UGA Press: Southern Judicial Tradition • Huebner


Books>		Detailed Book Information

$22.95

The Southern Judicial Tradition
State Judges and Sectional Distinctiveness, 1790-1890
Timothy S. Huebner

Examines the lives and work of 19th century southern judges and how regional attitudes effected legal development

This groundbreaking examination of the lives and work of nineteenth-century southern judges explores the emergence of a southern judiciary and the effects of regional peculiarities and attitudes on legal development. Drawing on the judicial opinions and private correspondence of six chief justices whose careers spanned both the region and the century, Timothy S. Huebner analyzes their conceptions of their roles and the substance of their opinions related to cases involving homicide, economic development, federalism, and race. Examining judges both on and off the bench-as formulators of law and as citizens whose lives were intertwined with southern values-Huebner reveals the tensions that sometimes arose out of loyalties to sectional principles and national professional consciousness.

Timothy S. Huebner, an associate professor of history at Rhodes College, is author of The Taney Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy and coeditor, with Kermit L. Hall, of Major Problems in American Constitutional History, second edition. He and Paul Finkelman edit the series Studies in the Legal History of the South.

October 2008

ISBN 0820332364 paper • $22.95

280 pp. • 6 x 9 in.

A volume in the seriesStudies in the Legal History of the South

"A must-read for legal scholars and historians of the nineteenth-century American South."
—Arkansas Historical Quarterly

"A fine work of scholarship, well researched and cogently argued."
—Journal of the Early Republic

"This throughly researched and persuasively argued book makes a significant contribution to state judicial historiography and to our growing appreciation of the regional character of American law in the 19th century. I strongly recommend it."
—R. Kent Newmyer, author of Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story

"Raises important questions and offers helpful perspectives on the role of sectionalism in American legal history." —Journal of Southern History, Vol. 67, No. 2. (May, 2001)

"Huebner...offers a sophisticated interpretation of the cultural forces behind the shifts in legal thought in the nineteenth century" —H-SHEAR, February, 2000

"A useful work, illuminating the lives and careers of six heretofore obscure Southern jurists in a learned and interesting fashion." —H-LAW, September 2000

"Huebner's fine study . . . marks an important contribution to nineteenth-century historiography." —Law and History Review, Summer 2002

"Huebner's study provides fascinating insights into the nature of ... the state courts of the nineteenth-century South" —Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, December 2000

"This book is a fine contribution to the study of American history and institutions." —Mississippi Quarterly, Spring 2000

"For those interested in understanding southern jurisprudence or comprehending the...southern political system, Huebner's study merits serious attention." —Florida Historical Quarterly, March 2001

books features news & events how to order information home site map