Customer Reviews

Great Chief Justice (PB) (American Political Thought (University of Kansas))

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

John Marshall [1755-1835] was Chief Justice of the United States for the last 34 years of his life. During his long tenure, he turned the Supreme Court from an afterthought into a primary tool for the centralization of federal power; he defined America, though we can still debate whether he got the definition right. This book details how Marshall went about his task.....

This is NOT a biography of John Marshall [see my other reviews]; it is a series of case studies which trace the expanding power of the Federal Judiciary...Marbury v. Madison established the principle of Judicial review of legislative decisions...Virginia v. Cohens asserted federal authority in state affairs...the National Bank...land titles...Indian treaties......there is still disagreement over some of Marshall's decisions, and there was hell to pay over some of them at the time. "John Marshall has made his decision; now let's see him enforce it"...the various ramifications of that statement {which Andrew Jackson MAY not have ever made} are mind boggling....

Charles Hobson is editor of The John Marshall Papers, one of the 2 or 3 greatest living Marshall scholars, and a nice guy [as was Marshall]; he has written a five star book. Do I actually recommend it? Maybe. If you are an attorney or historian with an interest in the topic, it is an absolutely essential volume. Well written, well organized; for me, it was a page turner. For the casual reader, don't waste your money, or insult Mr. Hobson. You will need a good background in either Law [not me], or history [me] to understand it.

This is an excellent, accessible, readable judicial biography of our greatest Supreme Court justice. At the same time, it is a masterly exposition of Marshall's judicial philosophy and development by one of the greatest scholars of John Marshall, the editor of the Marshall papers (and also the James Madison papers). The book is essential for understanding Marshall's thought and his contributions to the nation. Places Marshall's writings and his judicial philosophy in their historical context, stripping away the anachronistic assumptions that mar much judicial discussion of the great Marshall opinions. I disagree with the previous reviewer's statement that only historians and lawyers can understand the book; it is accessible to general readers in my opinion.

Chief Justice Marshall was a leader when the country needed a strong forward thinking Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The rule of law might not have happened without his long stay on the bench. This is an excellent book that delved into his decision making thought process on a variety of cases. Not a bio-but more legal and decision making thought process. In addition to his famous cases, many lesser known, but precedent setting cases. Not being a lawyer, I appreciated the book for going into the parts of law that are meaningful for me as a business owner and for the thought process to make the decisions. He made sure that the Supreme Court was not a pawn of either party or of either the other two branches of the government. It was worth my while and well researched.

"The Great Chief Justice" is a fascinating, clearly-written intellectual biography of John Marshall, the Supreme Court's greatest Chief Justice. If a book about Constitutional history can be described as "lovely," then this is it.

Marshall led the Court in 1801-35, when the Constitution was still young and its meaning still up for grabs. He was a a brilliant legal craftsman who forged a "nationalist" jurisprudence that conferred broad powers on the federal government and gave the last word on Constitutional interpretation to the federal judiciary. "The Great Chief Justice" unveils the legal logic behind this jurisprudence, moving back and forth between the details of court cases and the big picture of Anglo-American legal history and early 19th-century American politics.

The book is the best place to turn for an introduction to Marshall's legal thought. Highly recommended. Six stars!

The Great Chief Justice: John Marshall and the Rule of Law. By Charles F. Hobson. (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1996. 256 pp. ISBN 0-7006-0788-9. Call no. KF8745.M3 H63 1996)

In The Great Chief Justice Charles F. Hobson applauds John Marshall for legitimizing the Constitution and for his model service in the United States Supreme Court from 1801-1835. Hobson states, Marshall as chief justice "solidified the practice of judicial review by adapting the methods of common law interpretation to the task of expounding the constitution." As evidence of Marshall's greatness, the author investigates the "great cases" in combination with his early private practice in Virginia. Since 1979 Charles Hobson has researched and edited The Papers of John Marshall and is well versed in Marshall's entire life, both biographical and judicial. Hobson asserts, "His masterly opinions laid the foundations of our constitutional law and furnished a set of principles that continue to animate it."
Chief Justice begins with a brief biography of Marshall and an explanation of his record of public appointments and positions in chapters one and two. Hobson points out the Chief's home state of Virginia had an anti-federalist majority and this political scene influenced him to be non-political in nature. While practicing there, Hobson asserts, Marshall observed the lack of education in the judiciary circles around him. This void of knowledge drove him to be versed in all types of law doctrines including common, natural, ecclesiastic, merchant and royal laws from Europe. Hobson feels all this training, observation and education permitted him a mindset of an "independent-minded jurist" that helped him find a keen sense of power within the courtroom.
Chapters three and four investigate the province of judicial review and the power of the contract clause in the Marshall court. Hobson calls Marbury v. Madison (1803) Marshall's first great opinion, setting precedent for the court's power over legislative powers within the nation. With this decision, Marshall assured the U.S. government was, "a government of laws, and not of men." Hobson claims there were three goals Marshall attained with the Marbury case; 1) a defense of the judiciary branch as independent of government, 2) to resist states encroachment on the Federal government, and 3) to protect private rights from infringement of governmental acts. Marshall's reading of the contract clause in Article 1 Section 10 of the Constitution was in the spirit of the rights of the people. Hobson explains how Marshall felt the general language used by the framers was their way of embracing future evils not yet known. Marshall read the contract clause expansively and until the Fourteenth Amendment was enacted, the contract clause served as the court's chief weapon in preserving private people from encroaching state legislators.
Chapters five, six and seven articulate Marshall's other great cases and opinions. Hobson highlights the Cherokee cases as Marshall's only involvement in a political disagreement with disastrous outcomes. The presidency of Andrew Jackson was a time of great upheavals in the Nation, and the Marshal court attempted to interject natural laws to save the tribe from annihilation. Hobson assures us Marshall did all he could in Worcester v. Georgia but the President would not ease on the policy of Indian suppression. In the end, Marshall's use of precedents and his discrete construction of laws revolutionized our legal system as we have come to know it, but did little to save the Cherokee peoples from removal. Charles F. Hobson gives us a human picture of a founding father, someone who can be related to and admired at the same time.