Test Your Knowledge of Early-Nineteenth-Century American Legal Thought

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Questions and Answers

What was the role of lawyers in early American legal thought?

They were seen as a threat to the republic

They were seen as corrupt and self-serving.

They played a vital political role in preserving the virtue of the republic (correct)

They were not considered important in legal decision making.

What did legal rationalization in the 19th century do?

It made law more moralistic

It abstracted law from social relations and moral standards. (correct)

It made law more socially oriented

It made law more subjective

How did classical jurists view the legal world?

As a structure of protected spheres of rights and weaknesses.

As a structure of protected spheres of rights and powers. (correct)

As a structure of unprotected spheres of rights and weaknesses.

As a structure of unprotected spheres of rights and powers.

What was the main source of stability in early American legal thought?

The positive law, including the Constitution and the English common law. Signup and view all the answers

What were private parties' relations seen as in the classical approach?

Analogous to states' relations. Signup and view all the answers

Which technique of legal reasoning was employed in early-nineteenth-century American legal thought?

Implied intent. Signup and view all the answers

What was the crucial task of judges in the classical approach?

To be objective and impartial. Signup and view all the answers

What posed a serious problem for the emerging liberal conception in constitutional law in early-nineteenth-century America?

The strict boundary between public and private Signup and view all the answers

What was the great thrust of nineteenth-century legal thought?

Toward higher and higher levels of rationalization and generalization. Signup and view all the answers

Where could the objective definition given to rights protected by the Constitution be found?

Within the common-law tradition. Signup and view all the answers

What did the rationalization of common law resolve?

The conflict between formal "rules" and substantive "justice)" Signup and view all the answers

What does Coppage v. Kansas provide?

A clear example of the classical approach. Signup and view all the answers

What argument did the Court refuse to accept in Coppage v. Kansas?

The argument that yellow-dog contracts were formed under coercion. Signup and view all the answers

How did courts during the classical period describe a police power?

As absolute in its sphere as were private rights in theirs. Signup and view all the answers

Is the legal model of bounded rights and powers still present today?

Yes. Signup and view all the answers

What challenge demolished the premises of the classical approach?

The realist challenge Signup and view all the answers

What message does the legal model of bounded rights and powers convey?

That actual power relations in the real world are legitimate Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

American legal thought has undergone major changes since the 19th century.
Law is often seen as the embodiment of reason and universal truth.
The Constitution served as a source of stability and was to be interpreted authoritatively by legal professionals.
Lawyers were seen as the embodiment of republican virtue and acted as trustees for the interests of the community.
Lawyers played a vital political role in preserving the virtue of the republic from the threats of irrational legislation and mob rule.
The sanctity of private property was a key principle that needed protection from the redistributive passions of the majority.
American jurists lived in an intellectual context that no longer took for granted a close epistemological link between God, human reason, and the laws of nature.
Natural law alone was too indeterminate to guide judicial decision making in specific cases.
Positive law, including the Constitution and the English common law, provided a more practical source and definition of law.
Early leading jurists recognized that one could secure emerging property rights more coherently by locating them in the positive law of the constitutional text.
Early-nineteenth-century American legal thought employed liberality of interpretation and implication as techniques of legal reasoning.
Liberality of interpretation involved interpreting technical common-law rules with a flexible, progressive American spirit and concern for commercial utility.
Implied intent involved finding the "law" within the obligations inherent in particular social and commercial relations.
The amorphous blend of natural law, positive law, morality, and utility made up the justificatory language of early-nineteenth-century law.
Early-nineteenth-century judges' conceptual mush posed serious problems for the emerging liberal conception in constitutional law.
Public-law thinking was dominated by the Lockean model of the individual right holder confronting a potentially oppressive sovereign power.
The strict boundary between public and private was conceived as wholly separate, in-or-out categories that could allow for no blurring or intermeshing.
To justify protecting private rights from public power, it was necessary to conceive of the private as purely private.
This demanded a fully rationalized structure of private law, which could give concrete, objective content to the private rights supposedly protected by the Constitution.
The great thrust of nineteenth-century legal thought was toward higher and higher levels of rationalization and generalization, producing a grandly integrated conceptual scheme that brought coherence to the whole structure of American law and to liberal political theory in general.

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Description

Test your knowledge on the evolution of American legal thought since the 19th century. From the sanctity of private property to the role of lawyers in preserving the virtue of the republic, this quiz covers key principles and concepts that shaped the American legal system. Explore the debate between natural law and positive law, and learn about the techniques of legal reasoning used by early-nineteenth-century jurists. Discover how the liberal conception in constitutional law emerged and how the boundaries between public and private were conceived.