Persons and Masks of the Law: Cardozo, Holmes, Jefferson, and Wythe as Makers of the Masks
Legal thought in this country has always focused on the rules rather than on the persons affected by the rules. Persons and Masks of the Law restores the balance by taking a person-centered view of the law. The author shows how even great jurists have chosen the "masks of the law" over persons, his surprising examples being Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe, Benjamin Cardozo, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.—four of the greatest lawyers of the United States.\ Noonan discusses how the concept of...
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"Noonan's analyses challenge even as they charm; simultaneously they constitute both pieces of creative scholarship and literary gems. I have read and re-read this slim volume and have strongly recommended it to students as an example of how an imaginative scholar can start with what seems commonplace and force us to reexamine our own conclusions—and occasionally values."—Walter F. Murphy, author of American Constitutional Interpretation"A classic work, highly influential, widely cited."—Martin Shapiro, author of Seeking the Center"Persons and Masks of the Law is a brilliant conception, beautifully realized. I congratulate the author on this sparely and wholly expressed idea."—Robert K. Merton, Columbia University"A beautifully written and probing discussion by an eminent legal philosopher. Professor Noonan strips the façade from judge-made law, and exposes the often unpleasant reality that citizens must confront daily."—Norman Dorsen, New York University School of Law"I am struck by the timelessness of the work. I have always thought of it as a great book. What I now see is that it is a book that will never be out of date. The reason is simple: it brings a great legal mind of our own time into conversation with the greatest legal minds of the past."—Robert P. George, author of The Clash of Orthodoxies
Preface to the 2002 EditionForeword1The Masks of the Participants32Virginian Liberators293The Overlord of American Law and the Sovereign of Costa Rica654The Passengers of Palsgraf1115The Alliance of Law and History152Notes and References171Index199
