Oliver Wendell Holmes and his adages

Дата публикации: Mar 12, 2014 9:35:8 AM

“The mind of the bigot is like the pupil of the eye: the more light you shine on it, the more it will contract.”

“Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.”

“Three generations of imbeciles are enough.”

“The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater…”

“The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (March 8, 1841 – March 6, 1935)

On this date in 1841, jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the namesake and son of a famed physician. Holmes graduated from Harvard in 1861 and immediately enlisted in the Army, where he was seriously wounded three times. After the Civil War, Holmes entered Harvard Law School, where his best friend was William James. The New York Times obituary on Holmes reported that the two young men went to Europe together: “while James went on, continuing in Germany his search for the meanings of the universe, Holmes decided that 'maybe the universe is too great as well to have a meaning,' that his task was to 'make his own universe livable,' and he dove deep into the study of the law.” Holmes was admitted to the bar in 1866. He became coeditor of the American Law Review in 1870. Holmes wrote his legal treatise, The Common Law, in 1881, a 15-year labor predicated on his belief that “The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience.” His recodification of the law from religious foundations to modern jurisprudence was pivotal to the evolution of legal scholarship.

Holmes urged “judicial restraint,” or the divorcing of private views from legal opinions. A professor at Harvard Law School, he was appointed at age 41 as an associate justice on the Massachusetts Supreme Court, eventually becoming chief justice. Pres. Teddy Roosevelt appointed him to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1902. He retired in 1932, as the oldest judge to serve. Holmes earned the sobriquet, “The Great Dissenter,” for his many famous dissents, which have long since been adopted as mainstream by courts.

Holmes, like his father, was a Unitarian, who believed in a god, but was creedless. D. 1935.

adage [ˈædɪdʒ] - афоризм, изречение, максима; поговорка, пословица

bigot [ˈbɪɡət] - поборник; фанатик

stringent [ˈstrɪndʒənt] - строгий; обязательный, точный

namesake [ˈneɪmseɪk] - 1.человек, названный в чью-л. честь 2.тёзка

enlist [ɪnˈlɪst] - поступать на военную службу (в данном случае - добровольно)

obituary [əˈbɪtʃuəri] - некролог

to be admitted to the bar - вступать в коллегию адвокатов

treatise [ˈtriːtɪs] [ˈtriːtɪz] - трактат

jurisprudence [ˌdʒʊərɪsˈpruːdns]

pivotal [ˈpɪvətl] - кардинальный, основной; базисный, главнейший, центральный

urge [ɜːdʒ] - 1.заставлять, побуждать 2. убеждать, советовать 3.настаивать

judicial restraint [dʒuˈdɪʃl] [rɪˈstreɪnt] - ограничение свободы по суду, судебное ограничение; мера пресечения

sobriquet [ˈsəʊbrɪke] - книж. кличка, прозвание, прозвище

dissent [dɪˈsent] - несогласие (с предложением, решением); инакомыслие

creed [kriːd] - вероисповедание

creedless - не исповедовал ни к одной религии (хотя верил в бога)

Вопросы:

1. Holmes urged “judicial restraint,” or the divorcing of private views from legal opinions. Перевод? Холмс ввел понятие "мера пресечения" и отделил частные (субективные?) мнения от юридически(х/ обоснованных) заключений.

2. Holmes earned the sobriquet, “The Great Dissenter,” for his many famous dissents, which have long since been adopted as mainstream by courts. Перевод? Холмс заслужил прозвище "Великий Нехочуха" за многие ставшие знаменитыми судебные решения, которые стали основой прицедентного права в судах.