Justice Accused

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