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Michigan Law Review

1981

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In Praise Of Book Reviews, Francis A. Allen Mar 1981

In Praise Of Book Reviews, Francis A. Allen

Michigan Law Review

This is the third time in as many years that the Michigan Law Review has presented a substantial canvass of legal and law-relevant literature to its readers. Any institutional practice repeated three times is in a fair way of becoming a tradition, and the tradition of an annual "book-review issue" in this journal seems vigorously alive and well. Accordingly, the present collection of review essays requires no benediction from me. That these remarks are a work of supererogation is even more strongly suggested when one recalls the elegant essay of David Cavers, which helped launch the first collection two years …


Truth And Interpretation In Legal History, G. Edward White Mar 1981

Truth And Interpretation In Legal History, G. Edward White

Michigan Law Review

The essay consists of four sections. Section I discusses the nature of historical explanation, devoting some attention to the roles of "truth," interpretation, and detachment in historical scholarship. Section II continues that discussion by exploring the meaning and the purpose of what I call "interpretive detachment" in the writing of history. Section III considers the theoretical assumptions of Marxist legal historians from the point of view developed in preceding sections. Section IV, taking into account some issues that remain problematic or troublesome, restates my approach.