Learned Hand: The Man and the Judge [Paperback]

Gerald Gunther (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 21, 1998

A masterful, moving account of the life and work of one of the great judges of the twentieth century, whose work has left a profound mark on our legal, intellectual, and social landscape. The greatest judge never to be appointed to the Supreme Court, Learned Hand is widely considered the peer of Justices Holmes, Brandeis, and Cardozo. In his more than fifty years on the bench, he left an unequaled legacy of lastingly influential writings. This distinctive biography goes well beyond Hand's official work, however, to depict both a complex human being and the times in which he lived. The first to draw on the enormous collection of the judge's private papers, the eminent constitutional scholar Gerald Gunther vividly portrays a public man consumed by private doubts. Gunther's lively account moves from Hand's childhood in a formidable (and anxiety producing) family of lawyers to his years at Harvard as a studious outsider, his frustrating experience in private law practice, his felt inadequacies in marriage, and his work as a federal judge. Throughout his life, Hand believed himself unworthy of the accolades bestowed upon him; self-doubt permeated all aspects of his life. Gunther subtly explores the ties between the modest, uncertain man - a liberal skeptic who was never "too sure [he was] right" - and his public record, and suggests that Hand's personal traits shaped his modest approach to judging: the questioning human being could not help acting that way as a judge. Hand's most enduring legacy is his advocacy of judicial restraint: repeatedly he sounded the dangers of excessive activism in unelected judges. Yet he mustered the courage to support such basic values as freedom of expression -from his personally costly defense of dissenters amid the hysteria of World War I to his strong affirmation of free speech in his rulings on obscenity and his outspoken attacks on McCarthyism in the 1950s. This biography also offers the perspective of one of this era's most sens

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Stanford Law School professor Gunther, a former clerk to Hand (1872-1961) with exclusive access to his mentor's papers, ably portrays the man, perhaps the most important jurist not to serve on the Supreme Court, and explains his work. Christened Billings Learned Hand (the product of family surnames), the teenaged Learned studied philosophy at Harvard, and came by his long-held belief in judicial restraint as a Harvard Law student. Becoming a federal district judge in 1909, Hand in 1917 wrote an unpopular but ultimately influential opinion supporting free speech in a case involving the Masses , a revolutionary organ. Rising to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in 1924, Hand helped improve judicial procedures, wrote numerous worthy opinions, gained respect as a skeptical liberal and helped found the prestigious American Law Institute, an organization aimed at improving the law. Besides describing Hand's cases, Gunther tells of the judge's personal life, his political dabblings and his popularity. The book's only drawback is its length; an abridged version could still assay Hand and reach many more readers. Photos not seen by PW. History Book Club alternate.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Gunther, professor of law at Stanford University Law School and a former law clerk to Judge Learned Hand and Chief Justice Earl Warren, has given us something long overdue-a treasure trove of information and insight into arguably the greatest jurist never to be named to the U.S. Supreme Court. Based in large measure on his access to Hand's private papers, this work provides a critical analysis and evaluation of this "skeptical liberal" who helped shape U.S. law and society for a good portion of this century. Gunther proves convincingly that the demise of first-rate, brilliant judicial biography is exaggerated: in his hands, Judge Hand vividly comes to life not only as an American jurist but as an American philosopher probing the human condition. Critical, comprehensive, and objective, this is scholarship at its finest; it belongs in every scholar's library. Highly recommended.
Stephen Shaw, Northwest Nazarene Coll., Nampa, Id.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 864 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (July 21, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674518802
• ISBN-13: 978-0674518803
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #580,712 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best judicial biography written, February 11, 2006

By 

Joel Jacobsen (New Mexico USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Learned Hand: The Man and the Judge (Hardcover)

Learned Hand was in many ways a great man. A dedicated judge, the gently forgiving husband of a straying wife, a kind and thoughtful person, brilliantly intelligent and clear-thinking - and yet, in the end, almost unknowable. Gunther's biography shines a light on every aspect of the judge's work and personality, including the mystery at his inner core. Hand really wasn't like other people, and Gunther, who knew him personally, captures that.

Gunther's prose is remarkably clear and direct. Another reviewer's remarks about his political bias are just mystifying to me. I don't think Hand's jurisprudence can be classified as either liberal or conservative, and I didn't come away with any sense of Gunther's politics. Frankfurter, the New Dealer, is not depicted as a villain, but rather as one of Hand's closest friends, and an extremely interesting person in his own right.

Judicial biographies are inherently difficult to write, because the subjects' lives tend to be externally uneventful. (Hand virtually never left his native New York state.) Also, old cases are dull unless you really get into them, but to do so requires long digressions from the biographical narrative. This is the only judicial biography I've read that overcomes both problems. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A window on history and on one man's view of events, January 26, 2008

By 

W. Tuohy (Bay Area, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Learned Hand: The Man and the Judge (Hardcover)

This long book, with 680 pp of text, which deterred me at the outset, but then its length became welcome.

I read other Amazon reviewers with interest, and agree with some that(a)this is a valuable book, and with another that(b)the author at times demonstrates a political slant or bias. On the latter issue, however, I am less concerned than the critic. Many of the topics allow no easy answers and probably defie totally impartial reporting. No problem; I am capable of detecting bias, and willing to hear many sides of an issue.

I appreciated the fascinating account of Hand's life (mostly his career, since the family soon disappears from the narrative). I also greatly appreciated looking behind the scences as lawyers, the courts, and Hand and his friends confronted major events in 20th century US history.

This book deepened and refreshed my understandings. Is it the "true" or definitive story of Learned Hand and his times? Perhaps, but that is not my basic concern. Rather, the book helped me test and possibly deepen my own thinking. Ideological slant notwithstanding the author has given me valuable information. Doing my part - as an active, intelligent reader - I was able to exercise my brain: reconsidering past understandings, reassess my own prejudices, etc. In sum, the book is entertaining and a welcome tool that helped me stay mentally alive and, perhaps, even grow a bit wiser.

Finally, though not a lawyer I am interested in the law and its links to economic, social, and political processes. Thus I am perhaps more patient with fine legal distinctions and reasoning than would be the average reader. Some folks will not want to work their way through this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating life that still influences today, October 26, 2009

By 

M. Brooks - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Learned Hand: The Man and the Judge (Hardcover)

Yes, it is very long, but it is fascinating in its study not only of a fascinating man but also of fascinating times. Gunther presents Judge Hand as a complex man who can't be given any one conventional label. He was both liberal and conservative, gentle and explosive, kind and cold, confident and frightened. Judge Hand had many things to say that have influenced who we were then as a culture. His decisions and philosophy continue to help form the foundation of our life in this century. The tenets of free speech that we take for granted today were not common in his day, until he set them out. His warnings about the risk of personal conformance obliterating individuality may have been issued in 1927, but they echo down the decades and are no less valid now. His caustic wit (we'll have to decide this case as if it had been tried by actual lawyers) is still very, very funny. Judge Hand was clearly one of the most intelligent and thoughtful Americans who ever lived, and Gunther does him justice by refusing to shortchange his complexities for the sake of turning his full and fascinating life into a 15-second soundbite. If the book is a long read, read it in many sittings - it stretches out the enrichment.