Chapter 11 presents the central elements of German procedural law before focusing more specifically on private law procedure and criminal law procedure. German procedural law is widely treated as an example of inquisitorial justice. The chapter uses articles from renowned comparative law scholar John Langbein to consider the unique features of German procedural law in the private and criminal law setting. The increasingly adversarial character of private law procedure is discussed using the example of class action suits. The increasing adversarial character of criminal law procedure is discussed using the example of plea bargains.

Chapter 3 provides a review of democratic theory, moving from the “minimal conception” of democratic politics to democracy in its representative, constitutional, participatory, deliberative, and epistemic forms. The chapter offers a comparison of where America stands today among the world’s democracies and introduces the question of whether democracy carries the assumption of equality; it also reviews data on inequality throughout American history and on the more recent increase in inequality. We propose the idea that inequality is not extraneous to our democratic politics, but a direct result of it.

Chapter 13 is a closing epilogue that summarizes the book’s thesis, namely, that the German legal system is the site of encounters amongst a variety of legal traditions. To animate and illustrate that argument a final time, an article discussing the Common Law and Civil Law characteristics of German constitutional law is presented for discussion.

Chapter 10 presents German criminal law focusing on the Schuldprinzip (principle of blameworthiness), which is part of the three-step criminal law analysis in Germany (including elements of the crimes, illegality, and blameworthiness). The function and practice of German criminal law is demonstrated in two case studies, including the Frankfurt Police Torture Case and the fictional case of a pilot who shot down a plane that had been hijacked by terrorists.

The relationship between the bank and the customer gives rise to several duties on the part of the bank. The most important of these is the duty of confidence, also known as the ‘Tournier duty’. In addition, there are two duties implied into the banker–customer contract that are owed by the customer to the bank: the Macmillan duty, which is the duty to exercise reasonable care in drawing cheques so as not to facilitate fraud; and the Greenwood duty, which is the duty to notify the bank of any forgeries known to the customer. Neither of these duties is particularly onerous, and each gives rise only to estoppel, which the bank is able to set up to negate any claim for wrongful debiting of the account.

Chapter 13 surveys and assesses the different ways in which election laws and practices impact racial equality in the political process and the distribution of resources and power that stems from those elections. Topics include voter ID laws, felon disenfranchisement, and racial redistricting, as well as immigrant political incorporation and language access. Themed boxes include recent court cases on voter ID, specific voting rights cases, and noncitizen voting.

By and large, the relationship between a bank and its customers is contractual and governed by the usual contract rules. Such a relationship is also regulated by various statutes. Still, it is a contract in a specialised market with a long history and, consequently, it has acquired a large raft of terms implied by custom and usage. These may, of course, always be ousted by express terms, but clear and unequivocal words are required for the effect.

The financial system fulfils several quintessential roles within the economic framework. For instance, it expedites transactions by administering a secure and robust payment system. This mechanism not only assures the secure transference of financial assets but also accommodates transactions across borders, thus facilitating arm’s-length commercial interactions on a macro-economic scale. The financial system is also instrumental in mobilising savings from households that possess financial resources surplus to their immediate consumption needs. In doing so, it enables these households to accrue returns on their capital, thereby enhancing their consumption possibilities in subsequent periods.

In this chapter, we continue our discussion of lending, focusing on major types of loans and issues that typically arise from the private transactions between borrowers and lenders, with reference to the NCCPA whenever relevant. Lending often goes hand in hand with some sort of security. Such security serves as legal protection in case of a default. Depending on the nature of the loan, security can take different forms: lenders may take security over a borrower’s property, whether real (eg a house) or personal (eg vehicles). Taking security over the real property interests of a borrower enables the lender to exercise certain rights against the property in the event of default. The most usual form of security is a mortgage. Alternatively, guarantees are common in Australia’s financing transactions. To be sure, lending is a complicated process; creating and registering security interests for financing can be equally, if not more, problematic in practice. The issues discussed herein are, therefore, not exhaustive.

For a long time, cheques were the main, if not the only, means of third-party payment and deposit from and to bank accounts. The process is simple. A customer provides a third party a cheque that contains important details such as their account number, the date of issue, a payment amount and an endorsement (their signature). The third party then gives this cheque to a bank. The bank then confirms the cheque’s authenticity and processes it. If necessary, this requires communicating with the customer’s bank if the third party and the customer bank with different banks. The end result is the transference of money from the customer’s bank account to the third party’s account.

In Chapter 14, we examine policy debates and policy outcomes across a range of areas that tend to be viewed as core to a minority agenda or that could alternatively be framed as the social rights of citizenship. These include affirmative action, Obamacare, education, and welfare reform. We provide historical context on the race-targeted vs. universalism debate. Inserts examine the link between legal status and access to social services.

This chapter delves into mass criminalization and mass incarceration. It examines the role that race plays at each level of the criminal justice system from the initial decision of law enforcement officials to engage with members of the public through to the trial and sentencing phases. Throughout, we seek to understand and illustrate the impact of individual bias and structural discrimination. We then end by highlighting the enormous racial disparities that the system fosters and by considering several alternative avenues for reform.