I want to know more about the history of justice. I know something little practical about how courts work today and have some overview of basic laws. But I have very little insight in how the principles and rituals of “the justice system” as we know it today, came about and have developed.
If anyone has a few minutes to mention the major building blocks of the origin and development of our justice system, that’d be great. But I’m also looking for texts which describe this history in a little greater depth.
Commentaries on the Laws of England (Blackstone’s Commentaries).
Per Wikipedia: The Commentaries were long regarded as the leading work on the development of English law and played a role in the development of the American legal system.
Of course, if you want to see what today’s legal system is like, I highly recommend walking into any local court house and sitting ye self down for a spell and observing the razzle dazzle that is the American “justice” system in the 21st Century. Usually you can get tours of your local court houses also, which I recommend doing. There’s law libraries for reference and research too.
A legal dictionary is a good reference to have also (Black’s Dictionary).