, or some other related professional. Some are interested because of personal dealings with the legal system, while others are interested simply because it is a fascinating subject. Whatever reasons motivate the student, an introductory class in law must accomplish certain basic objectives. Students must develop an understanding of the organization of the legal system ...
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"The study of law attracts students for a variety of reasons. Many see the study of law as a career choice - as the opportunity to become a lawyer, a paralegal, or some other related professional. Some are interested because of personal dealings with the legal system, while others are interested simply because it is a fascinating subject. Whatever reasons motivate the student, an introductory class in law must accomplish certain basic objectives. Students must develop an understanding of the organization of the legal system. They must comprehend basic legal concepts related to procedural and substantive law. Students should also be introduced to cases, statutes, regulations, and the Constitution, the sources of all of our laws. While students in an introductory law class should not be forced to learn about the law entirely through reading cases, some experience in reading cases is essential to learning about the law. Our years of teaching convince us that any introductory law course must begin with and emphasize the development of a strong legal vocabulary. Also important is the opportunity to use and develop the critical thinking skills so important to any law-related career. Our goal, therefore, in writing this text is to help instructors by providing beginning students with a book that keeps their interest while providing an overview of the organization and operation of the legal system, as well as an introduction to some of the basic concepts of substantive and procedural law. More importantly, however, we have included several features that give students the opportunity to develop a strong legal vocabulary and to build their critical thinking skills. Feedback from instructors and students who use this text confirmed that the basic organization and features of this textbook are successful. Students especially appreciate the extensive key term definitions in the margin, the interesting cases, and the wide use of common hypothetical cases to explain the application of legal principles. These features remain in the text. However, the law is not, nor will it ever be, a static entity. Any useful textbook dealing with the law must reflect these changes. As a result, our goal in this edition is to also provide students with the following"--
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