The Marshall Court and Cultural Change, 1815-1835 - Softcover

White, G. Edward

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195070593 ISBN 13: 9780195070590

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1991

Synopsis

G. Edward White's monumental study on the Marshall Court, originally published as Volumes III-IV of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court, shows how the decisions made between 1815 and 1835 reveal an active reinterpretation of the Constitution and its principles of republicanism to suit the requirements of a rapidly changing nation. Placing the Marshall Court within the cultural and ideological context of early nineteenth-century America, White argues that the Court recast the language of the Constitution to give certain crucial terms the appearance of timeless legal principles, and promoted a style of judicial decision-making that concealed the discretionary elements of constitutional interpretation from public scrutiny, thus fostering the impression of an objective, non-partisan Court. Now available in an abridged paperback edition, The Marshall Court and Cultural Change, 1815-1835 will be essential for courses in American legal and constitutional history.

About this title

About the Author:

G. Edward White, John B. Minor Professor of Law and Cromwell Research Professor of History, University of Virginia.

Review:

"Excellent institutional history, the model for others."--J. Valauri, Northern Kentucky University

"A rich work of erudition lightly worn."--James Robertsonh, Cogswell College

"White is superb at using brief biographies to describe the personality, philosophy, politics, and comparative significance of the lawyers practicing before and the judges serving on the Marshall Court....Masterful as it is seminal."--Reviews in American History

"Clearly the best of the Holmes Devise volumes to date, and more generally, if separated from the series, an important landmark in legal and constitutional history....A definitive volume, prodigiously researched and gracefully written."--The Virginia Quarterly Review

"A brilliant interpretation of John Marshall, and of the Court over which he presided."--Michigan Law Review

"Edward White...has produced no less than a one-volume education in the formative period of American law....Of few books may one venture the term definitive. It is hard to think of any respect in which this one is not."--Washington Post Book World

"The best work of American constitutional history in the last twenty-five years."--Morton Horwitz, Harvard Law School

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0195070593
• ISBN 13: 9780195070590
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 864