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.

"The Common Law," a great legal classic, was written by noted Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. in 1881. The book is about common law in the United states, including torts, property, contracts, and crime. The substance of "The Common Law" is a series of lectures on the various common law subjects: criminal law, property law, contracts, consideration, torts, negligence, bailments, trespass, etc. What makes this book so important is not that the lectures were a summary of the current state of the law at the time Holmes spoke in 1881, but rather because Holmes insightfully explains how they got to be that way. Two tenets of early 20th century jurisprudence that Holmes propounded (and was influential in writing into law when he was later appointed to the Supreme Court of Massachussetts, and later of the United States) can be identified in this work: legal positivism and legal realism. Though a little tedious for non-lawyers, "The Common Law" illustrates some interesting points as Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. addresses the fluid basis for our legal system.

(Illustrated: Contains extensive images and photographs, with scholarly explanations, including Holmes's handwritten notes in the margins of his book and the original admission ticket to his 1880 lectures.) Modern, accurate, and legible edition of the classic work by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., analyzing the concept of rules and the development of common law in the United States and England over ten centuries. Presented in a clear and affordable format, yet with original pagination embedded to allow accurate citation or uniform references for classroom use. Includes photographs and rare images, Holmes's original Index, Preface and detailed Contents (features missing in many prior editions), and readable typeface. Holmes wrote this work from his famous 1880 series of lectures in Boston on the life of the law, the use of history, and the basics of torts, contracts, crime, and property law. Law, he wrote, is a response to the felt necessities of the time. And in the process he wrote a book that is considered timeless. This modern edition of the classic book features an explanatory introduction and biographical summary by Steven Alan Childress, J.D., Ph.D., a senior law professor at Tulane University.

Building on the pragmatic conception of law he introduced in his 1881 book 'The Common Law, ' Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. -- by 1897 a jurist on Massachusetts' highest court and soon to be an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court -- explored the limits and sources of law, as well as "the forces which determine its content and growth." This presentation is seen as laying down the gauntlet to legal scholars and judges in what would be known as the emerging "legal realism" movement. Later legal thinkers like Pound, Llewellyn and Douglas followed his lead, and that lead is seen most clearly in this essay. By the time of this pithy and accessible writing, Holmes had crystallized and clarified that conception of law which he had, in introducing his earlier book, described in the famous statement "the life of the law is not logic: it is experience." Taking that observation to the next level, this essay made it clear that judges make law, not simply finding it in books -- and they must draw on practical effects and ends in declaring legal rules, not simply reasoning from precedent. He does not hedge: it is a "fallacy" to think that "the only force at work in the development of the law is logic." More controversially, this essay makes a powerful distinction between law and morality. Law is more about what judges do, and how people react to that, than some lofty sense of ethics, he suggests. But is his figure of the "bad man" a hero or a cautionary tale? A realistic way to look at law and social control...or a precursor to Hitler and Stalin?

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. compiled this master work in 1881 from his famous lectures in Boston on the origins, reasoning, and import of the common law. "The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience." It jump-started legal realism and established law as a pragmatic way to solve problems and make policy, not just a collection of rules. It has stood the test of time as one of the most important and influential studies of law and the development of legal rules. This book is interesting for a vast audience, and considered one of the most original books on U.S. law, for historians, students, political scientists, and those who follow the concept of rules. It is also a recommended read before law school. A new edition of Holmes' classic study of the judicial development of law. Includes 2010 Foreword by Steven Alan Childress, J.D., Ph.D., law professor at Tulane. Embeds correct footnote numbers and original page numbers for citing. Carefully reproduced from the original book but in a modern, readable format. Quid Pro's Legal Legends Series offers high-quality editions of legal scholarship, in print and digital formats. In addition, each book contains a scholar's new Foreword and biographical summary, to place the work in historical context and explain it to the reader.

I take it for granted that no hearer of mine will misinterpret what I have to say as the language of cynicism. The law is the witness and external deposit of our moral life. Its history is the history of the moral development of the race. The practice of it, in spite of popular jests, tends to make good citizens and good men. When I emphasize the difference between law and morals I do so with reference to a single end, that of learning and understanding the law.