In some ways, the main idea for this book has been gestating for a long time. In my classes and writings, I have always tried to emphasize the extent to which law is not so much a science or even an intellectual system. Instead, I have played up the rich historical context in which law arises and functions; it is a dynamic mix of personalities, circumstances, and politics. However, the more immediate impetus to write about the common law and its great cases in a way that was directed primarily to nonlawyers came in 2008. I was invited by Holland-America to give a series of talks on a leg of one of its world cruises. I decided that it would be an excellent opportunity to try out my ideas. Even if I say so myself, it turned out to be a great success: people seemed to be genuinely fascinated by these tales and thought it a wonderful way to access the otherwise dense and unfriendly world of legal scholarship. I am grateful to Carolyn Craig for her invitation to give the lectures and to all the guests who found it worthwhile to forgo the more obvious pleasures of sun and sea to attend my talks.

In researching and writing this book, I have relied extensively on the fine body of research that has developed over the years on all these great cases. I have done little original or primary research myself. With full acknowledgment of gratitude, I have been as comprehensive as possible in listing those sources at the end of the book. Also, although I have not followed the old adage “not to let the facts get in the way of a good story,” I have taken the liberty of selecting the most fascinating or plausible interpretation of the available historical evidence where there is uncertainty or doubt.