William Gardiner Hammond and the Lieber Revival

Authors

Paul D. Carrington, Duke University

Abstract

Francis Lieber's Legal and Political Hermeneutics was first published in serial form in 1837. Jacksonian populism was then at high water and American judges and lawyers were acknowledged as politicians. Interpretation of legal texts was seen as a political activity. His work was so well received that a hard cover edition was published in 1839.

The edition presented in this issue was prepared by William Gardiner Hammond in 1880. Jacksonian politics were then in retreat before a rising tide of technocratic professionalism. Many lawyers and judges were disowning the political mission of American law and aspiring to be technocrats. To them, interpretation of legal texts was to be an apolitical activity. Both the 1837 and 1880 editions were responsive to their contrasting environments.

Keywords

Hermeneutics, Legal Analysis and Writing, Legal History, Supreme Court of the United States, Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence

Disciplines

Constitutional Law | Jurisprudence | Law | Legal History | Supreme Court of the United States

Recommended Citation

Paul D. Carrington, William Gardiner Hammond and the Lieber Revival, 16 Cardozo L. Rev. 2135 (1995).
Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/clr/vol16/iss6/6