Formalism and Pragmatism in American Law

Description

In Formalism and Pragmatism in American Law Thomas Grey gives a full account of each of these modes of legal thought, with particular attention to the versions of them promulgated by their influential exponents Christopher Columbus Langdell and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Grey argues that legal pragmatism as understood by Holmes is the best jurisprudential framework for a modern legal system. He enriches his theoretical account with treatments of central issues in three important areas of law in the United States: constitutional interpretation, property, and torts. Contents......Page 5 Author’s Biography......Page 6 Series Foreword......Page 7 Introduction......Page 9 I The Pure Interpretive Model......Page 20 II Beyond Interpretation......Page 23 III The Implications of the Pure Interpretive Model......Page 28 IV Beyond Interpretation: A Program of Inquiry......Page 33 V Conclusion......Page 37 2 The Disintegration of Property......Page 38 3 Langdell’s Orthodoxy......Page 54 4 Holmes and Legal Pragmatism......Page 108 I The Priority of Practice......Page 115 II Law as Experience......Page 129 III Law as Logic......Page 141 IV Law as Prediction......Page 153 V Holmes Divided: The Spectator at the Storm Center......Page 165 VI The End-Means Continuum and the Lawyer’s Work......Page 182 Appendix: Holmes and the Pragmatists......Page 197 5 Accidental Torts......Page 206 I What is a Tort?......Page 207 II A Proper Subject?......Page 210 III The Structure and Domain of Tort Law......Page 236 IV Conclusion......Page 262 Bibliography......Page 266 Index of Terms......Page 268