Morton Horwitz: Legal Historian as Lawyer and Historian

TRANSFORMATIONS IN AMERICAN LEGAL HISTORY: ESSAYS IN HONOR OF PROFESSOR MORTON J. HORWITZ, pp. 319-326, Daniel W. Hamilton & Alfred L. Brophy, eds., 2009

Fordham Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 1478551

9 Pages Posted: 26 Sep 2009

Abstract

Dean William Treanor examines and celebrates the work of legal historian Morton Horwitz, author of two magisterial histories of American law, The Transformation of American Law, 1780-1860 (Harvard University Press 1977) and The Transformation of American Law, 1870-1960: The Crisis of Legal Orthodoxy (Oxford University Press 1992), through the lens of Horwitz’ path breaking treatment of takings law. With personal memories of Horwitz as a point of departure, Dean Treanor assesses Professor Horwitz’s contribution to the understanding of the evolution of theories of property and the history of the takings clause. Treanor highlights Horwitz’s ability to examine contending views of the takings principle from within the context of larger political and economic movements. Perhaps Horwitz’s greatest contribution to the ongoing conversation about the history of American law, in Dean Treanor’s view, is his awareness of a tension between the ambiguity at the center of takings doctrine and the constraining force of legal reasoning.

Keywords: Takings Clause, Eminent Domain, Legal History, Morton Horwitz, Transfromation I, Transformation II, The Transformation of American Law

Suggested Citation

Treanor, William Michael, Morton Horwitz: Legal Historian as Lawyer and Historian. TRANSFORMATIONS IN AMERICAN LEGAL HISTORY: ESSAYS IN HONOR OF PROFESSOR MORTON J. HORWITZ, pp. 319-326, Daniel W. Hamilton & Alfred L. Brophy, eds., 2009, Fordham Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 1478551, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1478551

William Michael Treanor (Contact Author)

Georgetown University Law Center ( email )

600 New Jersey Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
United States
202-662-9030 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/treanor-william-m.cfm

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
158
Abstract Views
1,438
Rank
338,173
PlumX Metrics