The Green Bag
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the bench; that in Connecticut the judi ciary has the confidence of the bar; that in Texas, while there is no Mansfield or Marshall, there are no inferior judges,
that their character is never impugned, that they are honest and upright; that in Pennsylvania, except the minor judges they are generally upright and honor able; that in Kentucky, as a rule, their judges are considered honest; from Iowa that they are for the most part honest;
from Missouri that it is the system rather than the judiciary which is at fault, and that the criticism of the judiciary is fre quently unfair; and from Tennessee that the judiciary are not incapable." After presenting this somewhat de pressing mass of testimony, the writers go on to suggest steps in a possible re form. They favor, first, a formulation
of canons of judicial ethics; secondly, improved methods of selecting judges,
calibre at the bar; thirdly, improvement of procedure; and fourthly, elevation
of the standard of judicial thinking. On this last point the authors say:— “We can recognize that the courts have been struggling in the dark quite as much as the bar, indeed, by reason of an inefi‘icient bar, and that, being hu man, they, too, have often been in error.
In other words, we can recognize that judicial decisions, even by courts of the last resort, may be wrong and ought to
be changed, not by statute but by judicial decisions. Subject to rights acquired upon the faith of erroneous
decisions, it should be regarded by the profession and by the courts themselves as entirely proper for an advocate to
point to judicial error in any decision which may be cited against him and to secure a reconsideration of any decision like by submitting argument ina support respectful of his and position." lawyer‘
to insure their being those of highest
Reviews of Books HOLLAND'S JURISPRUDENCE The Elements of Jurisprudence. By Thomas Erskine Holland, K.C.. of Lincoln's Inn. Chichele Professor of International Law and Diplomacy. D.C.L. and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. 11th edition. Oxford University Press, American Branch, New York. 9th ed. Pp. xxv + 427 + 23 (index). ($2.50.)
HILE the author of
this well
known treatise is now living, and the first edition of his book appeared as late as 1880, the “Elements of Jurispru dence" begins to look a bit out of per spective. It would be interesting to know what position is to be assigned to it ten or twenty years hence.
While Professor
Holland is commonly classed with a. school of juristic theory that is retreat ing before the advance of what Professor Pound feels forced, for want of a better.‘
name, to call ‘sociological jurispru dence," there seems to be something apart cal" jurist from the which method stamps of the this“analyti‘ treatise with a distinctive character of its Own’ and the future may possibly inquire hOW
it was that Professor Holland mistook the “grammar" of the law for its logic.
and principles solely of description and arrangement for elemental principles
The narrow sense in which he uses the term “jurisprudence" will also be likely to excite growing wonder. Professor Holland has outlined a scheme of ar rangement, he has classified principles and shown their interrelations, he has
cleared up with marked perspicacity the obscurity and inexactitude of legal ter
