THERE are few areas in our complex society that are free of legal problems and few sections in TIME whose subject matter does not occasionally overlap with THE LAW, our youngest department, just under a year old this week. Business affairs, for example, are everywhere involved with legislation, from taxes to patents, and world events are influenced by international law, or its lack. Religion is concerned with the moral law, the press with libel, the worlds of show business and sport with contracts. All of modern living is touched by legal questions from rent control to divorce, and even science thinks about the laws that might apply in outer space.

In its first year, THE LAW section has treated many of these matters. Above all, it has examined the many legal questions of national importance, including segregation and prayer in the schools, two of the issues raised by momentous Supreme Court decisions.

This week's cover on Justice Black and the role of the Court was preceded by many shorter stories over the past year, for the Court is obviously one of the section's chief and continuing subjects. But coverage has extended from the marble halls to lesser courts and tribunals, has been almost as diverse as the law itself. It has ranged from the constitutionality of state anti-obscenity laws to a Maryland decision that cows had a perfect right to walk in the road in Antietam Furnace; from the right to counsel to the right of self-defense ("Are Hatpins Enough?"); from women lawyers to law-school journals to a juridical celebration of Shakespeare's 400th anniversary. Such variety, and the thorough analytic effort that goes with it, has won generous applause from the legal profession, a reaction greatly appreciated by Senior Editor Richard Seamon, Writer Robert Shnayerson, and everyone else connected with the section.

Shnayerson found writing this week's cover story on Justice Black a demanding intellectual experience. Washington Reporter Simmons Fentress found it equally demanding, partly because he had a chance to play tennis with the formidably spry jurist. As for Shnayerson, who came to THE LAW six months ago, after being TIME'S education writer for five years, he has always been fascinated by jurisprudence. When he and his wife Lydia travel abroad, they make a point of visiting courtrooms in every country. "Before we were married," he recalls, "I used to take her on dates to night court--one of the most interesting places you can take a girl."

Besides adding to his, and possibly his wife's, legal education, writing THE LAW has had some side effect on Shnayerson. "I deal with my landlord much more confidently these days," he says, "and I am much more respectful of policemen."

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