News Release

US promotes democracy with book by Rutgers law professor

'Law 101' encourages greater understanding of American legal system

Book Announcement

Rutgers University

CAMDEN – America’s secret weapon in the global effort to promote understanding of U.S. law and democracy just might be a book authored by a respected Rutgers—Camden legal scholar.

When “Law 101: Everything You Need to Know About the American Legal System” (Oxford University Press) was first published in 2000, author Jay Feinman gave the general reading public a thorough and accessible overview of the American legal system. Covering topics traditionally studied in the first year of law school, the book offered readers a comprehensive introduction to the law without attending class.

Now Feinman, a distinguished professor at the Rutgers School of Law—Camden, is bringing his survey of U.S. law to a much wider audience. “Law 101,” currently in its second American edition, has been translated into Spanish, Arabic, Japanese, Dari, Pashtu (the principal languages in Afghanistan), and Urdu, (the national language of Pakistan). A Chinese translation is in the works and an English edition already has been released in China.

“This isn’t about getting people to adopt American ways of law but about promoting the understanding of American ideals and culture,” Feinman explained. “In a globalizing world, lawyers, business people, and opinion leaders need to understand American law.”

Several of the translations have been sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s International Information Program. As part of the department’s public diplomacy efforts, the book publishing program aims to foster a sense of mutual interests and shared values between Americans and people of different countries. The program has placed copies of “Law 101” in schools, libraries and community centers throughout the Middle East and Latin America.

“Law 101” was chosen “because it is a primer designed to help (general citizens) understand the American legal system. Therefore, foreign audiences would find this text to be informative and easy to comprehend,” says Gloria Steele, program officer for economic security/trade/global issues at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Information Programs.

“An offer was made to several American embassies to translate the book into local languages. Five embassies requested translation. The book was translated and distributed in Mexico, Egypt (for distribution to other Arabic countries), Pakistan, and Afghanistan,” continues Steele.

Readers from all over the world, including Iraq, Morocco, Brazil, Japan and Taiwan, have reached out to Feinman with questions and comments about the book, which deals with every aspect of the American legal system -- ranging from constitutional law and the intricacies of litigation, to contract law, property law and criminal law. He brings the subject matter to life by discussing well-known lawsuits, such as the McDonald’s scalding coffee case, and including many other real-world examples.

A legal translator for international law firms in Taiwan wrote Feinman to say that in his work, the differences in legal rules and concepts under different systems have presented “considerable challenges. I believe your book … will help me and all other legal translators in civil law countries by clearly explaining the meaning of the basic Anglo-American legal principles in such a way that law dictionaries cannot do.”

Thanks to the book, Feinman has exchanged numerous emails with a faculty member in the law college at the University of Mosul in Iraq, including one where the lecturer expressed his “deep gratefulness, appreciation and great happiness” after receiving the book.

A Brazilian professor who teaches legal translation at the University of Brasilia weighed in with a question about homicide and congratulated the Rutgers—Camden legal scholar for a “wonderful job. Your book is indeed very useful for the understanding of American legal aspects.”

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A nationally recognized expert on tort law, contract law, legal education and legal theory, Feinman is the author of five books, including “1001 Legal Words You Need to Know” (Oxford University Press, 2003), as well as more than 50 articles. He edits the Web site thecommonlaw.net, which provides links to information about current issues in contract, tort, and property law.

Feinman is a resident of Haddonfield.


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