General Notes

Holmes, Oliver Wendell (1841-1935), American jurist, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1902-32), distinguished for his great legal learning, sound  judgment, humor, and power of expression.

Holmes was born in Boston and given the same name as his father, the writer. After graduating from Harvard College, he served for three years in the American Civil War, fighting with the Union army at Ball's Bluff, Antietam, and Fredericksburg and attaining the rank of captain. In 1867 he was admitted to the bar and began to practice law in Boston. He edited the American Law Review from 1870 until 1873. In 1880 he was a lecturer on common law at the Lowell Institute in Boston. His lectures, collected as The Common Law (1881), became internationally renowned.

Holmes became professor of law at Harvard Law School in 1882, but resigned in the same year to accept an appointment as associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. He served in that position until 1899 and as chief justice from 1899 until 1902. In 1902 he was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Theodore Roosevelt, and he held that position until his retirement in 1932.

Holmes became famous for his liberal interpretations of the U.S. Constitution and was known as the ôGreat Dissenter÷ because of his disagreement with the views of his colleagues on the Court. He was later supported in his minority opinions by Justice Louis D. Brandeis. His Collected Legal Papers was published in 1920 and The Dissenting Opinions of Mr. Justice Holmes, in 1929.