Joseph Story and the Comity of Errors: A Case Study in Conflict of Laws

by Alan Watson

Overview

Joseph Story and the Comity of Errors examines the decisions of Supreme Court justice and Harvard law professor Joseph Story (1779–1845). According to Alan Watson, Story erred in his interpretation of Dutchman Ulrich Huber’s theory of comity—the respect accorded by one sovereignty to another sovereignty’s laws. Watson suggests that it is because of Story’s misinterpretation that the Dred Scott case went before the United States Supreme Court, whose notorious ruling against Scott fed directly into heated sectional conflict that culminated in the Civil War. Demonstrating the odd twists and turns that legal development sometimes takes, the book is also a fascinating case study that reveals much about the relationship of law to society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780820341507
Publisher:	University of Georgia Press
Publication date:	10/01/2012
Pages:	152
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

ALAN WATSON, Distinguished Research Professor and Ernest P. Rogers Chair at the University of Georgia School of Law, is regarded as one of the world's foremost authorities on Roman law, comparative law, legal history, and law and religion. He is the author of numerous books, including The State, Law, and Religion: Pagan Rome (Georgia) and Roman Law and Comparative Law (Georgia). He is also the editor of the four-volume translation of the Digest of Justinian.

ALAN WATSON, Distinguished Research Professor and Ernest P. Rogers Chair at the University of Georgia School of Law, is regarded as one of the world's foremost authorities on Roman law, comparative law, legal history, and law and religion. He is the author of numerous books, including The State, Law, and Religion: Pagan Rome (Georgia) and Roman Law and Comparative Law (Georgia). He is also the editor of the four-volume translation of the Digest of Justinian.

Editorial Reviews

**** The first ed. (Harvard UP, 1970) is cited in BCL3. This comprehensive study of the life and work of Jos. Stella, the early 20th c. modernist painter, discusses both the origin of his work and his influence on other American artists. A full-color frontispiece of Stella's Tree of my life, along with 135 black-and-white illustrations, make this the most illustrated book yet published on an important American artist. Watson (law, U. of Georgia) explains that the 1857 Dred Scott decision, and so all of its consequences, was a mistake due to Supreme Court Justice Story's (1779-1845) misreading of his source when he wrote an influential treatise on resolving laws that conflict. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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