Judges and Judiciary
Feb. 15, 2007
Guns, Blood and Gavels
Forum Column - By Michael A.S. Newman - Former California Chief Justice David S. Terry was a model of judicial temperament. He used his trusty bowie knife against opponents, killed a senator in a duel and was eventually killed in a fight with his wife's ex-husband. And he had a great beard.
By Michael A.S. Newman
Thomas Hobbes, paraphrasing Sir Edward Coke, referred to the common law as "the artificial perfection of reason," refined "through the succession of ages" by "an infinite number of grave and learned men." But lawyers rarely consider that long-deceased judges were once full-blooded human beings, not half-embalmed oracles given to turgid writing. Looking at the browned pages of old case books,...
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