its w islics and needs, in all rlieir irrationalirx', anibiu:uir\, and ineonsistenev. It will follow e\erv twist and turn of de\elopnient. It will reflect the \earnings for justice-and also the thirst for power, the deep inequality huilt into the structure of socier\. The law, after all, is a mirror held up against life. It is order: it is justice; it is also tear, insecurity and emptiness; it is whate\er residts from the scheming, plotting, and stri\ ing of people and groups, with and against each other. None of this is going to change. .\ hdl history of .Vmencan law woidd he nothing more or less than a fidl historx’ of .\merican life. The future of one is the future of the other. If .\merican institutions can support a society that is prosperous, efficient, and satisf\ ing, that .society might also he law ful and |ust. I'he fate of the s\ stem is he\'ond the capacit\’ of historx to sa\. Bur all of this is jiisr a ni\ rh, as important to its helie\ crs as the idea of law being gi\ en h\ Moses or /eus or .\pollo. \et for a eommmon law for the lAiropean Union the myth that law reflects the spil it of a particular people must he discarded. Of course, I am well aware that we li\e our culture, and do not notice it. But I wttuld like to mention two widespread ntyths fn)m .\merican law. f irst, it is often said and helie\ed that in America all are etjual before the law. But in criminal prosecutions, more than ^>0 percent of cases are resohed h\’ plea bargains. 1 low many innocent persons plead guilt)’ to a lesser crime because they cannot afford a competent attorney.^ It seems to be a surprise to man\’ that the notorious O.J. Simpson trial was an e.xample of the criminal justice svstern working as it vxas meant to work: he hired the law\ ers he w ished, he was tried bv a jury td his peers, and the prosecution had to pro\ e its case bewond a reasonable doubt. Second, there is the w idespread nn th that the U.S. Clonstitution is a Judeao-Uhristian document. \'er\’ clearK’ it is nothing of the kind, but a humanist product of the .\ge of Reason. But the authorit)’ of the Constitution would be much lessened if today it were seen as the product of its age, rather than of ageless religious \ allies. 99
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