Darwin-L Message Log 1:99 (September 1993)

Academic Discussion on the History and Theory of the Historical Sciences

This is one message from the Archives of Darwin-L (1993–1997), a professional discussion group on the history and theory of the historical sciences.

Note: Additional publications on evolution and the historical sciences by the Darwin-L list owner are available on SSRN.

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<1:99>From junger@samsara.law.cwru.edu  Sat Sep 11 17:14:01 1993

Date: Sat, 11 Sep 93 18:10:49 EDT
From: junger@samsara.law.cwru.edu (Peter D. Junger)
To: darwin-l@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Historical jurisprudence and evolution

I am most grateful for the three quotations that Bob O'Hara has
supplied.  I will treasure the one from Darwin and I am delighted to
renew my acquaintance with the quote from Holmes, especially when
reading it for the first time from an expressly Darwinian viewpoint.
The passage from Morgan about Maine is most interesting and I will
squirrel it away with my (I fear small) collection of quotations that
combine Darwin and what lawyers call law.

I should perhaps note that Maine was a great believer in progress--which
I take to be some sort of idea of directed evolution.  In fact, I
believe that he is responsible for the famous--but insupportable--claim
that "the progress of the law has been from status to contract."  The
second most famous remark made by Maine is very closely related to the
history of the forms of action that I posted in my previous message:
"The forms of action are dead and buried, but they rule us from their
grave."  [That's not an exact quote, I'm afraid; but it is approximately
as I remember it.]

Peter D. Junger

Case Western Reserve University Law School, Cleveland, OH
Internet:  JUNGER@SAMSARA.LAW.CWRU.Edu -- Bitnet:  JUNGER@CWRU

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