Common Law

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935) is generally considered one of the two greatest justices of the United States Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Marshall being the other. In more than 2,000 opinions, he is delineated an impressive legal philosophy that profoundly influenced American jurisprudence, particularly in the area of civil liberties and judicial restraint. At the same time, his abilities as a prose stylist earned him a position among the literary elite.

Now the influential ideas and judicial theory of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. can be studied and appreciated in this superb paperback addition--the only one in print--of his magnus opus. First published in 1881, "The Common Law" is still indispensable reading for lawyers, political scientists, historians, general readers--anyone interested in the origins, development and continuing evolution of laws that govern human society.