Cardozo : a study in reputation /

Posner has produced a pioneering, pathbreaking, and fascinating book. He offers his effort as a sample of the possibilities for research in "critical judicial study," a designation that does not fully convey the range of inquiry and the methods of inquiry entailed in this new field. Posner points to his Law and Literature (CH, Jun'89) and to his Problems of Jurisprudence (CH, Feb'91) to indicate several of the themes he pursues in the study of reputation. In addition to the concern with style, rhetoric, and scholarship as well as with philosophy of law and theories of review contained in these works, he adds quantitative "sweeps" of references to Cardozo in the "learned literature" of law. Posner also includes tables and graphs presenting citations to Cardozo and non-Cardozo opinions over seven decades, as well as measured comparison with selected jurists who served with Cardozo either on the New York bench or on the US Supreme Court. Throughout, there is inquiring attention to reputation--what it is and how it is to be distinguished from influence, merit, or excellence. With a final note on the possibilities for further research, useful footnotes, and minimal index, this book is strongly recommended for all college and university collections. -L. Weinstein, Smith College

In this revised and expanded version of his University of Michigan Cooley Lectures, Posner, a U.S. Court of Appeals judge, offers a full-length critical judicial study of Benjamin Cardozo (1870-1938), appointed to the Supreme Court by Herbert Hoover. Posner compares and contrasts Cardozo with leading U.S. Supreme Court Justices and other 20th-century American judges. He shows that Cardozo's concern for common law adjudication was the base of the Justice's philosophy, and he carefully examines Cardozo's judicial analysis and Court opinions. A thoughtful addition to judicial biography collections.-- Steven Puro, St. Louis Univ. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.