Leagal writing & another nerd wigbubble (of mine)...

In the late 60’s I made a run at law school. I lasted one year. Flunked out. What can I say.  Agency Partnership did me in. But I enjoyed a great deal of it. Property Law – wherein you need a detailed diagram to figure just who owns what and when, with lots of history intertwined in the maze of ownership and bequest. And Contracts and Torts; discussions of the nature of agreements and the anatomy of liability. The study of this arcana is presented in the form of case law consisting of a statement of facts, and the presiding judge’s ruling. The student is to gleam form this piece of prose the Issue at hand (which is always stated as a question, e.g. ‘does a contract fail when based on a mutual mistake of fact?’)  In examining these cases I was often struck by the power of the prose I was reading, particularly when written by one of ‘the masters’, Hand, Holmes and (especially) Cardozo.

Benjamin Cardozo eventually sat on the US Supreme Court where he authored som 100 opinions. But the bulk of his work came, rather, on the NY Court of Appeals. His decisions there (some 700) did a great deal to define the law as it affects both Contracts (agreements) and Torts (negligence and liability). His writing in these decisions has a cadence and brings the power of concrete images, simply expressed, to the resolution of complex issues. In Palsgraf v The Long Island RR he enunciated the concept of the “zone of danger” wherein injury can occur, but that the injury must be foreseeable by the individual alleged to have caused it in order for liability to attach. - thereby giving birth to the Palsgraf Rule in tort law. “The Palsgraf Rule… means that a negligent conduct resulting in injury will result in a liability only if the actor could have reasonably foreseen that the conduct would injure the victim.” The ruling served to put a full stop to what could be an endless cascade of consequence.

I have looked in vane for the actual case decision (locked behind Nexus Lexus or some such thing) to show first hand the power of his prose.

In yesterday’s NY Times, a piece appeared on Justice Elena Kagan describing her clear and concise style of writing. She, like Cardozo, was not a career judge. They both came up through the court system as trial lawyers, use to persuading, simplifying and convincing. It shows in their writing. Below is the link to the piece on Justice Kagan.
 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/opinion/sunday/the-talented-justice-kagan.html