Langdell’s curriculum excluded statutory and constitutional law as unscientific
Evidence
At least one reviewer wondered why “the study of equity pleading at Harvard University in 1877 should be limited to the system as it existed prior to 1827.” But from the strict Langdell standpoint, these recent changes—​many of them statutory—​were not part of the science of law. Even constitutional law was not part of this science—​it was based on a written text, and was therefore a kind of excrescence. The three-​year curriculum, starting in 1876–​1877, did not include constitutional law at all, not even as an elective. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3528
Categorization
- QUESTION: Worth chasing: what exactly did 1870s Harvard law students study if not constitutional law, and when did constitutional law return as a required course?
- XREF: The judge-made-law-is-the-true-science stance extends the book’s ch1 thesis that common law evolves through cases rather than statutes. — connects to: Langdell conceived law as a science whose primary sources are printed cases — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3519; Law lacks fixed major premises unlike math and science — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 1309; Langdell’s legal science was geometric deduction from cases, not empirical observation — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3543 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Langdell’s legal science was geometric deduction from cases, not empirical observation
#expands(0.90) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3543 - Law lacks fixed major premises unlike math and science
#expands(0.85) — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 1309 - Langdell excluded even the ancient Statute of Frauds from his casebook
#exemplifies(0.85) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3525 - Langdell’s legal-science ideas made late-century legal scholarship inbred and free of social commentary.
#complicates(0.75) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3584