The Common Law is Oliver Wendell Holmes' most sustained work of jurisprudence. In it the careful reader will discern traces of his later thought as found in both his legal opinions and other writings. At the outset of The Common Law Holmes posits that he is concerned with establishing that the common law can meet the changing needs of society while preserving continuity with the past. A common law judge must be creative, both in determining the society's current needs, and in discerning how best to address these needs in a way that is continuous with past judicial decisions. In this way, the law evolves by moving out of its past, adapting to the needs of the present, and establishing a direction for the future. To Holmes' way of thinking, this approach is superior to imposing order in accordance with a philosophical position or theory because the law would thereby lose the flexibility it requires in responding to the needs and demands of disputing parties as well as society as a whole. According to Holmes, the social environment--the economic, moral, and political milieu--alters over time. Therefore, in order to remain responsive to this social environment, the law must change as well. But the law is also part of this environment and impacts it. There is, then, a continual reciprocity between the law and the social arrangements in which it is contextualized. And, as with the evolution of species, there is no starting over. Rather, in most cases, a judge takes existing legal concepts and principles, as these have been memorialized in legal precedent, and adapts them, often unconsciously, to fit the requirements of a particular case and present social conditions. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935) served as chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court and as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was nicknamed the "Great Dissenter" because of his many dissenting opinions. Holmes is also the author of Kent's Commentaries on the Law (1873) and "The Path of the Law" (1897). Tim Griffin has advanced degrees in philosophy and law, and has taught philosophy and legal theory courses at a number of universities. He is currently a seminarian pursuing ordination to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church.

A scathing attack on the idea of American Puritanism and the doctrine of Original Sin, Elsie Venner is the story of a young woman who, having been poisoned by rattlesnake venom while in the womb, emerges into the world half human, half snake. An intelligent and wealthy heiress, she repulses and fascinates those around her in equal measure. She falls in love with a young doctor, but her serpentine characteristics prevent him from returning her affection; her cousin is attracted by her money and, wrongly perceiving the doctor as his rival, determines upon his downfall. First published in 1861, this is a wonderfully inventive novel that meticulously dissects for the reader the social mores of small-town America in the middle of the nineteenth century, as viewed through the prism of Olive Wendell Holmes' powerful imagination.

This fine collection is accompanied by an essay by Sir John Pollock that skillfully places the writers' ideas in the perspective of recent experience. A crucial document for lawyers, the letters are also delightful reading.