Magistrate Montaigne's Follower
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Authors
Wyzanski, Charles E. Jr.
Issue Date
1978
Type
Journal Article
Language
Keywords
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION|It is a great honor for me to have a chance to address you on this lectureship. I have taken as my topic, "A Follower of Montaigne."|Montaigne, as I suppose most of you know, was at one time a petty magistrate in Bordeaux. He occupied a position which, from the point of view of its title, was certainly not very significant. Yet the point of view which he developed in his essays and in other writings makes it quite clear that he recognized that from a judicial perch one has a chance to see a great deal of life as a venture toward some kind of structural picture of the society in which he lives. Montaigne had as his motto, "que scais je?," ("What do I know?"). And at the end of his essay, Of Experience, he reminded us that "though ye sit upon the top of the world, yet sit ye upon your tail."|You may think that it is not important to talk about the job of a District Judge in the spirit of Montaigne; but I will try to persuade you to the contrary. I am going to talk tonight about the job of a United States District Judge, first, in ordinary cases, and then, in rather extraordinary and complicated cases, and finally, in constitutional matters...
Description
Citation
11 Creighton L. Rev. 503 (1977-1978)
Publisher
Creighton University School of Law