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The Top Twenty Articles on American Legal Thought

Professors David Kennedy '80 and William W. Fisher III '82 have recently published a book, The Canon of American Legal Thought (Princeton University Press, 2006) in which they cite twenty law review articles they consider to be the most influential in shaping American legal thinking and reasoning. You can read about this work in the Harvard Law Bulletin, Spring 2007, pages 9-11. This book is available for purchase here or at the Langdell Library at KF379.C367x 2006.

Presented below are links to the full text of those twenty articles. You will need a Harvard I.D. and PIN number in order to access the articles.

  1. The Path of the Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (Class of 1866), Harvard Law Review, volume X (1897):457-78.
  2. Some Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning by Welsey Newcomb Hohfeld (Class of 1904), Yale Law Journal, volume 23 (1913/1914):16-59.
  3. Coercion and Distribution in a Supposedly Noncoercive State by Robert L. Hale (Class of 1909), Political Science Quarterly, volume 38 (1923):470-94.
  4. Logical Method and Law by John Dewey, Cornell Law Quarterly, volume 10 (1924):17-27.
  5. Some Realism About Realism--Responding to Dean Pound by Karl Llewellyn, Harvard Law Review, volume 44 (1930/1931):1222-64.
  6. Transcendental Nonsense and the Functional Approach by Felix Cohen, Columbia Law Review, volume 35 (1935):809-49.
  7. Consideration and Form by Lon L. Fuller, Columbia Law Review, volume 41 (1941):799-824.
  8. The Legal Process: Basic Problems in the Making and Application of Law by Henry M. Hart, Jr. (Class of 1930) and Albert M. Sacks (Class of 1948), at Langdell Library KF379.H37x 1958.
  9. Toward Neutral Principles of Constitutional Law by Herbert Wechsler, Harvard Law Review, volume 73 (1959/1960):1-35.
  10. The Problem of Social Cost by Ronald H. Coase, Journal of Law and Economics, volume 3 (1960):1-44.
  11. Non-Contractual Relations in Business: A Preliminary Study by Stewart Macaulay, American Sociological Review, volume 28 (1963):55-67.
  12. Property Rules, Liability Rules, and Inalienability: One View of the Cathedral by Guido Calabresi and Douglas Melamed, Harvard Law Review, volume 85 (1971/1972):1089-1128.
  13. Why the 'Haves' Come Out Ahead: Speculations on the Limits of Legal Change by Marc Galanter, Law & Society Review, volume 9 (1974/1975):95-160.
  14. Hard Cases by Ronald Dworkin (Class of 1957), Harvard Law Review, volume 88 (1974/1975):1057-1109.
  15. The Role of the Judge in Public Law Litigation by Abram Chayes (Class of 1949), Harvard Law Review, volume 89 (1975/1976):1281-1316.
  16. Form and Substance in Private Law Adjudication by Duncan Kennedy, Harvard Law Review, volume 89 (1975/1976):1685-1778.
  17. Feminism, Marxism, Method, and the State by Catharine A. MacKinnon, Signs, volume 7 (1982):515-44.
  18. Violence and the Word by Robert M. Cover, Yale Law Journal, volume 95 (1985/1986):1601-30.
  19. Law's Republic by Frank Michelman (Class of 1960), Yale Law Journal, volume 97 (1987/1988):1493-1538.
  20. Introduction to Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings that Formed the Movement by Kimberle Crenshaw (Class of 1984), Neil Gotanda (LL.M., 1980), Gary Peller (Class of 1980) and Kendall Thomas, at Langdell Library KF 4755.A75 C7 1995.

Compiled by Martin E. Hollick, April, 2007.