Jurisprudential Philosophy

By George Nicholson

As eloquently stated by former United States Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo, a judge "is to draw his inspiration from consecrated principles" and "[t]he concept of fairness must not be strained till it is a filament." Justice Cardozo's statements, quoted in full in the main text, summarize Justice Nicholson's jurisprudential philosophy.

"The judge, even when he is free, is still not wholly free. He is not to innovate at pleasure. He is not a knight-errant roaming at will in pursuit of his own ideal of beauty or of goodness. He is to draw his inspiration from consecrated principles. He is not to yield to spasmodic sentiment, to vague and unregulated benevolence. He is to exercise a discretion informed by tradition, methodized by analogy, disciplined by system, and subordinated to ‘the primordial necessity of order in the social life.' Wide enough in all conscience is the field of discretion that remains."

Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo, United States Supreme Court, from his The Nature of the Judicial Process, Yale University Press (1921), at p. 141.

"Justice though due the accused, is due the accuser also. The concept of fairness must not be strained till it is a filament. We are to keep the balance true."

Snyder v. Massachusetts (1934) 291 U.S. 97, 122; and see Albrecht, "The Rights and Needs of Victims of Crime: The Judges' Perspective," The Judges' Journal, 29 (Winter 1995); and Nicholson, "Victims' Rights, Remedies, and Resources: A Maturing Presence in American Jurisprudence," 23 Pacific Law Journal 815 (1992).)