Origins of the Fifth Amendment: The Right Against Self-Incrimination

Summary

Levy traces the long history of the right against self incrimination from medieval and English courts through its place in the American Bill of Rights. He follows the principle as it survived inquisitions, oaths, and political persecution to become a cornerstone of individual liberty. The work blends legal scholarship with constitutional history to explain how one phrase came to protect the accused against the power of the state.