Book Reviews : The Business of a Trial Court: 100 Years of Cases. By FRANCIS W. LAURENT. (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press. 1959. Pp. xxxiv, 314. $6.00.)

• Author: Richard K. Burke
• DOI: 10.1177/106591296001300332
• Date: 01 September 1960
• Published date: 01 September 1960
• Subject Matter: Articles

820

To

this

reviewer,

the

chapter

&dquo;A

Matter

of

Administrative

Style&dquo;

was

the

most

stimulating.

Since

&dquo;administration

is

doubtless

as

much

a

matter

of

style

as

it

is

of

rules,&dquo;

the

author

found

a

close

relationship

between

Eastman’s

administra-

tive

personality

and

the

failure

of

the

railroad

co-ordination.

&dquo;Eastman’s

style

was

that

of

a

judge&dquo;

who

used

&dquo;consultation,

conciliation

and

compromise&dquo;

as

&dquo;elements

of

technique

at

the

service

of

this

style,&dquo;

and

instead

of

issuing

directives,

handed

down

&dquo;opinions.&dquo;

&dquo;The

characteristics

of

his

administrative

personality

were

implacable

intelligence,

an

unwavering

devo-

tion

to

facts,

and

strong

self-discipline....&dquo;

The

author

found

Eastman

highly

gifted

in

&dquo;research

judgment

and

recommendation,&dquo;

by

virtue

of

&dquo;ingrained

habits

of

mind,

generated

by

temperament,

perhaps.&dquo;

However,

his

skills

were

less

adaptable

&dquo;in

situations

that

called

for

improvisation,

contrivance,

and

risky

adventure,

fluid

situations

subject

to

influence

by

personality

and

political

tendency.&dquo;

The

book

is

written

with

an

easy

skill

and

is

generously

scattered

with

the

sharp

barbs

of

wit

for

which

Professor

Latham

has

achieved

a

deserved

reputa-

tion.

ALEX

GOTTFRIED

University

of

Washington

The

Business

of a

Trial

Court

:

100

Years

of

Cases.

By

FRANCIS

W.

LAURENT.

(Madison:

The

University

of

Wisconsin

Press.

1959.

Pp.

xxxiv,

314.

$6.00.)

In

the

preface

to

this

work,

the

author

states

that

one

of

the

objectives

of

this

study

&dquo;was

to

take

inventory

of

the

types

of

legal

actions,

procedures

and

sanctions

used

over

a

century

to

dispatch

the

business

brought

to

a

general

trial

court.&dquo;

A

second

objective

&dquo;was

to

determine

the

aspects

of

community,

social,

political

and

economic

growth

which

in

one

way

or

another

were

brought

to

adjudication,

and

hence,

the

ways

in

which

the

business

of

a

general

trial

court

reflected

the

unfolding

life

of

the

society

of

which

it

was

an

instrument.&dquo;

The

first

objective

was

achieved.

Whether

or

not

the

second

objective

was

wholly

accomplished

seems

problematical.

For,

this

is

a

book

of

tables.

Of

its

314

pages,

200

are

filled

with

tables

which

present

raw

and

uncorrelated

(though

classified)

data

on

the

actions

and

proceedings

of

the

Circuit

Court

for

Chippewa

County,

Wisconsin,

from

1955

to

1956.

With

the

exception

of

a

rather

obtuse

introduction

by

Professor

Willard

Hurst,

and

an

introductory

chapter

on

&dquo;environmental

factors,&dquo;

the

textual

material

is

a

descriptive

summarization

of

the

tables.

There

is

little

doubt

that

this

book

reflects

the

results

of

painstaking

and

tedious

research.

The

findings

substantiate

what

most

students

of

law

and

society

have

assumed:

that

the

law,

and

thus

the

business

of

a

trial

court,

is

primarily

concerned

with

economic

rights

and

obligations

and

tends

to

reflect

economic

changes

more

rapidly

than

social

or

political

changes.

Also

there

is

ample

statistical

proof

to

demonstrate

the

invalidity

of

the

rather

common

notion