Legal History Commons^™

A Lawyer Looks At Liberty, Clarence Emmett Manion

Journal Articles

The Law has been defined as "The Perfection of Human Reason." This, of course, is a highly idealized definition. The Law often falls short of perfect reasonableness. Nevertheless reason and logic constitute the warp and woof of the whole fabric of our jurisprudence. In the strict determination and application of the Law, emotion-the natural enemy of reason-plays not part at all. In the courtroom, oratorical pyrotechnics are seldom permitted to obscure the real points that are at issue in a particular case. The trial of a lawsuit is predicated upon the pleadings and the art of formal pleading is as …