IS THERE A COMMON WILL

Authors

Learned Hand, Judge of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals, Second Circuit

Abstract

In New York we have a new police commissioner. He is a gentleman of urbanity and elegant apparel. For years he has officially welcomed all distinguished guests to our city. We have come to regard him, like his chief, as the epitome of many of the brighter aspects of our life. But he conceives himself as far more than a bird of plumage. When he took office he determined to show the city that his administration should have results. There was to be vigorous enforcement of the law. And so he began by rounding up all those of the nether world who were on the black list of the police. These were gathered in large vans, following raids in those parts of the city which they were known to frequent, and they were taken through the streets, with every circumstance of publicity, to the magistrates, where, as there was generally no tenable charge against them they were nearly all immediately released. This, coupled with the announcement of a determination to harry and drive all evildoers from the city was, so far as we could gather, the measure of the achievement.

Recommended Citation

Learned Hand, IS THERE A COMMON WILL, 28 Mich. L. Rev. 46 (1929).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol28/iss1/4