A Common Law for the Age of Statutes.
- 1st ed.
- 1 online resource (332 pages)
- Oliver Wendell Holmes Lectures .
- Oliver Wendell Holmes Lectures .
Intro -- Contents -- I Choking on Statutes -- II The Flight to the Constitution and to Equal Protection Clauses -- III The Passive Virtues -- IV Interpretation -- V The New Deal Response: Administrative Agencies -- VI Legislative Responses -- VII Structural Responses -- VIII A New Approach: Antecedents and Roots -- IX The Doctrine: A Question of Legitimacy -- X The Doctrine: Limits and Guidelines -- XI The Doctrine: Techniques and Feasibility -- XII The Role of Courts in an Age of Statutes -- XIII The Dangers of the Doctrine -- XIV The Uses and Abuses of Subterfuge -- XV The Choice for Candor -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Table of Cases -- Index.
The dominance of legislatures and statutory law has put an impossible burden on the courts. Guido Calabresi thinks it is time for this country to seriously consider returning to a traditional American judicial-legislative balance in which courts enlarge the common law and decide when a rule of law has seen its day and should be revised.