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My analysis of the judicial process comes then to this, and little more: logic, and history, and custom, and utility, and the accepted standards of right conduct, are the forces which singly or in combination shape the progress of the law. Which of these forces dominate depends largely upon the comparative importance or value of the social interests that will be thereby promoted or impaired. ... The most fundamental social interest is that law shall be uniform and impartial. ... Uniformity ceases to be a good when it becomes uniformity of oppression.

Benjamin N. Cardozo#22

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  1. It is well enough to say that we shall be consistent, but consistent with what? . . . The origins of the rule? The course and tendency of development? With log…

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  2. If you ask how he is to know when one interest outweighs another, I can only answer that he must get his knowledge just as the legislator gets it, from experie…

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  3. There is in each of us a stream of tendency, whether you choose to call it philosophy or not, which gives coherence and direction to thought and action. Judges…

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