Louis D. Brandeis

Other People's Money and How the Bankers Use It

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

The Economist magazine recently called him "a Robin Hood of the law": American lawyer LOUIS DEMBITZ BRANDEIS (1856-1941) developed the concept of the "right to privacy" in an 1890 law journal article, and-in this classic 1914 work-he denounced investment banking, corporatism, monopolies, and the consolidation of American wealth in the hands of a privileged few. In this collection of essays first published the year before in Harper's Weekly, Brandeis championed the progressive economic ideals of Woodrow Wilson's "New Freedom," explained how entrepreneurial efforts and small businesses were being stifled and innovation and competition smothered in the fiscal environment he saw, and offered suggestions for reversing the trend. Hugely influential at the time, Other People's Money and How The Bankers Use It may have contributed to Brandeis's ascension to the United States Supreme Court Justice in 1916 (he would serve until 1939). Today, it serves another purpose: to remind us how the great experiment of American capitalism went astray... again, even in the wake of this powerful and important warning about the same dangers a century ago.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Cosimo Classics
• Seitenzahl: 202
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. Dezember 2009
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 235mm x 157mm x 17mm
• Gewicht: 502g
• ISBN-13: 9781605209753
• ISBN-10: 1605209759
• Artikelnr.: 28215638

Autorenporträt

Louis Dembitz Brandeis (/'brænda¿s/; November 13, 1856 - October 5, 1941) was an American lawyer and associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 to 1939. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, to Jewish immigrant parents from Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic), who raised him in a secular home.[3] He attended Harvard Law School, graduating at the age of 20 with what is widely rumored to be the highest grade average in the law school's history. Brandeis settled in Boston, where he founded a law firm (that is still in practice today as Nutter McClennen & Fish) and became a recognized lawyer through his work on progressive social causes. Starting in 1890, he helped develop the "right to privacy" concept by writing a Harvard Law Review article of that title, and was thereby credited by legal scholar Roscoe Pound as having accomplished "nothing less than adding a chapter to our law". He later published a book entitled Other People's Money and How the Bankers Use It, suggesting ways of curbing the power of large banks and money trusts. He fought against powerful corporations, monopolies, public corruption, and mass consumerism, all of which he felt were detrimental to American values and culture. He also became active in the Zionist movement, seeing it as a solution to antisemitism in Europe and Russia, while at the same time being a way to "revive the Jewish spirit." When his family's finances became secure, he began devoting most of his time to public causes and was later dubbed the "People's Lawyer". He insisted on serving on cases without pay so that he would be free to address the wider issues involved. The Economist magazine calls him "A Robin Hood of the law." Among his notable early cases were actions fighting railroad monopolies, defending workplace and labor laws, helping create the Federal Reserve System, and presenting ideas for the new Federal Trade Commission. He achieved recognition by submitting a case brief, later called the "Brandeis Brief", which relied on expert testimony from people in other professions to support his case, thereby setting a new precedent in evidence presentation.