LWSO 201 Lecture Notes - Christopher Columbus Langdell, Harvard Law Review, Real Change
10 Sep 2013
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Judges do not adjudicate the law through a neutral application of legal rules but through extra-legal factors (social, cultural, psychological) Legal realism was a reaction to legal formalism. Christopher langdell (1826 1906) dean of harvard law. Law is a set of formal legal rules, doctrines and principles underlying high court decisions. Law could only be discovered through a systematic analysis of the case law (ie: the socratic method) Need to look at the practical consequences of law on people"s lives. The path of the law harvard law review. Carrie buck was an institutionalized feeble-minded white woman the daughter of a feeble-minded mother in the same institution, and the mother of an illegitimate feeble-minded child . Application to have carrie buck sterilized under a virginia. Statute - means of eradicating social problems for the benefit of society . Holmes - three generations of imbeciles are enough . Practical common sense sterilization of mental defectives.
