PREFACE
This book is not a law book. It is a narrative of a section of our National history connected with the Supreme Court, and is written for laymen and lawyers alike. As words are but "the skin of a living thought",[1] so law cases as they appear in the law reports are but the dry bones of very vital social, political and economic contests; they have lost all fleshly interest. This book is an attempt to revivify the important cases decided by the Court and to picture the Court itself from year to year in its contemporary setting.
For those who wish a recital of the decisions and a collection of the biographies of the Judges, other histories of the Court are available (such as Hampton L. Carson's, prepared at the time of the Centennial of the Federal Judiciary). For those who wish a statement of the doctrines of constitutional law established in the long line of opinions of the Court, there are numerous technical law books to supply their needs. But for those who wish to view the Court and its decided cases, as living elements and important factors in the course of the history of the United States, there are few published works, other than Gustavus Myers' History of the United States Supreme Court (written from a purely Socialistic standpoint), and Albert J. Beveridge's masterly Life of John Marshall. (The
- ↑ "A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged, it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and the time in which it is used." Holmes, J., in Toume v. Eitner (1918), 245 U. S. 418, 425.
