Law: A New Book

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THE GROWTH OF THE LAW—Benjamin N. Cardozo, LL.D.—Yale University Press ($1.75), must be regarded as a supplement to The Nature of the Judicial Process (1921) by the same author. Both volumes represent lectures given at the Yale Law School. The Scope. The text with which Judge Cardozo begins and ends The Growth of the Law is: "Law must be stable and yet it cannot stand still." An understanding of this text, he points out, requires a thorough consideration of "the philosophy of function" in relation to "the authority of precedent." The chapter headings give the best brief idea of the author's subject and his method of approaching it.

They are: I. The need of a scientific restatement of the law as an aid to certainty; II. The need of a philosophy of law as an aid to growth. The problems of legal philosophy. The meaning and genesis of law; III. The growth of law and the methods of judging; IV. The function and ends of law; V. Function and ends continued. The conclusion is for "the partisans of an inflexible logic" and "the levelers of all rule and all precedent" to fuse their warring theories into one new instrument of social control.

The Significance. Mr. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes has said that "the abstraction called the Law is a magic mirror wherein we see reflected not only our own lives, but the lives of all men that have been." Judge Cardozo's little book is a felicitous contribution of general interest to the origin, nature and function of this "abstraction called the Law" which records the past and profesies what the future will be. It is written in a style which will satisfy the most exacting professional precisionist and will, at the same time, be clear to the layman and attract all who delight in the deft and gracious use of English.

The Author. Benjamin Nathan Cardozo, aged 54, was born in Manhattan., studied at Columbia University, was admitted to the New York State Bar, was elected (in 1913) to the New York State Supreme Court and (in 1917) an Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals. He is noted for the thoughtful content and stylistic charm of his opinions.