A Debt Against the Living: An Introduction to Originalism

Law

A Debt Against the Living: An Introduction to Originalism

By Ilan Wurman
Cambridge University Press October 2017

Specifications

ISBN-13
9781108412162
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Publication
October 2017
Format
Paperback
Jurisdiction
U.S. ? Countri(es) for reference only

Details

Thomas Jefferson famously wrote that the earth belongs to the living. His letter to James Madison is often quoted for the proposition that we should not be bound to the 'dead hand of the past', suggesting that the Constitution should instead be interpreted as a living, breathing document.

Less well-known is Madison's response, in which he said the improvements made by the dead - including the US Constitution - form a debt against the living, who benefit from them.

In this illuminating book, Ilan Wurman introduces Madison's concept of originalism to a new generation and shows how it has shaped the US Supreme Court in ways that are expected to continue following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, one of the theory's leading proponents.

It should be read by anyone seeking a better understanding of originalism and its ongoing influence on the constitutional jurisprudence of the Supreme Court.

Table of Contents

Forward
Acknowledgments
Introduction

Part I. Preliminaries and Language:
1. The origins of originalism
2. The meaning of meaning

Part II. The Original Constitution:
3. Constitutional legitimacy
4. The founders on founding
5. Interpreting the constitution

Part III. Objections and Recapitulation:
6. Lawyers as historians
7. Brown v. board and originalism
8. A coda on nonoriginalisms

Epilogue.
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