Law Commons^™

The Law Of Reason, Fredrick Sir Pollock

Michigan Law Review

If there is one virtue that our books of authority claim for the Common Law more positively than another, it is that of being reasonable. The law is even said to be the perfection of reason. Not that the meaning of that saying is exhausted by the construction which a layman would naturally put upon it. For, as Coke had to tell King James I., much to his displeasure, there is an artificial reason of the law. Certainty is among the first objects of systematic justice. General principles being once fixed, the only way to attain certainty is to work …

Note And Comment, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The Law School-Changes in the Faculty--Readjustment of Courses of Study; Sir Frederick Pollock's Visit to Michigan; The Second Lecture--The Scales of Justice; The Development of Criminal Law; The Law of Reason; Corporations--railroads--Stockholding Corporations--Combinations in Restraint of Trade and Commerce--consolidation of Parallel and Competing Lines; Constitutional law--Classification--Limit of Judicial Construction;

The Relation Of The Federal And The State Judiciary To Each Other, Horace R. Lurton

Michigan Law Review

In the very cordial invitation extended to me by the distinguished President of your Bar Association to participate in the observance of this occasion it was urged that I should make a short address upon the relations of the Federal and State Judiciary to each other. As a reason for my taking this particular subject it was suggested by him that I had had the advantage of a considerable service under both systems.

The Courts Of Judea, Jerome C. Knowlton

Articles

The study of Jewish jurisprudence has become interesting during the past ten years through the efforts of some painstaking scholars, who have not been burdened with any particular dogma, but have been actuated by a true Christian spirit. They have been close students of those portions of the Talmud which throw light on the jurisprudence of the Jews.

Anglo-Saxon Jurisprudence, Thomas M. Cooley

Book Chapters

Professor Cooley's contribution to a "popular dictionary" describes the legal history and law codes of Anglo-Saxon England, an ambitious undertaking for a two-page entry. He admits outright: "The memorials that have come down to us afford but an imperfect view of Anglo-Saxon laws."

Commentaries On The Laws Of England : In Four Books, William Blackstone, Thomas M. Cooley

Books

From Editor's Preface, v.1: "Believing that the time has come when this work would be increased in value by discarding altogether the notes of English editors, and substituting matter more especially important to American practitioners and students, the editor has prepared this edition under that conviction.... To the Review of the recent progress of the law appended to the Fourth Book, there has been also added a summary account of the British Colonial System and the System of Local Government, and the means given for comparison of these with analogous institutions in the United States."

Commentaries On The Laws Of England : In Four Books, William Blackstone, Thomas M. Cooley

Books

"Believing that the time has come when this work would be increased in value by discarding altogether the notes of English editors, and substituting matter more especially important to American practitioners and students, the editor has prepared this edition under that conviction.... To the Review of the recent progress of the law appended to the Fourth Book, there has been also added a summary account of the British Colonial System and the System of Local Government, and the means given for comparison of these with analogous institutions in the United States."

The British Colonial System, Thomas M. Cooley

Book Chapters

Regarding the subject, Professor Cooley writes: "In a note to the first book of these Commentaries (p.109), the Colonial System of Great Britain is spoken of as the grandest in extent and power that the world has ever known. A more detailed account of the system, and of the countries and places embraced within it, than was given in the place referred to, will justify the statement there made, and at the same time will give us particulars of British Colonial government in all its varieties."

Local Government In The United States, Thomas M. Cooley

Book Chapters

Professor Cooley offers the readers of the Commentaries a brief statement regarding laws of the United States in local jurisdictions: "To present completely local government as it exists in the United States would require a volume.... What we shall say, therefore, will be aimed at an explanation of certain general features, which are to be met with in all the states, and of some of the most important peculiarities."

Local Government In Great Britain, Thomas M. Cooley

Book Chapters

Professor Cooley's brief overview of the subject as context for his editing of the Commentaries: "As the local institutions of Great Britain have very largely been remodeled in our day, it seems desirable to give some brief account of them, as they exist at the present time..."

The Territories Of The United States, Thomas M. Cooley

Book Chapters

Writing to flesh out the comparisons between the United States and Great Britain following previous such chapters, Professor Cooley writes: "In the common acceptation of those terms the United States has no colonies and no foreign possessions." Professor Cooley then gives a relatively brief history of the admission of new states in constitutional philosophy and history. Later in the chapter he asserts, "Before any states can be admitted to the union, there must be a state ready to admit; and this implies that there shall be a state with a constitution and laws, so when admitted, it can proceed at …

Reports Of Cases Determined In The Court Of Chancery Of The State Of Michigan, E. Burke Harrington, Thomas M. Cooley

Books

Originally published in 1845, covers cases from 1836-1842. Cited as: Harr. Ch. (2ed) and commonly known as Harrington's chancery reports.

From the Preface to the Second Edition: "Harrington's Reports having been for some time out of print, the undersigned ... has taken charge of a new edition....

"Some improvement ... has been introduced, particularly in the head notes... The original paging has been preserved, for the convenience in tracing former references." Thomas M. Cooley, Ann Arbor, October 1872.

The Memorial Addresses Delivered In University Hall, November 26, 1880, At The Funeral Of Professor James Craig Watson, … Professor In The University From 1859 To 1879, Henry S. Frieze, Charles K. Adams, Alexander Winchell, Thomas M. Cooley

Other Publications

This is Judge Cooley's tribute to former University of Michigan astronomer Professor James Craig Watson, who died unexpectedly at age 42 and is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery in Ann Arbor. While not specifically related to the law, Cooley memorializes Watson with his ringing prose: "... it was among the stars this great man found his chief delight, and fitting it was that he should do so. He knew the stars as one knows the faces of his friends ..." But it is the last few pages of the tribute that Cooley asserts the glory of the State of Michigan …

Materials Of Jurisprudence, James V. Campbell

Articles

This period is marked by rather more strenuous efforts than have been made before in this country, to solve the problem of condensing and simplifying the law. Our own day is peculiar in the endeavors we have seen to evolve what is claimed to be a science of jurisprudence. Some admirable writers have succeeded in dividing the domain of law into its larger or smaller fields, and have shown with more or less fulness the relative positions of these, and their mutual dependence. This is a valuable service; for all lawyers know that, without a reasonably clear perception of the …

Law Abridgment: Closing Address Delivered Before The Graduating Law Class Of The University Of Michigan, March 20, 1879., James V. Campbell

Books

We hear on all sides complaints of the increasing mass of printed Reports and text-books, which it is said the lawyer must find some means of mastering, but which no life is long enough to read. The young lawyer, as he scans the dreary catalogues, and wonders what Croesus can buy or what brain can learn all this lore, is sorely puzzled what books to choose from the thousands that have found printers. And when a few years of practice have shown him how small a share of these books have done any good in the world, he is forced …

Changes In The Balance Of Governmental Power, Thomas M. Cooley

Other Publications

“In taking up for brief review the action of the convention in framing, and that of the people of the Union in adopting the Federal Constitution ninety years ago, we should be able after such a lapse of time, and in view of our diversified experience under it, to deal with it in a spirit of dispassionate criticism, and without boasting or unreasonable exultation. Yet we may perhaps truly say that the act itself was the most notable in government-making of which history bears record….”

The Method Of Electing The President, Thomas M. Cooley, Abram S. Hewitt

Articles

Twice in the history of the United States the nation has been brought to the verge of civil war by difficulties growing out of presidential elections. And yet no system was ever devised with more care to preclude any reasonable complaint.

Limits To State Control Of Private Business, Thomas M. Cooley

Articles

The present purpose is to inquire whether, in the matter of the regulation of property rights and of business, legislation has not of late been occupying doubtful, possibly unconstitutional grounds. The discussion in the main must be limited to fundamental.-principles, aided by such light as legal and constitutional history may throw upon them, since the express provisions of the constitutions can give little assistance. They always contain the general guaranty of due process of law to life, liberty, and property, but in other particulars they for the most part leave protection to principles which have come from the common law. …

The State Of The Law: A Test Of National Progress, Thomas M. Cooley

Other Publications

“The work to which the student in law first addresses himself is the fixing in his mind of certain principles which are agreed upon, or are supposed to be, and which collectively constitute the body of the law…. The brief remarks that I shall make will be addressed to two points: 1. That the law of the land must in the main be the handiwork of those who administer and practice it, and 2, That the final and most satisfactory evidence of assured national advancement must be found in the state of the law….”

Outlines Of The Political History Of Michigan, James V. Campbell

Books

Written in 1876 this work was originally intended as a sketch of the political development of the State of Michigan to be used for the purposes of its Centennial Committee. Chapters span Michigan political history beginning with early explorations by France and England, colonization, French and then British rule, military conquest, the administration of colonial governors, relations with adjacent territorial entities, the last years of the Territory and the first Constitution of 1835; and lastly, Michigan under the Constitution of 1850.

Washington: His Character And The Lessons To Be Drawn From It, Thomas M. Cooley

Other Publications

Justice Cooley’s memorial on the occasion of Washington’s birthday: “In fabulous history nations are founded by gods. But these gods are only impersonations of the rough virtues most prized in a barbarous age, and their worship is therefore an adoration of those qualities … We have no fabulous history of our nation … Great characters may loom up as the builders, but they are not simply exaggerated personifications of power and force; they are men with human qualities, whose lives, in the records which are preserved, are open to our inspection; we may see what manner of men they were, …

Commentaries On The Constitution Of The United States : With A Preliminary Review Of The Constitutional History Of The Colonies And States Before The Adoption Of The Constitution, Joseph Story, Thomas M. Cooley

Books

From the Editor's Preface: “In preparing for the press a fourth edition of Mr. Justice Story’s Commentaries on the Constitution, it has been thought proper to preserve the original text without alteration or interpolation, and to put in notes all discussions by the editor, as well as all references to subsequent adjudications, public papers, and events, tending to illustrate, support, or qualify the positions assumed in the text. The new amendments, however, seemed to demand treatment in the body of the work, and additional chapters are given for that purpose….”

Commentaries On The Laws Of England : In Four Books, William Blackstone, Thomas M. Cooley

Books

“The main purpose in giving to the public a new edition of the Commentaries of Blackstone, was to present the changes in the law which had taken place since the last preceding edition appeared, that the reader, while informing himself concerning the law of England of a century since, might not be misled in respect to its present condition. With this object before him, while avoiding the detail which might be useful to the English practitioner, but which would merely cumber the pages for American use, the editor has sought to indicate the statutory changes sufficiently to give a general …

Commentaries On The Laws Of England : In Four Books, William Blackstone, Thomas M. Cooley

Books

“The main purpose in giving to the public a new edition of the Commentaries of Blackstone, was to present the changes in the law which had taken place since the last preceding edition appeared, that the reader, while informing himself concerning the law of England of a century since, might not be misled in respect to its present condition. With this object before him, while avoiding the detail which might be useful to the English practitioner, but which would merely cumber the pages for American use, the editor has sought to indicate the statutory changes sufficiently to give a general …

Commentaries On The Laws Of England : In Four Books, William Blackstone, Thomas M. Cooley

Books

From Editor's Preface, Volume I:

“The Commentaries of Mr. Justice Blackstone have now for more than a century been the wonder and delight of persons whose curiosity or interest have led them to investigate the constitution and laws of Great Britain, the condition of things from which they grew, and the reasons upon which they rest….

“In preparation of the present edition it has not been thought unimportant to call attention from time to time to the differences which exist between the constitutions of Great Britain and of the United States. Some of those differences, however, are too subtle to …

With Some Considerations Regarding The Study Of The Law, Thomas M. Cooley

Other Publications

Thomas M. Cooley's editions of Blackstone's Commentaries were the 19th century's "standard editions" of American analyses of the title. "The Commentaries of Mr. Justice Blackstone have now for more than a century been the wonder and delight of persons whose curiosity or interest have led hem to investigate the constitution and laws of Great Britain, the condition of things from which they grew, and the reasons upon which they rest. Lapse of time does not seem to diminish their attractions, or to lesson materially their practical value." Cooley's Preface explains that he came to edit the Commentaries with the awareness …

Commentaries On The Laws Of England : In Four Books, William Blackstone, Thomas M. Cooley

Books

“The Commentaries of Mr. Justice Blackstone have now for more than a century been the wonder and delight of persons whose curiosity or interest have led them to investigate the constitution and laws of Great Britain, the condition of things from which they grew, and the reasons upon which they rest….

“In preparation of the present edition it has not been thought unimportant to call attention from time to time to the differences which exist between the constitutions of Great Britain and of the United States. Some of those differences, however, are too subtle to be put upon paper, and …

On The Study Of Law: An Address At The Opening Of The Law Department Of The University Of Michigan, October 3, 1859, James V. Campbell

Other Publications

Professor Campbell's address on the occasion of the inauguration of the Department of Law at the University of Michigan, laying out the hopes for and expectations of the newly-created unit. He sweeps wide through the history of the State and the nobility of the profession: "Let everyone come to the study of the Law with a proper sense of its dignity and importance."