Review of - I - Men of Law - I - by William Seagle
Review of - I - Men of Law - I - by William Seagle
Review of - I - Men of Law - I - by William Seagle
tween the relations at General Motors and U.S. Steel are not emphasized at the ex-
pense of the differences. Moreover, the factors listed in this chapter as characteristics
of relations in a power center seem to apply much more to size than to leadership. Per-
haps there is need for sharper differentiation between the concepts of "bigness," "pow-
er center" and "pattern-setter." After all, it may well be that Studebaker itself does
a good deal of pattern-setting for other companies in South Bend, though there is no
reference to this in the book.
If a main purpose of the volume was to determine the nature of constructive labor-
management relations, the conclusions would be more convincing if some other com-
panies had been included in the study or even if some of the more successful aspects of
relations at some General Motors plants had been drawn upon for this purpose. It
would be very useful to analyze a number of instances of constructive relations in order
to see what are the common causal factors. It would be necessary to use some criteria in
selecting the instances. The authors suggest that constructive relations exist " ...
when a union and a company harmonize divergent goals into an effective working
agreement."4This definition needs more elaboration than it receives in the final chapter.
For example, is not labor efficiency an essential element in an effective working agree-
ment? The authors, however, give only slight attention to labor productivity in either
company.
In summary, it seems doubtful that some of the conclusions are adequately support-
ed by the material set forth in this book or could possibly be supported by a study of
this necessarily limited scope. In formulating their conclusions, the authors have in-
evitably drawn upon their wide knowledge of labor relations throughout American in-
dustry. To suggest, that some of the conclusions are insufficiently supported is not to
say that they are necessarily invalid. It is suggested, rather, that they are at least pre-
mature. This is only the first of a series of publications planned by the authors and
their immediate associates. When more of these studies have appeared, the present
conclusions may be much more thoroughly substantiated.
In view of the current extensive research activity in this field, it is to be hoped that
the authors will give in their future publications a more complete description of their
methodology than is contained in the single footnote on this subject in the present
volume.
Lawyers who serve as consultants on labor-management relations should find in
this book many suggestions regarding methods that are conducive to the achievement
of good relations.
WILmIAm H. McPHERsoN*
Men of Law. By William Seagle. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1947. Pp. 391. $5.00.
This volume, in a literary style which is delightful, crams into 355 pages a wealth of
information concerning the lives and achievements of fourteen illustrious men who en-
riched jurisprudence.
4 P. 202.
* Professor of Economics, Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, University of li-
nois.
1012 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW REVIEW
The writer did not content himself by beginning with the age of courts, trials, and
lawyers, but ran back centuries of time into the prelegal period when primitive man
managed to get along without law. The book deems the blood feud as "the matrix of all
law" and shows how its use eventually developed a means of buying off vengeance in
the form of a composition. Rushing through the centuries, the author brings his readers
to the epoch when the state was formed and courts were created. The operation of the
latter, so this book shows, caused people to seek control over judicial discretion,
and thereby law-making was ushered in. At this point the author introduces the first
of his Men of Law.
The author, William Seagle, is an attorney who began his practice in 1923. He is
now an Assistant Solicitor in the Department of the Interior. Mr. Seagle obviously is
well read, and it is evident that he has done fruitful reflecting in the field of jurispru-
dence. Apparently he has selected as a part of his life's companions the great jurists of
bygone days and has made himself so familiar with them that he is able to make his
readers see them, not merely as historic figures, but as human beings.
Mr. Seagle does not term his fourteen jurists as the greatest that the law has pro-
duced; hence there is no occasion for a reviewer to compare these men with others. In
one respect at least the author's selection of these fourteen was fortunate. No two of
them labored in the same field of jurisprudence, but each helped shape some phase of
mankind's legal systems. Those circumstances enable Mr. Seagle's review of their lives
to trace, step by step, the growth and development of our legal institutions. For in-
stance, one of the fourteen codified the laws of his people; another, i,5oo years later,
used legislation as the means of effecting a bloodless revolution; another assisted in the
creation of the Roman law; still another helped to mold the form of equity jurispru-
dence; and one was the fountainhead of international law.
The first of the fourteen Men of Law is Hammurabi, who is described as the first
codifier whose work survived. The review of that enlightened monarch's life enables the
author to show the manner in which written law, when placed directly before the peo-
ple, supplanted the ancient customs. That forward-looking monarch was "the first
great merchant-king." In commenting upon the nations of antiquity which based their
jurisprudence upon Hammurabi's Code, the author dwells upon the phenomenon that
the laws of an empire often lived on long after te empire itself perished.
Solon, the lawgiver of Athens, is the second jurist whose life Mr. Seagle reviews.
Social unrest and class conflict preceded Solon's inauguration into office as archon. The
author reviews the legislation effecting economic and social changes which Solon wrote
and declares that it brought about mankind's first bloodless revolution. Solon, accord-
ing to this book, declared that he gave the Athenians the best laws "they could re-
ceive," and although "he hoped that by giving the people a share in the administration
of justice they would be able to help themselves," he came in later years to realize the
ingratitude of the people. The book pays him the tribute of saying that he "created the
Athenian democracy of the Great Age of Pericles."
From Solon the author goes to Gaius, a Roman jurist, for his third great man of law.
The review of Gaius' life enables the author to show the origin and development of the
Roman law. He comments upon its dual nature and points out how it happened that,
although other nations of bygone times employed courts, only the Roman law produced
BOOK REVIEWS 101 3
lawyers. The bizarre manner in which a copy of Gaius' Institutes was discovered in
i8x6 and restored to legible form is dramatically told.
Mr. Seagle's fourth jurist also labored with the Roman law. He is Justinian, who,
through his chancellor, Tribonian, gave us Corpus juris. An analysis of Corpus juris,
Justinian's purpose in compiling it, and the shortcomings of that great work are set
forth. Justinian's wife, Theodora, and others who contributed to his remarkable suc-
cesses are described. Concerning Corpusjuris, the author says: "Only in theology did
a book exercise a comparable influence. Indeed, the compilation by Justinian was the
secular Bible of Christendom."
The next whose life is reviewed, is Hugo Grotius, a Dutch jurist, who was born in
x583. Grotius enriched our libraries with many volumes, but the one upon which his
fame rests is The Law of War and Peace,published in 1625 when Grotius was an exile
in Paris. This volume, more than any other, brought forth the underlying principles of
international law and caused Grotius to be deemed its founder. The manner in which
Grotnius, after being convicted of treason in his native land, escaped from prison
through the intelligence of his devoted wife is told in a manner which would do credit
to a writer of fiction.
The sixth of the Men of Law is one of royal blood, Edward I, King of England.
Mr. Seagle shows the course by which that intelligent ruler, who made England the
first of the modem states, laid the foundation upon which the rising English Common
Law was based. After his review of the life of Edward I, the author moves forward
three hundred years to the reign of Queen Elizabeth and pictures her delivery of the
Great Seal into the hands of Thomas Egerton who, upon being knighted, became Baron
Ellesmere, Lord Chancellor of England. The sketch of Egerton's life traces the origin
and growth of equity jurisprudence. It points out: "Equity, in the sense of a mod-
erating legal force, was familiar to the Babylonians, as well as to the Greeks and
Romans." The book mentions the successful defense by Egerton of the Chancery
Court against the determined attacks of Sir Edward Coke. Mr. Seagle does not confine
himself to dry legal dogma; he is concerned primarily with the men themselves and re-
cites interesting facts concerning each. For instance, he mentions that Egerton was the
son of unwed parents, that as a student he was diligent, that he was handsome, and that
early in his practice he came to the attention of Queen Elizabeth. Concerning Egerton's
good fortune in the latter detail, the book declares that the Queen chanced one day to
enter a courtroom where her future Lord Chancellor was arguing effectively against a
revenue measure in which she had a vital interest. The Queen was so impressed with
the young attorney's ability that she was determined that he should never oppose her
again-she appointed him her counsel.
Naturally, the next chapter of the book is devoted to Sir Edward Coke. It begins:
"Sir Edward Coke is the greatest name in the history of the Common Law." The
sketch of Coke mentions his arrogance, his savage prosecution of the treason cases, his
unimpeachable integrity, his unbelievable industry, his unhappy second marriage, his
fidelity to duty, and his unmatched knowledge of the law. Coke's rapid climb in the
profession from his first year when he represented successfully the posthumous nephew
in the cause c~l~bre known as Shelley's Case, is portrayed. The author also traces
Coke's equally rapid rise in office-holding from the time when he served as Speaker of
the House of Commons in Elizabeth's reign to the day when James I appointed him
1OI 4 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW REVIEW
Lord Chief Justice of England. The remarkable independence which Coke displayed
as a judge and which caused him to attack courageously the jurisdiction of the Court
of High Commission, and even the royal prerogatives of James himself, receives men-
tion. Finally, the author reviews the great service which Coke performed in the later
years of his life in Parliament. There he developed some of the fundamentals of con-
stitutional law.
Sir William Blackstone, author of the Commentaries, is the ninth legal scholar who
appears in this interesting volume. Lord Mansfield's friendship for Blackstone receives
attention, and the author does not fail to mention Blackstone's poetry, his seven chil-
dren, his love of port and rich food, and his resulting affliction with gout. After an ex-
planation has been made of why the Commentaries became a classic, it is said: "While
the Commentaries soon ceased to be an exposition of existing English law, it was itself,
despite Blackstone, responsible for ushering in the era of legal reform. For the first
time the Common Law had been so clearly delineated and exposed to public gaze that
an irresistible pressure for reform was created."
Cesare Bonesano, Marchise di Beccaria, who was born in 1735, is the subject of the
book's next chapter. When Beccaria was 27 years of age he published a volume of less
than two hundred pages which marked an epoch in the criminal law. A commentator
declared: "Never before did so small a book produce so great an effect." The author
adds that Beccaria "did not reform the criminal law: he created it."
Jeremy Bentham is the subject of the next biographical sketch. As has been indi-
cated, the author believes that Blackstone was unwittingly responsible for ushering in
the era of legal reform. He attributes to Sir Henry Maine the remark that Blackstone
made Bentham a jurist "by virtue of sheer repulsion." Bentham's aversion to the com-
mon law and to the practice of law are traced. As the book points out, Bentham
studied law under Blackstone and described his teacher as "the dupe of every prejudice
and the abettor of every abuse. No sound principle can be expected from that writer
whose first object is to defend a system." Bentham is pictured as the greatest law re-
former of all time, and his tireless efforts in behalf of codification, improvement of penal
institutions, and simplicity of judicial structure are reviewed. The book alludes to
Bentham's inability to win a bride, notwithstanding his remarkable capacity for at-
tracting to himself disciples.
The next thirty-seven pages recount the life of John Marshall and, of course, de-
dare that his outstanding contribution to jurisprudence was the doctrine of judicial
supremacy. Many of the pages are sharply critical-critical of Marshall's partiality
and of the legal principles which he employed. In describing the law practice of the
future Chief Justice, the book says that Marshall was "a property lawyer" and adds
that he eventually acquired much of the Fairfax estate. "The ownership of the Fairfax
estate," so the author says, "is a leitmotif of John Marshall's career, and it is a far
more revealing guide to his conduct in both public and private life than any vision of
nationalism. It dominated his attitude as a judge." Every man on the bench who has
leaned over backward in order to escape slurs of that kind based on purported self-in-
terest will resent that observation. The author reviews critically Marbury v. Madison,
Fletcher v. Peck, Cokens v. Virginia, and others of Marshall's opinions which decided
issues of public law. It is plainly evident that he disapproves the doctrine of judicial
supremacy. In fact, he says, ". . . . the whole story of judicial review may perhaps be
BOOK REVIEWS 1O1 5
tent. Here is a book worthy of reading. Although the layman can peruse this book with
profit, it is primarily adapted to lawyers. However well read one may be he cannot
go through this book without adding something to his sum total of knowledge.
GEORGE ROSSuAN*
Aviation Accident Law. By Charles S. Rhyne. Washington: Columbia Law Book Co.,
I947- PP. x, 315. $7.50.
According to the title page, this small volume covers all reported court decisions in-
volving aircraft accidents. This comprehensive claim is justified. Such a short but still
complete presentation was possible because aviation accident law, aside from the an-
cient balloon cases, covers a short period of time. The earliest airplane accident case
cited by Mr. Rhyne arose out of the crash of a homemade biplane at Mineola in i9i.X
The first decision on appeal was rendered on February 13, 1914. Our airplane accident
law, therefore, covers a period of about thirty-four years. The great majority of the
cases have been decided in the last twenty years.
The text deals with a narrow branch of law which is slowly changing and growing.
The development of aviation accident law has been slow because airplanes are not nu-
merous. The scheduled airlines of the United States in both domestic and international
service operate less than a thousand planes, and the total number of all planes in the
United States, other than military, is less than ioo,ooo. Mr. Rhyne has adequately
covered all reported aviation accident cases with only 239 pages of actual text. The
automobile, with a history of only about fifty years, has produced an enormous number
of decisions by federal and state courts. Blashfield's latest edition of the Cyclopedia of
Automobile Law and Practice consists of nineteen large volumes with one volume of
about a thousand pages devoted entirely to a table of cases. This disparity in the vol-
ume of law is not surprising in view of the operation of more than thirty million auto-
mobiles in the United States.
The lawyer in charge of an aviation accident case will find Mr..Rhyne's textbook
very useful but he should not expect it to be complete. In the broad fields of the law of
negligence and trespass there are well-established rules of law which have never been
considered or applied in aviation accident cases merely because the issues have not
come up under the facts of the limited number of cases which are reported. The author
is fully aware of this, as is shown by his Introduction.
For a long time controversy has existed regarding the proper rule of liability to be
applied to the owner or operator of aircraft for injury to persons or damage to property
on the ground. The question was the subject of a good deal of debate when the Ameri-
can Law Institute was preparing its Restatement of the Law of Torts. It adopted the
rule of liability irrespective of negligence.2 The Uniform State Law for Aeronautics,
adopted by some twenty states, contains a similar rule of liability.
Mr. Rhyne states: "Theories advanced by writers in the infant years of aviation
that the owners and operators of airplanes should be absolutely liable for all injury to
* Chief Justice, Oregon Supreme Court.
zRidgley v. Aetna Life Insurance Company, x6o App. Div. 719, 145 N.Y. Supp. 1O7
(1914), aff'd 217 N.Y. 720, I2 N.E. 1073 (1916).
2Rest., Torts §§ 159 (g), 165 (,934).