The Common Law

Rating:
Summary: A walk through time with a Great legal author
Review: Some may not agree with all or much of Holmes legal philosophy, but regardless, this book is well written and provides a first-hand perspective on one of America's foremost legal figures.

Rating:
Summary: Philosophy in historical dress
Review: This book is a little tedious for us non-lawyers, but it does illustrate some interesting points:
Law emerged from the need to get away from revenge/feud dynamics. And it originated during times when most people couldn't write, so the issue of proving a case (such as in a agreement) is troublesome (especially in times when plagues and such could kill witnesses at any time). The world is a fuzzy set, and yet the law needs to set a finite set of rules in place, so exceptions constantly challenge. The needs of the state can supercede the issue of fairness, such as in the rule that "ignorance is no excuse". Judges are generally friends of the wealthy and not compatriots of the commoner. If a man has large debts, and dies, how can his children, who were not party to the agreements, be held liable via the estate? Many such questions arise and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. tries to address the fluid basis for our legal system.

Rating:
Summary: The Philosophical Basis For Our Legal System
Review: This book is a little tedious for us non-lawyers, but it does illustrate some interesting points:
Law emerged from the need to get away from revenge/feud dynamics. And it originated during times when most people couldn't write, so the issue of proving a case (such as in a agreement) is troublesome (especially in times when plagues and such could kill witnesses at any time). The world is a fuzzy set, and yet the law needs to set a finite set of rules in place, so exceptions constantly challenge. The needs of the state can supercede the issue of fairness, such as in the rule that "ignorance is no excuse". Judges are generally friends of the wealthy and not compatriots of the commoner. If a man has large debts, and dies, how can his children, who were not party to the agreements, be held liable via the estate? Many such questions arise and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. tries to address the fluid basis for our legal system.

Rating:
Summary: Why people persist in reading this less-than-fun read:
Review: This is one of those books that deserves more than one read. Some books are to be read more than once, because the content or style is too difficult - for some The Common Law may be one of those books. But others, like this one, deserve to be read more than once because every reading brings out more depth in the material. I originally read Holmes' work in the context of trying to understand the legal background of contemporary American controversies such as gun control, abortion rights and so on. I didn't discover much about those issues, but I WAS inspired to study law. Reading The Common Law (and Blackstone's Commentaries) was one of the crucial factors in my deciding to go to law school. Though there are some who feel that the style is "stilted" or "old-fashioned" it is in many ways a style profoundly more readable and even more beautiful than is much of the writing published today, and I can only lament that there are few contemporary writers who can match the fluency and clarity of Holmes. If you are at all interested in the law or in the historical aspects of society as affected by law, and if you enjoy books written in better than average English, then this is certainly one you should read.

Rating:
Summary: Worth more than one reading
Review: This is one of those books that deserves more than one read. Some books are to be read more than once, because the content or style is too difficult - for some The Common Law may be one of those books. But others, like this one, deserve to be read more than once because every reading brings out more depth in the material. I originally read Holmes' work in the context of trying to understand the legal background of contemporary American controversies such as gun control, abortion rights and so on. I didn't discover much about those issues, but I WAS inspired to study law. Reading The Common Law (and Blackstone's Commentaries) was one of the crucial factors in my deciding to go to law school. Though there are some who feel that the style is "stilted" or "old-fashioned" it is in many ways a style profoundly more readable and even more beautiful than is much of the writing published today, and I can only lament that there are few contemporary writers who can match the fluency and clarity of Holmes. If you are at all interested in the law or in the historical aspects of society as affected by law, and if you enjoy books written in better than average English, then this is certainly one you should read.