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were created by a demand for inexpensive weddings from clergy that required only a fee and not much in the way of licenses or marriage banns. These were often performed in the chapel at Fleet Prison or in taverns and other locations in the neighborhood of the prison. Such marriages were outlawed in 1754, but the Fleet marriage registers contain the names of many persons who were married in the area before the law was passed.

Section 3 also covers records from non-Anglican burial grounds, as well as adoption and divorce records. There is also a good discussion of vital records not in the PRO and where they can be found.

The last part of Section 3 carries the heading “Births, marriages, and deaths in England and Wales: bibliography and sources.” (p. 39). The section is divided into three parts: “Published Works,” listing titles that describes how to find and use the many types of records covered in the section; “Unpublished Finding Aids,” with indexes and transcripts of vital records; and “Records,” showing the location of the documents discussed in the section with their class identification numbers, descriptive titles, and years of coverage.

Section 48, the last, is titled “Useful Addresses” (p.235). Here the researcher will find addresses of genealogical organizations, historical associations, religious archives and libraries, public and private muse- ums, archives, and government offices in the United Kingdom and other countries.

In purpose and scope this volume is similar to the Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives (rev. ed., Washington, DC: National Archives Trust Fund Board, 1983). published to help Amer- ican genealogists. Some may compare Tracing Your Ancestors to books like David Tredale’s Enjoying Archives (Newton Abbott, Devon: David and Charles, 1973) or Janet Foster and Julia Sheppard’s British Archives: A Guide to Archive Resources in the United Kingdom (2nd ed. New York: Stockton Press, 1989). Tredale’s book is about how to find one’s way around archives and interpret the records there. It gives no help in finding specific sources of interest to genealogists and family historians. Foster and Shep- pard provide a wide-ranging general guide to resources of all types in archives, libraries, museums, and at societies throughout Britain. The descriptions of holdings and collections are too general to be of real help in planning an expedition to a specific repository. Tracing Your Ancestors zeroes in on those resources of greatest interest to those hunting people from the past and facts about their lives.

For those who cannot afford several books on genealogical research in the United Kingdom, this book can also double as a concise guide to research method. Libraries serving family historians and those pa- trons from other disciplines interested in the history of people and populations from Britain’s past will need a copy of this book.

RAYMOND S. WRIGHT III Brigham Young University

25 JSB Provo, UT 84602

USA

The Supreme Court at Work. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Inc., 1990. 351 p. paper. ISBN 0-87187-540-3/LC 89-71226 $16.95.

The Congressional Quarterly continues its tradition of publishing highly usable handbooks to the United States Government. The Supreme Court at Work surveys the history, work, and members of the Court over its last 200 years. It is an abbreviated version of the new, second edition of the well-known Congres- sional Quarterly’s Guide to the U.S. Supreme Court, 1989 [ 11. It also updates a previous condensed ver- sion, The Supreme Court and Its Work, 1981 [2].

The work is divided into five major sections. The fist summarizes the history of the Court from its beginnings in the Constitution and the Judiciary Act of 1789 through the inauguration of President Bush. Each 100 years of the Court is covered in 30 pages. This section lays out the Court’s transformation from its nebulous early form to the self-defining body that took for its function the job of upholding the Consti- tution and protecting the limits that it set, as well as fleshing out the specific powers broadly suggested in the Constitution, such as the Court’s assuming the power to review acts of Congress and overturn state laws. It further defined itself as a court of last appeal, hearing only actual cases, and refusing to act as an advisory body, as President George Washington had asked it to be.

This section describes the evolution of the Court, as each chief justice molded a part of it, into its form of today. Public concerns of the times also molded the Court. The work explains how the early Court was

736 Reviews

concerned with the balance between federal and state powers. The Civil War tested the war powers and policies. Reconstruction brought about an interest in civil rights and a renewed interest in states’ rights. Today, the Court is primarily expanding into areas of due process and individual rights and liberties.

The second section outlines the day-to-day work of the Court, from the scheduling of the term, special sessions, avenues by which a case may come before the Court, the process of review, how the arguments are given, to how the decisions are reported. The various traditions that come into play as the Court does its work are injected into the routine, the traditions of courtesy, secrecy, seniority, continuity, and precedent.

The responsibilities and duties both judicial and nonjudicial of each of the Court’s offices are dis- cussed. The offices of chief justice and the justices along with the supporting personnel of the clerk of Court, marshal of the Court, reporter of decisions, public information officer, librarian, law clerks, cura- tor, and the chief justice’s administrative assistant are examined as well as the qualifications of the law- yers who represent cases before the Supreme Court and the position of Solicitor General, who represents the United States government before the Court. This section also includes a history and photographs of the buildings that have housed the Supreme Court.

The third section describes the 104 persons who have held the office of Justice of the Supreme Court. First, an overall view of the kinds of people who have held the position is given including the politics involved, the regional influences, their experiences before becoming justices, the factors of religion, and their countries of birth. Controversial justices are highlighted. The major portion of this section contains brief biographical sketches of each of the 104 Justices of the Supreme Court from John Jay to Anthony McLeod Kennedy. The biographies provide personal statistics, personal background information, and histo- ries of their public careers.

The fourth section is a listing by each decade since 1790 of the major decisions by subject of the Court. Included are those decisions that established the Court’s power in new areas, decided that certain areas were outside its limits, or decisions that struck down or upheld current practices such as Marbury v. Madison, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, or Roe v. Wade. Each case is given the legal citation, the vote by which it was decided, the date of the announcement of the decision, the justice writing the major opinion, the dissenting justices, and a summary of the ruling.

The last section is made up of the texts of major documents in the history of the Supreme Court. The Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, the Judiciary Act of 1789, the Circuit Court of Appeals Act of 1891, the Judiciary Act of 1925, Roosevelt’s 1937 Court Reform Plan, Fortas Letter Explaining Resignation, and Rules of the Supreme Court are included.

The appendix includes several lists; Supreme Court Nominations, 1789-1989; Glossary of Common Legal Terms; and Acts of Congress Held Unconstitutional. There is a bibliography and an index by sub- ject and an index by case to the body of the work.

This 1990 edition follows closely the previous brief surveys to the Supreme Court published by Congres- sional Quarterly. Material has been in some cases reformatted. Sections have new titles and subheadings. Direct quotations have been set off from the main body of the text. In some cases, the wording has been changed, especially in the sections covering the late 197Os, in order to reflect current ideas about the times. One interesting note is that there is no mention of former President Jimmy Carter except to say that he was the only full-time president to leave office without having the opportunity to name someone to the Supreme Court.

Coverage has been extended to include more of the Reagan years, the Rehnquist court, and the continu- ing conservative swing of the Court with its effects on personal freedoms, civil rights, and abortion. With the controversy surrounding Robert Bork’s nomination, more attention has been paid to those who have been nominated but never served on the Court. More pictures and original documents have been included in this version.

This work is a well-organized, concise survey of the history and function of the Supreme Court. Writ- ten in understandable language, it touches briefly on almost every aspect of the Court. Its many divisions allow one to locate quickly needed information; many useful charts and boxes of information such as how to read a citation and how to find decisions are included. The work briefly provides useful facts while at the same time setting forth the philosophical basis of the Court and the questions facing it, and aho im- parts to the reader the flavor of the Court since its beginnings. The work serves as a solid introduction to the Court for those wanting concise information or for those who need a stepping-stone to understanding the more complex and detailed texts. Notes follow each chapter, and a useful bibliography is appended for those who wish to consult other studies.

Although much is repeated from earlier versions, it is worth the price for the updated history, including the changes in direction of the Court over the last few years. It would be useful in school, public, aca-

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demic, and government document libraries as a ready reference tool with its numerous charts, boxes, lists, and text of documents or to be read. Alternatively the work can be read in its entirety as an introduction to the Supreme Court.

The Congressional Quarterly has published many books on the Supreme Court. Along with the book under review and the previously mentioned Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to the Supreme Court and The Supreme Court and Its Work, it has also published among others The Supreme Court, Justice and the Law [3], The Supreme Court and Individual Rights [4], and Supreme Court Bibliography [5].

REFERENCES

1. Elder Win, ed., Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to the (1. S. Supreme Court, 2nd. ed. (Washington, DC: Congres- sional Quarterly Inc., 1989). The first edition was published in 1979.

2. Congressional Quarterly, Inc., The Supreme Court and its Work. (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Inc., 1981).

3. Congressional Quarterly, Inc., The Supreme Courr, Justice and the Law, 3rd. ed. (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Inc., 1983).

4. Congressional Quarterly Inc. and Elder Witt, eds., The Supreme Court and Individual Rights, 2nd. ed. (Washing- ton, DC: Congressional Quarterly Inc., 1988).

5. Fenton Martin and Robert U. Goehlert, Supreme Court Bibliography (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Inc., 1990).

JUNE PARKER Joyner Library

East Carolina University Greenville, NC 27858-4353

USA

Abortion Decisions of the Supreme Court. 1973 through 1989: A Comprehensive Review with Histor- ical Commentary. By Dan Dxucker. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1990. 206 p. ISBN 0-89950- 459-0. $29.95.

This legal commentary examines 13 U.S. Supreme Court rulings on abortion and the courts detailed treatment of each issue concerning the law. The author mentions in a note to the reader that for clarity, the Supreme Court opinions have been paraphrased and state statutes have been lightly edited.

The introduction presents several definitions of abortion; a brief history; its constitutionality, methods, and restrictions; medical judgments; and the issue of public funding. The author quotes the Supreme Court but fails to cite the justice or the case. He also includes statistics on abortion and does not mention the reference sources or give a bibliographic citation.

Chapter one, contains a two-page description of the United States Supreme Court. It explains the func- tion of the court and how it acts as a court of appeals for cases concerning constitutional rights.

The volume’s strength lies with the in-depth analysis of the 13 landmark cases. The author begins by presenting the individual state statutes that were disputed and the major points of constitutional law that were challenged. Each major point is examined and reviewed, then followed by excerpts of the Courts opinions. Selected viewpoints of concurring and dissenting justices’ views are also included. Each chapter ends with the Court’s decision affirming or reversing in part the lower court’s decision. A list of refer- ences to the United States Reports, containing the 13 Supreme Court cases, is provided for those who want to read the opinions unedited.

Chapter fourteen discusses the newly appointed Reagan conservatives on the Supreme Court and the possible implications these appointments may have concerning the abortion issue. The final chapter contin- ues with a discussion of the three cases pending at the book’s printing.

Drucker has provided interested readers on this subject a comprehensive account of the 13 landmark cases. The depth of legal reporting overshadows the weakness in the failure to provide proper documenta-