Holmes in “The Path Of The Law” has taken a pragmatic approach in understanding and evaluating law. Holmes’s arguments had a great impact in the formulation of the American legal realism. With his arguments on eradication of ‘naturals rights’ and ‘morals’ from law, Holmes helped the American legal realism reach where it is now. The Path Of The Law begins by providing reasons as to why people engage lawyers in the first place. One of the reasons being that, in many cases the command of the public force is entrusted with judges, and to enforce its decisions, the whole power of the state would be used. No one wants to come up against something so much more powerful than him or her.
The article also assures us that in every system there is a rational explanation for the outcome. A cause and effect relation binds everything. Holmes tells us that, if it cannot be
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His complete disregard for public law portrays backward thinking.
Also, the statement, “nothing but confusion of thought can result from assuming that the rights of man in a moral sense are equally rights in the sense of the Constitution and the law” shows that, in his theory he excludes the relevancy of morals from the constitution as well. This could pose a major problem because the fundamental rights and various other important rights are granted to the people by the constitution. So, if morals, equity and conscience were kept distinct from law when formulating these rights of the people, the end result would be disastrous.
The Path Of The Law ends by keeping in mind the intended party i.e. lawyers and law students. An inspirational note, which talks about the path of happiness, is attached to it. Long-term happiness is not achieved by wealth or success, but by having command over the universal laws. This can be achieved by relating our subject law to other aspects in the