Diego Zambrano's "How Americans Enforce the Law"

Diego Zambrano is Professor of Law, the Associate Dean for Global Programs, and faculty director of the Neukom Center for the Rule of Law at Stanford Law School.

He applied the "Page 99 Test" to his new book, How Americans Enforce the Law, with the following results:

Page 99 is in the history part of the book. The book as a whole addresses the phenomenon of private enforcement—how Americans rely on private lawsuits to enforce a whole range of regulatory statutes. That is, Americans resolve regulatory problems by both empowering public agents and adding rights to sue to important legislation. Page 99 discusses the historical precedent for this form of governance—so called “common informers.” That page specifically addresses a possible confusion that readers may have about common informers and whether they filed suit or were merely tipsters. I do not think this page is exemplary of the whole book.

I think readers would only get a very limited idea of the whole work. So the Page 99 Test does not work that well.

The page is still interesting and important because it is addressing the key historical precedent for modern private enforcement. And it is making clear that filing suit is very different from just informing about legal violations. So I think it is necessary for a full understanding of the phenomenon.

Learn more about How Americans Enforce the Law at the Stanford University Press website.

--Marshal Zeringue