Front cover image for The constitution in the Supreme Court : the first hundred years, 1789-1888

The constitution in the Supreme Court : the first hundred years, 1789-1888

This comprehensive critical history of the U.S. Supreme Court's constitutional opinions during its first 100 years (1789-1888) is a masterly synthesis of legal analysis and narrative history. It was during this period that the Court created a vigorous tradition of constitutional interpretation, its decisions shaping the nature of government and the lives of citizens. The author maintains that justices are, and ought to be, subservient to the text of the Constitution and therefore are not charged with the invention of legal doctrines that are in consonance with their individual or collective notions of what the Constitution ought to say. Their role, he believes, is to guide litigants according to the principles explicitly stated in the Constitution. They also have an obligation to explain the reasons for their decisions as concisely and persuasively as possible. ISBN 0-226-13108-4 : $55.00 (For use only in the library)
Print Book, English, 1985
University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1985
xiii, 504 pages ; 25 cm
9780226131085, 0226131084
11970986
Pt. 1: Chief Justices Jay and Ellsworth, 1789-1801
Pt. 2: Chief Justice Marshall, 1801-1835
Pt. 3: Chief Justice Taney, 1836-1864
Pt. 4: Chief Justice Chase, 1865-1873
Pt. 5: Chief Justice Waite, 1874-1888
Epilogue
Appendix: Justices of the Supreme Court, 1789-1888
Appendix B.: The Constitution of the United States
Table of cases
Index
"Tables of cases": pages 477-486