Community Law

This study examined the transformation of the American approach to the use of law. This transformation has occurred primarily since the early1960s, although many of the trends present in this transition have origins preceding the 1960s.

The Changing Character of the American Approach to the Use of Law

The highly respected British news weekly, The Economist, said, in 1991, that "Americans who don't take out their frustrations with a gun tend to do so with a lawsuit."1 Such was not always the case in the United States. "Our common law tradition, like the legal tradition of other nations, viewed a lawsuit as an evilat best, a necessary evil."2 In the relatively recent past in the United States, "lawyers were specifically forbidden to 'stir up' litigation."3 Public interest groups and lawyers themselves began to challenge this notion in the late1950s and early1960s.4 By the mid1970s, lawsuits had come, by many persons in American society, "to be seen as splendid vessels for deterring misconduct and

1"Cover Your Assets," The Economist, 10 August 1991, 30.

2Walter K. Olson, "The Selling of the Law," American Enterprise, 2 (January/February 1991): 27.

4H. Tolley, "Interest Group Litigation to Enforce Human Rights," Political Science Quarterly, 105 (Winter 19901991): 617638; R. B. Conlin, "'Litigation Explosion': Tempest in A Teapot," Trial, Nove

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n courtrooms. Most jurisdictions that do permit television cameras in the courtroom do not permit continuous live coverage of the proceedings. The are a variety of issues involved in the question of permitting television cameras in courtroom. At times, the imperatives of these issues conflict with one another. First, there is the constitutional guarantee in the United States of the right of a fair trial. Some legal and civil liberties authorities and advocates contend that the presence of television cameras in courtrooms undermines the right to a fair trial. Second, there are the rights of the general public in the United States to both know what transpires in courtrooms, and to have access to those courtrooms. Precedent exists for the curtailing of each of these rights under certain circumstances. Third, the judicial system in the United States is a part of the country's government. In this context, the American public has the right to know what its governments are doing and how they are doing it. Precedent also exists for the curtailing of this right under certain circumstances. Each of the three issues can easily conflict with one of the others depending upon the circumstances of specific court cases. Further, gover
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Approximate Word count = 7520
Approximate Pages = 30 (250 words per page)

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