The Black Book of Justice Holmes: Text Transcript & Commentary

by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (Editor), Michael H Hoeflich (Contributor), Ross E. Davies (Contributor)

A Magic Mirror into the Life and Education of Oliver Wendell Holmes ―ROBERT HARLAN HENRY, Judge (Fmr.) United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) is one of the most significant figures in American history, both as a judge and as a legal scholar. He was also, without question, one of the most well-read and erudite jurists of his age. Justice Holmes kept his personal notes in a volume that he called the Black Book. For more than 50 years, Holmes filled his Black Book with lists of books he read (including detailed notes on some of them), accounts of his travels, and even observations about flower blooms in Washington, DC, where he served on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1902 to 1932, and where he lived (except for summers at his place in Beverly Farms, MA) and continued to make entries in his Black Book ― until his death in 1935. This volume gives insight into his mind and activities for a half-century. Here the original text is provided in facsimile, with a transcription on facing pages. Additional essays by the editors and other scholars highlight the significance of the Black Book and situate it in jurisprudential and historical context.

560 pages, Hardcover

Published May 5, 2021

About the author

American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes, Junior, son of Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., served as an associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932; many of his opinions greatly influenced the American concept of law. Noted for his long service, his concise and pithy opinions, and his deference to the decisions of elected legislatures, he is one of the most widely cited Supreme Court justices in history, particularly for his "clear and present danger" majority opinion in the case of Schenck v. United States (1919), as well as one of the most influential American common-law judges.