Publication Date

Summer 2024

Document Type

Article

Abstract

The legal treatise remains a pillar of the American legal system and the rule of law, despite claims it might be dying and variations in quantitative citations to treatises over time. Indeed, several treatises evidence increased citation in U.S. Supreme Court opinions during the last several decades. Surprisingly, the U.S. Supreme Court, including the Robert’s Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, increasingly sees fit to rely on proto-treatises, such as Bracton, Coke, and Blackstone. This article provides empirical data and qualitative analysis to support this claim, highlighting the sometimes declining but nevertheless significant presence of treatises in case law, briefs, law reviews, and journals over time.

The Persistent Treatise, as a paper proposal was accepted for “The Legal Treatise: Past, Present, and Future,” a symposium sponsored by the Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale Law School (March 24, 2023). It was also “workshopped” at the Conference on Legal Information, Scholarship, and Teaching (July 13, 2023). It will be republished as conference proceedings by William S. Hein & Co. in Perspectives on the Legal Treatise: Proceedings of the Second Yale Legal Information Symposium (forthcoming).

Publication Title

Law Library Journal

Volume

116

Issue

3

Additional Files
Persistent_Treatise_Data___Charts_Updated072423.xlsx (225 kB)
Accompanying data and charts by Paul Callister
Persistent Treatise S.Ct. Case Comparison Data from Neacsu.xlsx (40 kB)
Accomanying data and charts by Dana Neacsu

Previous Versions

Aug 17 2024 (withdrawn)

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