BOOK: Michele ROTUNDA, A Drunkard's Defense - Alcohol, Murder, and Medical Jurisprudence in Nineteenth-Century America (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2021). ISBN 9781625345547, 28.95 USD

 

(Source: University of Massachusetts Press)

University of Massachusetts Press is publishing a new book on attitudes of courts towards drunkenness in 19^th century America.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Is drunkenness a defense for murder? In the early nineteenth century, the answer was a resounding no. Intoxication was considered voluntary, and thus provided no defense. Yet as the century progressed, American courts began to extend exculpatory value to heavy drinking. The medicalization of alcohol use created new categories of mental illness which, alongside changes in the law, formed the basis for defense arguments that claimed unintended consequences and lack of criminal intent. Concurrently, advocates of prohibition cast “demon rum” and the “rum-seller” as the drunkard’s accomplices in crime, mitigating offenders’ actions. By the postbellum period, a backlash, led by medical professionals and an influential temperance movement, left the legacy of an unsettled legal standard.
 
In A Drunkard’s Defense, Michele Rotunda examines a variety of court cases to explore the attitudes of nineteenth-century physicians, legal professionals, temperance advocates, and ordinary Americans toward the relationship between drunkenness, violence, and responsibility, providing broader insights into the country’s complicated relationship with alcohol.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MICHELE ROTUNDA is assistant professor of history at Union County College.

 

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BOOK: Mark D. WEST, Drunk Japan Law and Alcohol in Japanese Society (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020). ISBN 9780190070847, $74.00

(Source: OUP)

Oxford University Press is publishing a new book on the history of law and alcohol in Japanese society.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Each society that consumes alcohol has its own unique drinking culture, and each society deals with the drunken products of that culture in particular    ways.

As Mark D. West shows in Drunk Japan, the distinctive features of Japanese drinking culture and its intoxication-related laws are not simply interesting in and of themselves, but offer a unique window into Japanese society more broadly. Drawing upon close readings of over 5,000 published Japanese court opinions on drunkenness-related cases, he provides a rich description of Japanese alcohol consumption, drinking culture, and intoxication. West reveals that the opinions not only show patterns in what, where, and why people drink in Japan, but they also focus to a surprising extent on characteristics (including occupation, wealth, gender, and education) of individual litigants. By examining the consistencies and contradictions that emerge from the cases, West finds that, at its most extreme, the Japanese legal system is hyper-individualized. Focusing on individual people sometimes leads courts to ignore forensic evidence, to rely on post-arrest drinking tests, and to calculate prison sentences based on factors such as a mother's promise to help her adult child abstain.            

Cumulatively, the colorful and often tragic cases West uses not only illuminate the complexity of the culture, but they also reveal an entirely new vision of Japanese law and a comprehensive picture of alcohol use in Japanese society writ large.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark D. West is the Nippon Life Professor of Law and Dean of the University of Michigan Law School.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Explanatory Notes

Acknowledgments

Preface

1. Drinker's Paradise?

2. How to Drink in Japan

3. Drunk Crimes

4. Drunk Driving

5. Drunk Others

6. Punishing the Drunk

7. Drunk in Society

8. Conclusion

Notes

Index

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BOOK: Brian F. HAARA, Bourbon Justice : How Whiskey Law Shaped America (Lincoln: Potomac Books, 2018). ISBN 978-1-64012-085-3, $26.95

(Source: University of Nebraska Press)

The University of Nebraska Press is publishing a book on the impact of bourbon whiskey on American legal history.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Bourbon whiskey has made a surprising contribution to American legal history. Tracking the history of bourbon and bourbon law illuminates the development of the United States as a nation, from conquering the wild frontier to rugged individualism to fostering the entrepreneurial spirit to solidifying itself as a nation of laws. Bourbon is responsible for the growth and maturation of many substantive areas of the law, such as trademark, breach of contract, fraud, governmental regulation and taxation, and consumer protection. In Bourbon Justice Brian Haara delves into the legal history behind one of America’s most treasured spirits to uncover a past fraught with lawsuits whose outcome, surprisingly perhaps, helped define a nation.

Approaching the history of bourbon from a legal standpoint, Haara tells the history of America through the development of commercial laws that guided our nation from an often reckless laissez-faire mentality, through the growing pains of industrialization, and past the overcorrection of Prohibition. More than just true bourbon history, this is part of the American story.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brian Haara is a public speaker and legal writer, and he practices law as co-managing partner of Tachau Meek PLC, a business litigation firm. He writes about bourbon history and law on his blog Sipp’n Corn and was featured in the documentary Straight Up: Kentucky Bourbon. Fred Minnick is a former U.S. Army journalist who now writes about the spirits industry. He is the author of Whiskey Women: The Untold Story of How Women Saved Bourbon, Scotch, and Irish Whiskey (Potomac Books, 2013).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Illustrations   

Foreword, by Fred Minnick   

Preface   

Chapter 1. Bourbon History Tells the Story of American History   

Chapter 2. American Law Defines Bourbon   

Chapter 3. Bourbon Drives the Development of Trademark and Brand Name Rights   

Chapter 4. Old Crow Provides the Most Comprehensive Trade Name Case Study   

Chapter 5. Bourbon Expands Trade Name Rights   

Chapter 6. Bourbon Marketers Write the Book on Puffery and Exaggeration   

Chapter 7. Bourbon Leads the Nation to Consumer Protection   

Chapter 8. Bourbon Tells the Behind-the-Scenes Story of Prohibition   

Chapter 9. Bourbon Law Reins in Fake Distillers and Secret Sourcing   

Chapter 10. Bourbon Drives Truth in Labeling   

Acknowledgments   

Notes   

Table of Authorities   

Index

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