The close readings in this book bring many new details to light, making the legal cases in the Book of Mormon clear to ordinary readers, convincing to attorneys, and respectable to scholars of all types. All readers can identify with these compelling legal narratives, for they address pressing problems of ordinary people. These texts deserve repeated attention and repay careful analysis. Appreciating both the subtle jurisprudential details and the persistent patterns in these legal dramas adds thought-provoking spiritual insights and practical perspectives to these significant proceedings. The Legal Cases in the Book of Mormon begins with a discussion of important background information, including legal practices in the ancient Near East, the ideal of righteous judgment, and the legal cases recorded in the Bible. Welch then devotes a chapter to each of the legal cases in the Book of Mormon-from the formative cases of Sherem and Abinadi to the landmark trials of Nehor and Korihor, the wrenching prosecution of Alma and Amulek, and the politicized proceedings of Paanchi and Seantum.