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Zusatztext This is a splendid work of historical and legal scholarship authored by a British judge... It admirably fills a gap in our literature on the early federal courts. This is a book that demands attention! due to the author's thoroughness and writing style. It just overflows with important information. Fortunately the footnotes are where they belong; at the foot of each page. The book includes three important appendices and an extensive bibliography...I am very glad I tackled this book! and students of judicial history and legal development! I venture to say! will be pleased as well should they read it. Informationen zum Autor David Lynch is a retired English Circuit Judge! an Honorary Fellow and Visiting Research Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University! and a Master of the Bench of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. Zusammenfassung While scholars have rightly focused on the importance of the landmark opinions of the United States Supreme Court and its Chief Justice! John Marshall! in the rise in influence of the Court in the Early Republic! the crucial role of the circuit courts in the development of a uniform system of federal law across the nation has largely been ignored. This book highlights the contribution of four Associate Justices (Washington! Livingston! Story and Thompson) as presiding judges of their respective circuit courts during the Marshall era! in order to establish that in those early years federal law grew from the 'inferior courts' upwards rather than down from the Supreme Court. It does so after a reading of over 1800 mainly circuit opinions and over 2000 original letters! which reveal the sources of law upon which the justices drew and their efforts through correspondence to achieve consistency across the circuits. The documents examined present insights into momentous social! political and economic issues facing the Union and demonstrate how these justices dealt with them on circuit. Particular attention is paid to the different ways in which each justice contributed to the shaping of United States law on circuit and on the Court and in the case of Justices Livingston and Thompson also during their time on the New York State Supreme Court. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1. The Supreme Court Justices and the Circuit Court Experiment A Team Effort Why Washington, Livingston, Story, and Thompson? 2. The Federal Circuit Courts: Shaping Local and National Justice for an Emerging Republic The Politics of Federal Law The Grand Jury Charge: A Bond between Government and Citizen The Circuit Court Discourse in the Constitutional Ratification and Senate Debates The Jurisdiction of the Federal Circuit Courts ‘A Certain Uniformity of Decision in United States Law’ Conclusion 3. Bushrod Washington: The Role of Precedent and the Preservation of Vested Interests A Federalist’s Journey from Revolutionary Virginia to the Supreme Court Justice Washington and the Role of Precedent in the Federal Legal System Property Rights and Commercial Law on Circuit States’ Rights, the War of 1812, and SlaveryConclusion 4. Henry Brockholst Livingston: Consolidating Mercantile Law The Early Years: Political Allegiances: From Federalist to Republican Commercial Law for New York State A Republican on a Federalist Supreme Court Maritime and Commercial Law for the United States Conclusion 5. Joseph Story: Admiralty Expertise and the Importation of Common Law A Modernising Influence on Law and Procedure on the First Circuit Admiralty and the Enforcement of Embargo Laws Consistency Through the Sharing of Expertise The Supremacy of Federal Law The Protection of Minority Groups Importing Common Law into the Federal Legal System Conclusion 6. Justice Smith Thompson: Promoting Commerce, State Sovereignty and the Protection of the Cherokee Nation State Supreme Court: Statutory Interpretation and New York ‘Har...
