Gavel on The Go

The minute America's best-known jurist bangs his gavel, onlookers in the nation's most famous courtroom attentively come to order. Not the U.S. Supreme Court, silly -- The People's Court, with 11 million viewers daily, featuring Judge Joseph Wapner and his 30-minute brand of homespun jurisprudence. Now in A View from the Bench (Simon & Schuster; $17.95), the judge describes the evolution of his electronic philosophy.

"Look for the truth of a case with your own eyes," he decided during 20 years as a California judge. When a driver claims his car couldn't go over 35 m.p.h., his Honor-on-the-spot takes it out for a spin. What did a policeman see through the keyhole? To find out, Wapner goes and takes a peek. This volume hardly qualifies as a scholarly treatise (Chapter 10 is titled "Under ( the Robes"). But readers seeking Wapner's piquant observations and offbeat tales of life in the legal lane won't sue for failure to deliver.