POUND, ROSCOE (1870–1964)

Roscoe Pound was a prominent legal educator, a distinguished philosopher of law, and a prolific writer. His major contribution to American law was his formative role in the development of sociological jurisprudence. He elaborated this instrumentalist approach during the Progressive era, the spirit of which pervaded his writings. His thought had a conservative side to it, however, which became more influential in the latter stages of his life. He expressed this conservatism not only in his eulogies of the common law but also in his criticism of the new deal and the "service state," his indictment of administrative tribunals, and his fulminations against legal realism.

Although Pound did not specialize in constitutional law, he promoted better understanding of the realities of the judicial process in this field through his critique of mechanical jurisprudence, his explanation of the broad scope of judicial discretion and judicial policymaking, and his contrast between the "law in the books and the law in action." He was also a trenchant critic of the extreme individualism underlying numerous decisions of the Supreme Court well into the twentieth century.

The quality of Pound's voluminous writings, which spanned almost the entire corpus juris, varied substantially. His best scholarship consisted, in the main, of his influential articles on legal thought and reform published from 1905 to 1916. These works included "Liberty of Contract" (1909), which was one of his few publications to focus on constitutional questions. The Spirit of the Common Law (1921), The Formative Era of American Law (1938), and The Development of Constitutional Guarantees of Liberty (1957) are today his most useful books for students of constitutional law and history. His Jurisprudence (1959) was the most comprehensive statement of his legal philosophy.

Wilfrid E. Rumble
(1986)

Bibliography

Wigdor, David 1974 Roscoe Pound. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.