The conflict between the wisdom of past generations as embodied in "Precedent" and the ideas of the present day concerning right and justice, usually denominated "Progress," has been for some time past more than usually acute. Questions that were formerly relegated to the dry discussions of legal technicians have now found their way into the press and into the forum of partisan political controversy. It appeared to me that these studies might consequently be of some general interest at the present moment and in the somewhat disturbed state of public opinion on so many questions of fundamental importance. The substance of the chapters here entitled "Certainty and Justice," "Jury Trial as an Instance of Constitutional Development," and "Criminal Pro 257293 cedure and the Constitution" appeared in the Yale Law Review in May, 1905, and March, 1910. "The Constitution and Our New Peoples" and "Perversion of Precedent" appeared in the Columbia Law Review of January, 1903, and March, 1909. The chapter on "The Law and Our Industrial Development" with slight modification appeared in the North American Review of July, 1911. "Aliens and the Progress of the Law," "The Modern Treatment of Political Crime" and "The Crisis of the Law" furnished in the main the substance of addresses; the first two at annual meetings of the Society of International Law, at Washington, 1911 and 1909, and the latter at the annual meeting of the American Bar Association, at Boston, August, 1911. The two remaining chapters are now published for the first time. 1913 FREDERIC R. COUDERT. |