James Bradley Thayer (1831-1902) was a professor at Harvard Law School from 1873 to his death in 1902. Six years later a collection of his essays on a wide range of legal topics was published. It begins with his famous and influential essay on American constitutional law published in the "Harvard Law Review" in 1893. About this essay, Justice Felix Frankfurter remarked:
"I am of the view that if I were to name one piece of writing on American constitutional Law--a silly test maybe--I would pick an essay by James Bradley Thayer in the Harvard Law Review, consisting of 26 pages, published in October, 1893, called 'The Origin and Scope of the American Doctrine of Constitutional Law' which he read at the Congress on Jurisprudence and Law Reform on August 9, 1893. I would pick that essay written 67 years ago. Why would I do that? Because from my point of view it's the great guide for judges and therefore, the great guide for understanding by non-judges of what the place of the judiciary is in relation to constitutional questions."
Quoted in Dr. Harlan B. Philips, editor, "Felix Frankfurter Reminisces" 299-300 (1960).
View Article