Charles Fairman (1897–1988)

1584 Mr. Justice Miller and the Supreme Court 1862-1890, by Charles Fairman (read 2 Sep 1980) Samuel F. Miller was born at Richmond, Ky., on April 5, 1816, received at age 22 a medical degree from Transylvania University at Lexington, Ky., practiced medicine till 1845 when he began studying law, and was admitted to the bar in 1847. He left Kentucky in 1850 and settled in Keokuk, Iowa. In 1862 Lincoln named him to the Supreme Court and he was there till he died on 13 Oct 1890. This book, though it is written by Charles Fairman, who I believe was a law professor at Harvard, suffers from a lack of chronological treatment and from a complete ignoring of the personal life of its subject. But much of it I enjoyed, though, of course, it should be read beside a set of the U.S. Reports. The law has certainly changed since Miller's day, and I believe it has changed for the better. Justice Miller thought nothing of sitting on cases argued by his brother-in-law, and telling him how the cases were going before the decisions were announced. I am glad I read this book--it is of higher quality than Pusey's biography of Hughes, of which I have just read volume I and of which I will now read volume II.… (altro)