The Nature of the Judicial Process (With Notes) - Softcover

Cardozo LL.D., Benjamin N.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1434416283 ISBN 13: 9781434416285

Publisher: Universal Law Press, 2010

Synopsis

In this seminal work, Judge Benjamin N. Cardozo offers an in-depth exploration of the judicial decision-making process. Drawing from his own experience on the bench, Cardozo examines how judges interpret laws, the influence of precedent, and the balance between logic, history, and social considerations in shaping legal outcomes. This book remains a foundational text in understanding the philosophy and methodology behind judicial reasoning and the role of the judiciary in society.

About this title

From the Back Cover

In this famous treatise, Benjamin N. Cardozo, from 1932-1938 Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, describes in simple and understandable language the conscious and unconscious processes by which a judge decides a case. He discusses this sources of information to which he appeals for guidance and analyzes the contribution that considerations of precedent, logical consistency, custom, and standards of justice and morals have in shaping his decisions.

About the Author

Benjamin Nathan Cardozo (1870 –1938) was a well-known American lawyer and associate Supreme Court Justice. Cardozo is remembered for his significant influence on the development of American common law in the 20th century, in addition to his modesty, philosophy, and vivid prose style. Cardozo served on the Supreme Court only six years, from 1932 until his death in 1938, and the majority of his landmark decisions were delivered during his eighteen year tenure on the New York Court of Appeals, the highest court of that state. In 1932, President Herbert Hoover appointed Cardozo to the Supreme Court of the United States to succeed Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. The New York Times said of Cardozo's appointment that "seldom, if ever, in the history of the Court has an appointment been so universally commended." Democratic Cardozo's appointment by a Republican president has been referred to as one of the few Supreme Court appointments in history not motivated by partisanship or politics, but strictly based on the nominee's contribution to law. However, Hoover was running for re-election, eventually against Franklin Roosevelt, so a larger political calculation may have been operating. Cardozo was confirmed by a unanimous voice vote in the Senate on February 24. On a radio broadcast on March 1, 1932, the day of Cardozo's confirmation, Clarence C. Dill, Democratic Senator for Washington, called Hoover's appointment of Cardozo "the finest act of his career as President". The entire faculty of the University of Chicago Law School had urged Hoover to nominate him, as did the deans of the law schools at Harvard, Yale, and Columbia. Justice Harlan Fiske Stone strongly urged Hoover to name Cardozo, even offering to resign to make room for him if Hoover had his heart set on someone else (Stone had in fact suggested to Calvin Coolidge that he should nominate Cardozo rather than himself back in 1925). Hoover, however, originally demurred: there were already two justices from New York, and a Jew on the court; in addition, Justice James McReynolds was a notorious anti-Semite. When the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, William E. Borah of Idaho, added his strong support for Cardozo, however, Hoover finally bowed to the pressure. Cardozo was a member of the Three Musketeers along with Brandeis and Stone, which was considered to be the liberal faction of the Supreme Court.

Edition details

• Publisher: Universal Law Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1434416283
• ISBN 13: 9781434416285
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 74