The Nature of the Judicial Process: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Nature of the Judicial Process, credited to Benjamin N. Cardozo, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Nature of the Judicial Process by Benjamin N. Cardozo. Read by Kazbek Benjamin N. Cardozo, one of the most influential American justists of his era, served as the New York Court of Appeals Chief Justice, before joining the Supreme Court. His 1921 book The Nature of the Judicial Process, now considered a legal classic, was compiled from The Storrs Lectures delivered at Yale Law School earlier that year. In it he analyzes various factors underlying judicial decisions, and how these decisions in their turn influence the development of law, contrasting abstract ideals with court practice, and comparing American and English common law with legal systems of continental Europe. From Lecture I: "The directive force of a principle may be exerted along the line of logical progression; this I will call the rule of analogy or the method of philosophy; along the line of historical development; this I will call the method of evolution; along the line of the customs of the community; this I will call the method of tradition; along the lines of justice, morals and social welfare, the mores of the day; and this I will call the method of sociology." (Summary by Kazbek)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Nature of the Judicial Process
• Author credits: Benjamin N. Cardozo
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 4
• Listed recording duration: 3:20:10

Catalogue topics

• common law
• constitutional law
• us law
• stare decisis
• legal theory
• judicial practice
• philosophy of law
• legal system of the united states

Track guide

1. 01 - Lecture I. Introduction. The Method of Philosophy. — 51:09
2. 02 - Lecture II. The Methods of History, Tradition and Sociology. — 53:34
3. 03 - Lecture III. The Method of Sociology. The Judge as a Legislator. — 49:24
4. 04 - Lecture IV. Adherence to Precedent. The Subconscious Element in the Judicial Process. Conclusion. — 46:03

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.