Farley, R. J.

English

University of Florida Levin College of Law

Florida Law Review Volume 19 Issue 2 Article 12 September 1966 Fokosch (ed.): Essays in Legal History in Honor of Felix Frankfurter R. J. Farley Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/flr  Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation R. J. Farley, Fokosch (ed.): Essays in Legal History in Honor of Felix Frankfurter, 19 Fla. L. Rev. 392 (1966). Available at: https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/flr/vol19/iss2/12 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by UF Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Florida Law Review by an authorized editor of UF Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact kaleita@law.ufl.edu. BOOK REVIEWESSAYS IN LEGAL HISTORY IN HONOR OF FELIX FRANKFURTER. Editedby Morris D. Forkosch.' Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co. 1956.Pp. xix, 648. $17.50.After a preface by the editor and an introduction by Mr. JusticeHarlan, this one-volume collection of essays is divided into four majorparts. In the first part, the editor asks, What Is Legal History. Hemakes a documented answer that it is a many splendored thing; notrestricted to geography, jurisprudence, philosophy, economics, po-litical science, sociology, courts, historians, or even facts, past or cur-rent. Legal history provides a means of added perception to modernproblems and is a continuing stream constantly increasing the reser-voir of knowledge, which is the justification, if one were needed, forthe organization of the contents of the book.The second part of the book concerns the Use of Legal History.This is subdivided into three diverse types of contributions and con-tributors: (a) the use of history by Justice Frankfurter, as seen bysix of his former law clerks; (b) topics chosen by six chief justices con-cerning the use of legal history in the states, which reflects the varietyof American judicial interests. Of pride to Florida lawyers may bethe short dissertation by then Chief Justice E. Harris Drew of theFlorida Supreme Court on the influence of history in the developmentof the legal profession in Florida by qualification and admissionthrough judicial, rather than legislative, control, culminating in thepresently integrated bar; and (c) the use of legal history in the gene-sis of a federal administrative antitrust agency. This disquisition isinterestingly projected, as indeed are all the others, but particular at-tention may be invoked to the author, Paul Rand Dixon, as an alum-nus of the University of Florida College of Law. (LL.B. 1938).The third section of the book is Essays in Legal History by tenprofessionals of other lands together with six of our own. They "dis-close that legal history is not limited to Anglo-American interests, thateach country delves within and without itself to comprehend theforces of the past and present, and that ancient doctrines sometimesspread and propagate universally .. . [and] despite national or lan-guage separation there is nevertheless a conjunction in purpose andapproach." (p. 405).This work, originally conceived as a living tribute but now pub-lished in memoriam, is, as said by Justice Harlan in the Introduction,a collection worthy of Justice Frankfurter, and "[T]he range of sub-jects . . .dealt with and the roster of its contributors are symbolic of'Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School.1Farley: Fokosch (ed.): Essays in Legal History in Honor of Felix FrankfurPublished by UF Law Scholarship Repository, 1966BOOK REVIEWthis remarkable man . . .pre-eminent among [whose] many talentswas the gift of stimulating others." (pp. ix, x). What could be a morefitting tribute than an excellent series of essays that acquaints theworld with "a clerk's eye view" of a master and that appropriates useof history as a judicial and legislative tool? The book has a great va-riety of contributions by thinkers in related fields that may stimulateothers to find, in individual and common experiences and in all partsof the world and in diverse studies, a better understanding of meneverywhere. All so well done, it is truly a worthy book.R. J. FARLY**Professor of Law, University of Florida; Dean Emeritus, University ofMississippi.1966]2Florida Law Review, Vol. 19, Iss. 2 [1966], Art. 12https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/flr/vol19/iss2/12

Fokosch (ed.): Essays in Legal History in Honor of Felix Frankfurter

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Fokosch (ed.): Essays in Legal History in Honor of Felix Frankfurter

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University of Florida Levin College of Law

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