The Nature Of The Judicial Process

In this famous treatise, a Supreme Court Justice describes the conscious and unconscious processes by which a judge decides a case. He discusses the sources of information to which he appeals for guidance and analyzes the contribution that considerations of precedent, logical consistency, custom, social welfare, and standards of justice and morals have in shaping his decisions.

This replica edition of a rare 1921 work gathers in one volume four lectures given by American lawyer and jurist BENJAMIN NATHAN CARDOZO (1870-1938), renowned for his contributions to American common law from his benches on the New York Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. Here, Cardozo addresses one of the greatest challenges for the law: dealing with gray areas and middle grounds. These lectures cover his solutions for the conundrums presented by: [ "The Method of Philosophy" [ "The Methods of History, Tradition and Sociology" [ "The Method of Sociology, and the Judge as a Legislator" [ "Adherence to Precedent, and the Subconscious Element in the Judicial Process"

Modern compilation and Foreword by Harvard law professor Andrew L. Kaufman, for a new generation to understand Justice Benjamin Cardozo's important and historic analysis of the way judges think and decide cases. Cardozo's frank discussion of the influences on judges, and Kaufman's expert take on Cardozo and his work, combine for an interesting study of judicial decision-making, still useful today.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1921 edition. Excerpt: ... Lecture IV. Adherence to Precedent. The Subconscious Element in the Judicial Process. Conclusion. THE system of law-making by judicial decisions which supply the rule for transactions closed before the decision was announced would indeed be intolerable in its hardship and oppression if natural law, in the sense in which I have used the term, did not supply the main rule of judgment to the judge when precedent and custom fail or are displaced. Acquiescence in such a method has its basis in the belief that when the law has left the situation uncovered by any pre-existing rule, there is nothing to do except to have some impartial arbiter declare what fair and reasonable men, mindful of the habits of life of the community, and of the standards of justice and fair dealing prevalent among them, ought in such circumstances to do, with no rules except those of custom and conscience to regulate their conduct. The feeling is that nine times out of ten, if not oftener, the conduct of right-minded men would not have been different if the rule embodied in the decision had been announced by statute in advance. In the small minority of cases, where ignorance has counted, it is as likely to have affected one side as the other; and since a controversy has arisen and must be determined somehow, there is nothing to do, in default of a rule already made, but to constitute some authority which will make it after the event. Some one must be the loser; it is part of the game of life; we have to pay in countless ways for the absence of prophetic vision. No doubt the ideal system, if it were attainable, would be a code at once so flexible and so minute, as to supply in advance for every conceivable situation the just and fitting rule. But life is too complex to...

This replica edition of a rare 1921 work gathers in one volume four lectures given by American lawyer and jurist BENJAMIN NATHAN CARDOZO (1870-1938), renowned for his contributions to American common law from his benches on the New York Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. Here, Cardozo addresses one of the greatest challenges for the law: dealing with gray areas and middle grounds. These lectures cover his solutions for the conundrums presented by: "The Method of Philosophy" "The Methods of History, Tradition and Sociology" "The Method of Sociology, and the Judge as a Legislator" "Adherence to Precedent, and the Subconscious Element in the Judicial Process"

Known for shedding light on the link among the courts, public policy, and the political environment, Judicial Process in America provides a comprehensive overview of the American judiciary. In this Tenth Edition, authors Robert A. Carp, Ronald Stidham, Kenneth L. Manning, and Lisa M. Holmes examine the recent Supreme Court rulings on same-sex marriage and health care subsidies, the effect of three women justices on the Court’s patterns of decision, and the policy-making role of state tribunals. Original data on the decision-making behavior of the Obama trial judges—which are unavailable anywhere else—ensure this text’s position as a standard bearer in the field.