Whether examining election outcomes, the legal status of terrorism suspects, or if (or how) people can be sentenced to death, a judge in a modern democracy assumes a role that raises some of the most contentious political issues of our day. But do judges even have a role beyond deciding the disputes before them under law? What are the criteria for judging the justices who write opinions for the United States Supreme Court or constitutional courts in other democracies? These are the questions that one of the world's foremost judges and legal theorists, Aharon Barak, poses in this book. In fluent prose, Barak sets forth a powerful vision of the role of the judge. He argues that this role comprises two central elements beyond dispute resolution: bridging the gap between the law and society, and protecting the constitution and democracy. The former involves balancing the need to adapt the law to social change against the need for stability; the latter, judges' ultimate accountability, not to public opinion or to politicians, but to the "internal morality" of democracy. Barak's vigorous support of "purposive interpretation" (interpreting legal texts--for example, statutes and constitutions--in light of their purpose) contrasts sharply with the influential "originalism" advocated by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. As he explores these questions, Barak also traces how supreme courts in major democracies have evolved since World War II, and he guides us through many of his own decisions to show how he has tried to put these principles into action, even under the burden of judging on terrorism.

Previously published as The Cross Examination of Oliver Finney. When a brilliant billionaire is diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer, he realizes that all his considerable wealth cannot prepare him to meet his Maker. But he has an idea that might: he will stage the ultimate reality show. With his true agenda hidden, he auditions followers from all the world’s major religions, inviting them to the trial of their lives on a remote island, where they must defend their beliefs against spiritual challenges. Oliver Finney, a feisty old judge with his own secrets, is chosen to defend Christianity. As the program takes a strange twist, he quickly realizes he is trapped in a game of deadly agendas that may cost him his life. With Internet access monitored, Finney sends coded messages to his law clerk, Nikki Moreno. Aided by a teen crypto-geek, Nikki soon discovers the key to understanding Finney’s clues in an apologetics book Finney wrote and must race against time to decipher the mysteries contained in the ancient words of Christ before her boss dies defending them.

A horrible thing is coming this way Creeping closer day by day-- Its eyes are scary, Its tail is hairy... I tell you, Judge, we all better pray! Anxious prisoner after anxious prisoner echoes and embellishes this cry, but always in vain. The fiery old Judge, impatient with such foolish nonsense, calls them scoundrels, ninnyhammers, and throws them all in jail. But in the end, Justice is done--and the Judge is gone. Head first! Harve Zemach's cumulative verse tale is so infectious that children won't be able to avoid memorizing it. And Margot Zemach's hilarious pictures are brimming with vitality as well as color.

The latest comic novel from Christopher Buckley, in which a hapless Englishman embarks on a dangerous mission to the New World in pursuit of two judges who helped murder a king. London, 1664. Twenty years after the English revolution, the monarchy has been restored and Charles II sits on the throne. The men who conspired to kill his father are either dead or disappeared. Baltasar “Balty” St. Michel is twenty-four and has no skills and no employment. He gets by on handouts from his brother-in-law Samuel Pepys, an officer in the king’s navy. Fed up with his needy relative, Pepys offers Balty a job in the New World. He is to track down two missing judges who were responsible for the execution of the last king, Charles I. When Balty’s ship arrives in Boston, he finds a strange country filled with fundamentalist Puritans, saintly Quakers, warring tribes of Indians, and rogues of every stripe. Helped by a man named Huncks, an agent of the Crown with a mysterious past, Balty travels colonial America in search of the missing judges. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, Samuel Pepys prepares for a war with the Dutch that fears England has no chance of winning. Christopher Buckley’s enchanting new novel spins adventure, comedy, political intrigue, and romance against a historical backdrop with real-life characters like Charles II, John Winthrop, and Peter Stuyvesant. Buckley’s wit is as sharp as ever as he takes readers to seventeenth-century London and New England. We visit the bawdy court of Charles II, Boston under the strict Puritan rule, and New Amsterdam back when Manhattan was a half-wild outpost on the edge of an unmapped continent. The Judge Hunter is a smart and swiftly plotted novel that transports readers to a new world.

Former Delta Force Operative Joe "Judge" Smith came to work at the Lucky Lady Lodge to help rebuild the old girl to her former glory. Tired of killing, he wants to shoot a nail gun, not a military-grade rifle. Since arriving at the lodge in Montana, he and his team have been embroiled in one dangerous mission after another, unable to avoid using their combat training to help people defend themselves against a radical organization, The Chosen Way. Determined to locate their latest compound and find their leader, Judge goes undercover to infiltrate and gather the intelligence needed to bring them down. The Chosen Way's assassin, PJ, is tasked to train Judge, their newest recruit. Like many members of the organization, she was coerced into submission to protect her family and friends. Saddled with a new recruit, she's surprised at his skills and physical abilities and more than a little attracted. When Judge escapes with another recruit, PJ is given 48 hours to eliminate Judge and bring back proof that he is dead, or she and everyone she loves will be killed. With the clock ticking, PJ can't bring herself to murder Judge, a man she's falling in love with. Together, they devise a plan to take down the TCW's radical leader and dismantle the group forever. Only then can they give in to their growing passion.

The nature and function of judicial review -- Germany: dignity and democracy -- Eastern Europe: (re) establishing the rule of law -- France: purely abstract review -- Canada: imposing rights on the common law -- South Africa: defining a new society -- Tests of unconstitutionality and discrimination -- Conclusions: constitutional jurists as political theorists.