The Path of the Law Quotes

“The rational study of law is still to a large extent the study of history. History must be a part of the study, because without it we cannot know the precise scope of rules which it is our business to know.”
― Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., The Path of the Law

“The law is the witness and external deposit of our moral life. Its history is the history of the moral development of the race. The practice of it, in spite of popular jests, tends to make good citizens and good men.”
― Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., The Path of the Law

“The prophecies of what the courts will do in fact, and nothing more pretentious, are what I mean by the law.”
― Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., The Path of the Law

“Leaving the criminal law on one side, what is the difference between the liability under the mill acts or statutes authorizing a taking by eminent domain and the liability for what we call a wrongful conversion of property where restoration is out of the question. In both cases the party taking another man's property has to pay its fair value as assessed by a jury, and no more. What significance is there in calling one taking right and another wrong from the point of view of the law?”
― Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., The Path of the Law

“if one of two or more joint wrongdoers has to pay all the damages, he cannot recover contribution from his fellows.”
― Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., The Path of the Law