ABSTRACT
The law-is-a-science approach had consequences not only for legal education, but also for judicial interpretation. It lent credence to the formalism of late nineteenth century judicial decisions and led to judicial resistance to legal change whether through legislation or through judicial interpretation. Oliver Wendell Holmes was the son of the famous American of the same name, whom Sir William Osler called "the most successful combination the world has ever seen, of physician and man of letters." The success of The Common Law led to a professorship in 1882 at the Harvard Law School. But Holmes taught there only a term, for he was appointed in December 1882 to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. Holmes's attitude toward both law and life was grounded on an innate skepticism which made him doubt the economic nostrums that were acquiring increased currency as the century progressed.
