Legal Realism and American Law

In the first part of the 20th century, a new movement originating from the law schools of Yale and Columbia University offered interesting, if not disconcerting, views on the role of judges and the nature of the law in America. Called legal realism, it developed new methods and questions to describe how judges and the law function. To investigate the nature of legal reasoning, legal realists looked at the origins, developments, and interpretations of the law, seeking to understand what the law is, who makes it, and its purpose. They argued that adjudications are a subjective system based more on the political, social, and moral inclinations of Federal and State judges than on dogma. Today, this is apparent in debates surrounding rulings, appointments, and judicial activism.

This thorough analysis discusses the context in which legal realism developed along with the work of key figures and helps situate today's complex judicial politics in America. It will be of great interest to any student researching judicial politics and American constitutional development.

In the first part of the 20th century, a group of law scholars offered engaging, and occasionally disconcerting, views on the role of judges and the relationship between law and politics in the United States. These legal realists borrowed methods from the social sciences to carefully study the law as experienced by lawyers, judges, and average citizens and promoted a progressive vision for American law and society. Legal realism investigated the nature of legal reasoning, the purpose of law, and the role of judges. The movement asked questions which reshaped the study of jurisprudence and continue to drive lively debates about the law and politics in classrooms, courtrooms, and even the halls of Congress.
This thorough analysis provides an introduction to the ideas, context, and leading personalities of legal realism. It helps situate an important movement in legal theory in the context of American politics and political thought and will be of great interest to students of judicial politics, American constitutional development, and political theory.

Justin Zaremby holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and a J.D. from Yale University, where he taught political science and the humanities. Currently a practicing lawyer, his work has been published in various journals including the Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities, Suffolk University Law Review, and Rutgers Law Review.

Acknowledgements
Preface
What is the Law?
What is the Purpose of Law?
What are Judges?
Realisms After Legal Realism
Responsibility and the Legal Mind
Bibliography
Bibliographic References
Index