Justice Accused: Antislavery and the Judicial Process [Paperback]

Robert M. Cover (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 10, 1984 | ISBN-10: 0300032528 | ISBN-13: 978-0300032529

What should a judge do when he must hand down a ruling based on a law that he considers unjust or oppressive? This question is examined through a series of problems concerning unjust law that arose with respect to slavery in nineteenth-century America. "Cover's book is splendid in many ways. His legal history and legal philosophy are both first class. . . . This is, for a change, an interdisciplinary work that is a credit to both disciplines."-Ronald Dworkin, Times Literary Supplement "Scholars should be grateful to Cover for his often brilliant illumination of tensions created in judges by changing eighteenth- and nineteenth-century jurisprudential attitudes and legal standards. . . An exciting adventure in interdisciplinary history."-Harold M. Hyman, American Historical Review "A most articulate, sophisticated, and learned defense of legal formalism. . . Deserves and needs to be widely read."-Don Roper, Journal of American History "An excellent illustration of the way in which a burning moral issue relates to the American judicial process. The book thus has both historical value and a very immediate importance."-Edwards A. Stettner, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science "A really fine book, an important contribution to law and to history."-Louis H. Pollak

Product Details

• Paperback: 322 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (September 10, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300032528
• ISBN-13: 978-0300032529
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #139,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #92 in Books > Law > Legal History

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Deeper Question, November 15, 2005

By 

Guitarface "BLAMF! the Vote" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Justice Accused: Antislavery and the Judicial Process (Paperback)

I studied this book in law school. I think the central question of this book is a little deeper than the way the previous reviewer phrased it. The book explores the conflict that occurs when a judge perceives that the law applying to a case before him is not a just one and will result in injustice if applied in the current case. Does the judge simply apply the law, or find some way around it to allow for a just result? This is an interesting question today, given the debate between "strict construction" of the Constitution and Holmes' popular notion that the Constitution is a "living document" whose interpretation must evolve with the times. The chief example used in this book is the infamous Dred Scott decision, in which a slave who had lived for many years on free soil, sued for his freedom, but was turned down by the Supreme Court on Constitutional grounds -- although presumably the judges knew that this was not a just result.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite book, July 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Justice Accused: Antislavery and the Judicial Process (Paperback)

Justice Accused addresses why antebellum judges who opposed slavery nonetheless felt powerless to do any thing but enforce it.