American Legal Realism

Edited by William W. Fisher,III , Morton J. Horwitz, and Thomas A. Reed

American Legal Realism

Edited by William W. Fisher,III , Morton J. Horwitz, and Thomas A. Reed

Description

A comprehensive, in-depth discussion of the most influential movement in American legal history, and one which remains more than fifty years later the subject of lively debate, this collection of readings, written largely between 1900 and 1940, includes works from prominent writers on the subject that have never before been generally available. Introduced and edited by noted scholars in the field, the anthology includes such contributors as Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Thayer, Roscoe Pound, John Chipman Gray, Wesley Hohfeld, Karl Llewellyn, Arthur Corbin, Nathan Issacs, Robert Hale, Harold Laski, Max Radin, and others. With concise biographical notes as well as introductions to provide historical context, each selection addresses a different debate involving Legal Realism. Included is a selective bibliography, making the text valuable to a broad range of scholars.

American Legal Realism

Edited by William W. Fisher,III , Morton J. Horwitz, and Thomas A. Reed

I. Antecedents
The Common Law (1881), Oliver Wendell Holmes
"The Origin and Scope of the American Doctrine of Constitutional Law" (1893), James B. Thayer
The Path of the Law (1897), Oliver Wendell Holmes
Lochner v. New York (1905) (Holmes, J., dissenting)
"Liberty of Contract" (1909), Roscoe Pound
The Nature and Sources of the Law (1909), John Chipman Gray
"Law in Books and Law in Action" (1910), Roscoe Pound
"Some Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning" (1913), Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld
II. The Struggle over the Meaning of "Realism"
"A Realistic Jurisprudence—The Next Step" (1930), Karl N. Llewellyn
"The Call for Realist Jurisprudence" (1931), Roscoe Pound
"Some Realism About Realism—Responding to Dean Pound" (1931), Karl N. Llewellyn
III. Law and the Market
"Offer and Acceptance, and Some of the Resulting Legal Relations" (1917), Arthur L. Corbin
"The Standardizing of Contracts" (1917), Nathan Isaacs
"What Price Contract?—An Essay in Perspective" (1931), Karl N. Llewellyn
"The Reliance Interest in Contract Damages" (1936-1937), L.L. Fuller and William R. Purdue, Jr.
IV. The Critique of the Public/Private Distinction
"Coercion and Distribution in a Supposedly Non-Coercive State" (1923), Robert L. Hale
"Property and Sovereignty" (1927), Morris R. Cohen
"Law Making by Private Groups" (1937), Louis L. Jaffe
M. Witmark & Sons v. Fred Fisher Music Co. (1942) (Frank, J., dissenting)
V. Law and Organizational Society
Vegelahn V. Guntner (1896)
" The Basis of Vicarious Liability" (1917), Harold J. Laski
International News Service v. Associated Press (1918)
"The Historic Background of Corporate Legal Personality" (1926), John Dewey
The Modern Corporation and Private Property (1932), Adolf A. Berle and Gardiner C. Means
The Administrative Process (1938), James M. Landis
VI. Legal Reasoning
The Nature of the Judicial Process (1921), Benjamin M. Cardozo
Pennsylvania Coal Company v. Mahon (1922)
"Logical Method and Law" (1924), John Dewey
The Theory of Judicial Decision: Or How Judges Think" (1925), Max Radin
"A Return to Stare Decisis" (1928), Herman Oliphant
"The Judgement Intuitive: The Function of the 'Hunch' in Judicial Decision" (1929), Joseph C. Hutcheson, Jr.
Law and the Modern Mind (1930), Jerome Frank
"Transcendental Nonsense and the Functional Approach" (1935), Felix S. Cohen
"Remarks on the Theory of Apellate Decision and the Rules or Canons About How Statutes Are to Be Construed" (1950), Karl N. Llewellyn
VII. Law as Social Science
Brief Defendant in Error, Muller v. Oregon (1908), Louis Brandeis and Josephine Goldmark
"Scientific Method and the Law" (1927), Walter W. Cook
The Cheyenne Way (1941), Karl N. Llewellyn and E. Anderson Hoebel
"Law and Learning Theory: A Study in Legal Control" (1943), Underhill Moore and Charles C. Callahan
VIII. Legal Education and Legal Scholarship
Summary of Studies in Legal Education (1929), Herman Oliphant, ed.
"Institute Priests and Yale Observers—A Reply to Dean Goodrich" (1936), Thurman W. Arnold
"Goodbye to Law Reviews" (1936), Fred Rodell
Notes
Bibliography

American Legal Realism

Edited by William W. Fisher,III , Morton J. Horwitz, and Thomas A. Reed

Author Information

Edited by William W. Fisher, III, Professor of Law, Director of the Harvard Program on Legal History, Morton J. Horwitz, Charles Warren Professor of the History of American Law, both at Harvard Law School, and Thomas A. Reed, Assistant District Attorney, Assistant District Attorney, Norfolk County, Massachusetts

American Legal Realism

Edited by William W. Fisher,III , Morton J. Horwitz, and Thomas A. Reed

Reviews and Awards

[A] highly useful collection....The selections chosen for inclusion, the introductory discussion of each section, and the extensive citations all make this an essential volume for the study of law in American society. - American Studies International

A very thoughtful selection of pre-Realist and Realist essays with marvelous introductory notes. Not just a useful teaching tool, but a valuable addition to understanding Realism. - Gregory Mark, Chicago-Kent College of Law

This carefully selected and expertly edited collection of Realist texts should serve both students and their professors very well. It may well become a standard book for legal history courses. - Norman Rosenberg, Macalester College

Very useful in teaching American legal history. - Louise Halper, Washington and Lee Law School

Wonderful and very well edited. Every law student should read it. - Eric Lane, Hofstra Law School

A very helpful collection of well chosen materials. - Ray Forrester, University of California, Hastings

An excellent collection of materials which will be an invaluable resource in my teaching. - Jeff Powell, Duke University

High powered stuff!...Well done! - David Robinson, University of Houston-Downtown

Comprehensive and rounded. - Thomas G. Barnes, University of California, Berkeley

Realism remade the landscape of our law; in today's new world of transcendental nonsense, we ignore the Realists at our peril. Too many do, and this book is therefore essential. No one should leave law school without it. - Eben Moglen, Columbia Law School

Good collection of writings and thoughts on the subject. - Sally Jo Vasicko, Ball State University