Persons and Masks of the Law

John T. Noonan Jr. has served as Judge on the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit since 1986. He is Robbins Professor Emeritus at Boalt School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of prize-winning work in history, philosophy, and theology. His books include The Lustre of Our Country: The American Experience of Religious Freedom (1998), Bribes (1988) and The Antelope: The Ordeal of the Recaptured Africans in the Administrations of James Monroe and John Quincy Adams (1977), all from California.

"A classic work, highly influential, widely cited." - Martin Shapiro, author of Seeking the Center "I am struck by the timelessness of the work. I have always thought of it as a great book. What I now see is that it is a book that will never be out of date. The reason is simple: it brings a great legal mind of our own time into conversation with the greatest legal minds of the past." - Robert P. George, author of The Clash of Orthodoxies "Persons and Masks of the Law is a brilliant conception, beautifully realized. I congratulate the author on this sparely and wholly expressed idea." - Robert K. Merton, Columbia University "A beautifully written and probing discussion by an eminent legal philosopher. Professor Noonan strips the facade from judge-made law, and exposes the often unpleasant reality that citizens must confront daily." - Norman Dorsen, New York University School of Law "Noonan's analyses challenge even as they charm; simultaneously they constitute both pieces of creative scholarship and literary gems. I have read and re-read this slim volume and have strongly recommended it to students as an example of how an imaginative scholar can start with what seems commonplace and force us to reexamine our own conclusions - and occasionally values." - Walter F. Murphy, editor of American Constitutional Interpretation

• Preface to the 2002 Edition Foreword 1. THE MASKS OF THE PARTICIPANTS 2. VIRGINIAN LIBERATORS 3. THE OVERLORD OF AMERICAN LAW AND THE SOVEREIGN OF COSTA RICA 4. THE PASSENGERS OF PALSGRAF 5. THE ALLIANCE OF LAW AND HISTORY Notes and References Index