THE OCCASIONS OF JUSTICE

A collection of short pieces by a noted jurist of vigorous commitment, The Occasions of Justice contains much of Mr. Black's writings for the Yale and Columbia Law Reviews from the early- and mid-'50's. Among the subjects dealt with here: attitudes toward the law, the uses of the social sciences in the formation of statute, the various injustices of American jurisprudence, and a whole section, entitled ""Equality Under Law"" on paths to desegregation in Dixie. On several occasions, in typical parallel prose inspired by the recrudescence of McCarthyism, Mr. Black writes eloquently about what he calls the ""poetry of freedom"": ""It solves nothing, decides nothing, conveys no information, weighs nothing on the scale of arguments. It is too precious for those uses. It may assure us, if we keep still and listen, that the whole business of decision, of argument, of long and disappointing search for information and solution, is after all worthwhile"". Stimulating, well-written, annotated where necessary.