The Paradoxes of Legal Science

Cardozo examines the meaning of justice, the science of values and the relationship between individual and society. Originally published: New York: Columbia University Press, 1928. v, 142 pp.

His many references in these lectures to Greek philosophy show how great a part his early classical training played in the formation of his ideas; in relating his general principles to the concrete cases which, in his words, he used as a kind of legal litmus paper, he was a true Aristotelian. --ARTHUR L. GOODHART, Five Jewish Lawyers of the Common Law 59-60.

The paradoxes or puzzles of legal science are, in many cases, not peculiar to the law, as Judge Cardozos discussion impliedly recognizes. In legal controversies there happen to be presented, in formal opposition, the conflicting claims which it is the function of all who work with and for men -- legislators, administrators and judges -- to attempt to adjust in some manner that will result in a minimum of friction in the social order. -- U.S. Law Review 63 (1929):555

BENJAMIN N. CARDOZO [18701938] was an associate justice of the Supreme Court and one of the most influential American jurists of the twentieth century. The Paradoxes of Legal Science was published when he was chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals. It is based on his James S. Carpentier Lectures delivered at Columbia University in 19271928.