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  Holmes, Jr., Oliver Wendell
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NameOliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
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Boston, Massachusetts , United States
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Born March 08, 1841
DiedMarch 06, 1935 (93 years)
ContributorThomas Walker
Last ModifedThomas Walker
Dec 15, 2005 09:35pm
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InfoOliver Wendell Holmes the younger, (March 8, 1841 – March 6, 1935) was an American jurist noted for his hard-edged rejection of the prevailing property-rights ideology embraced by other judges of his time. He was called The Great Dissenter.

Holmes was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of the prominent writer and physician Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.. As a young man, Holmes loved literature and supported the abolitionist movement which raged among Boston Brahmins during the 1850s. He graduated from Harvard University in 1861.

After graduation, Holmes joined the United States Army at the outset of the American Civil War. He saw much action, from the Peninsula Campaign to the Wilderness, and suffered wounds at the Battle of Ball's Bluff, Antietam, and Chancellorsville. He was mustered out in 1864 as a brevet Lieutenant Colonel. Many historians have traced Holmes' advocacy of legal realism as well as his hard-edged rejection of romanticism and natural rights theory to his war experiences. Holmes' letters to his parents during the war reflect a hard-bitten callousness to the loss of human life, a necessary defense mechanism for a man who had seen so many friends killed in so many bloody battles. Holmes recalled later that he was not a natural soldier but preferred intellectual pursuits.

After the war's conclusion, Holmes returned to Harvard to study law, being admitted to the bar in 1866, and went into practice in Boston.

In 1870, Holmes became editor of the American Law Review. In 1881, he published the first edition of his well regarded book The Common Law. In 1882, he became both a professor at Harvard Law School and a justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. In 1899, he was appointed Chief Justice of the state court. He became known for his innovative, well-reasoned decisions, balancing property rights with rule by the majority, with the latter taking precedence over the former. He was one of the first to recognize workers' right to organize trade unions as long as no violence or coercion was involved, contrary to some earlier decisions by others who had argued that organized labor was by nature illegal.

In 1902, Holmes was appointed to the United States Supreme Court. On the bench, Holmes was known for his pithy, short, and frequently-quoted opinions.

Holmes was often criticized both during his lifetime and after for his philosophical views, which were influenced by Charles Darwin and pragmatism. Holmes rejected moral theory and "natural rights" philosophy and embraced moral relativism. Thus, Holmes mostly rejected the doctrine of "substantive due process" and the idea that the constitution imposes certain substantive values on the political process, though he famously made an exception for government action that made him "puke." This "puke test" became the basis for the "shocks the conscience" test that Holmes' protege Felix Frankfurter promoted and is currently governing law in certain substantive due process cases. Holmes' judicial philosophy played a major role in shaping American Legal Realism, which emphasized the real-world impact of decisions and de-emphasized legal formalism and theory.

Holmes served until January 12, 1932, when his brethren on the court, citing his advanced age (Holmes was, at 90, the oldest serving justice in the Court's history), hesitantly requested that he step down, and he complied. He died in Washington, D.C. in 1935, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

First Appeared on a United tates Postage Stamp in 1965.
Vote totals for elections in which was nominated for the Hall of Fame for Great Americans (1900-1965): 1960-57, 1965-79.

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Father Oliver Wendell Holmes 1809-1894

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