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Stanford Law Review

Max Weber on Law in Economy and Society by Max Rheinstein; Edward ShilsReview by: W. FriedmannStanford Law Review, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Mar., 1955), pp. 306-308Published by: Stanford Law ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1226399 .

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STANFORD LAW REVIEW [Vol.7: Page30ITANFORD LAW REVIEW [Vol.7: Page30Ibeenstimulated n his teachingby two casebookson whichPro-fessorDoddcollaborated:Caseson Corporations,roducedointlywith his colleague,ProfessorRalphJ. Baker,and Cases on Cor-porate Reorganizations, ith DeForestBillyou. Moreover,Pro-fessorDodd'sarticlesare invaluable idsto thosewho teachanyof the subjectsnvolvingcorporations.A glanceat the list' of hiswritingsshows what an amazinglyprolificauthorhe was. Alllawyersand legal scholarsare fortunaten havingso valuablealegacyas this final book which does so much to illuminate heoriginsof the Americanbusinesscorporation.LAURENS . RHINELANDER*

MAXWEBERON LAW IN ECONOMYNDSOCIETY.(20th CenturyLegal PhilosophySeries,Vol. VI.) Editedby Max Rheinstein.Translatedby EdwardShils and Max Rheinstein.Cambridge:HarvardUniversityPress. I954. lxxii+ 363 pages. $6.00.One of the valuable ervicesperformedby the 20th CenturyLegalPhilosophySeries s the gradualcorrection f the lopsidedideas about continentallegal philosophy prevalent n Anglo-American irclesthrough he accidents f translation.Untila fewyearsago,English-speakingawyersmighthavebeenforgiven orbelieving hatKelsen s theonlycontinentaljuristof significance.An equallywidespreadllusion s thatEugenEhrlich s the onlynotablemodernsociologist f law, at leastof continentalvintage.A few yearsago,Dr.Kahn-Freund'sditionof Renner's nstitutesof PrivateLawhelpedto correct hisimpression.This translationof MaxWeber's lassicalwork,Lawin Economy and Society, is afurthercontributiono the understanding f continentaljuris-prudence.It will now be possible o makethe studyof Weber'sworkcompulsoryeading n anyserious oursedealingwithlegalsociology.Juristsand sociologists we a greatdebt of gratitudeto the editorsof the20th CenturyLegalPhilosophySeriesand,inparticular,o ProfessorRheinsteinandhis collaborator,rofessorShils.MaxWeberwas one of the greatestandmostinfluentialuni-versity eachersof this century.His work and character re dis-tinguishednot only by intellectualgreatness, ut alsoby nobility

6. See pp. 452-58 for a bibliographyof publishedwritings by MerrickDodd.* Professorof Law, Universityof Virginia.

beenstimulated n his teachingby two casebookson whichPro-fessorDoddcollaborated:Caseson Corporations,roducedointlywith his colleague,ProfessorRalphJ. Baker,and Cases on Cor-porate Reorganizations, ith DeForestBillyou. Moreover,Pro-fessorDodd'sarticlesare invaluable idsto thosewho teachanyof the subjectsnvolvingcorporations.A glanceat the list' of hiswritingsshows what an amazinglyprolificauthorhe was. Alllawyersand legal scholarsare fortunaten havingso valuablealegacyas this final book which does so much to illuminate heoriginsof the Americanbusinesscorporation.LAURENS . RHINELANDER*

MAXWEBERON LAW IN ECONOMYNDSOCIETY.(20th CenturyLegal PhilosophySeries,Vol. VI.) Editedby Max Rheinstein.Translatedby EdwardShils and Max Rheinstein.Cambridge:HarvardUniversityPress. I954. lxxii+ 363 pages. $6.00.One of the valuable ervicesperformedby the 20th CenturyLegalPhilosophySeries s the gradualcorrection f the lopsidedideas about continentallegal philosophy prevalent n Anglo-American irclesthrough he accidents f translation.Untila fewyearsago,English-speakingawyersmighthavebeenforgiven orbelieving hatKelsen s theonlycontinentaljuristof significance.An equallywidespreadllusion s thatEugenEhrlich s the onlynotablemodernsociologist f law, at leastof continentalvintage.A few yearsago,Dr.Kahn-Freund'sditionof Renner's nstitutesof PrivateLawhelpedto correct hisimpression.This translationof MaxWeber's lassicalwork,Lawin Economy and Society, is afurthercontributiono the understanding f continentaljuris-prudence.It will now be possible o makethe studyof Weber'sworkcompulsoryeading n anyserious oursedealingwithlegalsociology.Juristsand sociologists we a greatdebt of gratitudeto the editorsof the20th CenturyLegalPhilosophySeriesand,inparticular,o ProfessorRheinsteinandhis collaborator,rofessorShils.MaxWeberwas one of the greatestandmostinfluentialuni-versity eachersof this century.His work and character re dis-tinguishednot only by intellectualgreatness, ut alsoby nobility

6. See pp. 452-58 for a bibliographyof publishedwritings by MerrickDodd.* Professorof Law, Universityof Virginia.

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BOOKS REVIEWEDof purpose.As a politician,Weberwasa courageousnd influen-tial supporter f the new democratic orcesfightingfor recogni-tion in the Revolutionof I9I8 and the struggleof the WeimarRepublic.But as a scholar,Weber,unlike Hegel and so manylesserfiguresof the academicworld,did not use his intellecttodisguisehis personalpoliticalbeliefs in an apparatus f scholar-ship. In themidstof theFirstWorldWar,when a greatmajorityof scholarswereblindedby the passionsof war,he publishedhiscelebratedessay on the Wertfreiheitder Wissenschaft. In it heshowed that rationalscientificargumenthad to stop short ofultimatevalues-valuesarea matterof choiceand belief,not ofrationalexperiment.In his sociological tudiesWeberappliedhis theoryof ulti-mate values.His Sociologyof Law is a masterly tudyof variousinterrelations etweensocialstructure nd legal systems,regard-lessof theideologies f thesystems althoughWeber s, of course,notunconsciousf themas a factor n analysis).The study, here-fore,is strictlydescriptive nd analytical ociology.Its most im-portantpart is an analysisof the varioustypesof law adminis-tratorsand their relation o the typesof legal orderwhich theyhelp to develop and administer.Weber'sterminologyof the"charismatic"aw-maker f early imes(thoughrevivedn ghastlydistortionby such twentieth-centuryiguresas Hitler) has be-comeclassical.It is used in a chapteron The LegalHonoratioresand theTypesof LegalThought,a chapterwhichalsocontainsamasterlycomparative nalysisof the Anglo-American nd thecontinentaltypesof legal development.Weber'sprimary nterest s in the processof rationalizationof the law and the kind of administrationwhich it demands.Somethingof the optimismof the nineteenthcentury urvives nhis thought. If Mainedetected n progressiveocietiesa steadyevolutionfrom status to contract-a trend which has been re-versed n many respects-Weber,who did not live to witness heorgiesof irrationalityn highly developed ocieties,believednotonly in the superiority f rationaloverirrational dministration,but also in the steadyprogressoward t. One of his most inter-estingcontributionss his analysis f the superiorityf a rational,depersonalized,civilservice"type of legal administrationverthe earlierautocratic, bsolutistand sometimespaternal ype ofadministration.

MarchI955] 307

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STANFORD LAW REVIEW [Vol.7: Page 306TANFORD LAW REVIEW [Vol.7: Page 306Equallynterestings Weber'sdefinitionof law,whichmaybedescribed s the sociological ounterpartf Kelsen'sanalyticandformalisticdefinition.Webersaid,An orderwill be called aw if it is externally uaranteed ytheprobabilitythat coercion(physicalor psychological), o bring aboutconformityoravengeviolation,will be appliedby a staf of people holdingthemselvesspeciallyreadyfor that purpose.1The fieldof legalsociologys, of course,nfinite. Evenmental

giantsof MaxWeber's taturecan illuminateonly cornersof it.But far moreimportant han the actualsubjectmatterof legalsociologysone'sapproachostudyingheinterrelationf lawandsociety.It is in thisrespecthat MaxWeberhasmadea contribu-tion at leastas significant s that of Ehrlich.W. FRIEDMANN*

CASESANDTEXT ONWILLSANDADMINISTRATION.ByLowell Tur-rentine. St. Paul: West Publishing Co. I954. xxxii + 419 pages.$7.50-It is axiomatic hat a casebook houldnot attemptto be allthingsto all people. But, with understandableeal, a casebookeditorandhis publishers reoftenproneto appeal o the wishesandneedsof too many. When suchenthusiasms carriednto a

field like wills, where substantive nd procedural roblemsarelargelycontrolledby local codes,the effectivenessf an editor'sworkis greatlydiminished.Fortunately, rofessorTurrentine asbeencontent opresent pecificproblemswhichfuturelawyersarelikelyto encounter,withoutattemptingo presenteveryconceiv-able variationproducedby statutorydifferences.Yet the moreimportant ariances reaptlyandconcisely tated n textor foot-notes.It isnoparadoxosaythathere s acasebookwhich s likelyto appeal o many.Althoughthisbookis a compromise-betweenhe conflictingpressuresf "barexaminationquestions overinga wide rangeofsubjectmatter,and shrunkenallotmentof time for the course"'in Wills-it is anexcellentone. Whilethe bookwasdesigned or1. P. 5.* Professorof Law, Universityof Toronto.1. P.ix.

Equallynterestings Weber'sdefinitionof law,whichmaybedescribed s the sociological ounterpartf Kelsen'sanalyticandformalisticdefinition.Webersaid,An orderwill be called aw if it is externally uaranteed ytheprobabilitythat coercion(physicalor psychological), o bring aboutconformityoravengeviolation,will be appliedby a staf of people holdingthemselvesspeciallyreadyfor that purpose.1The fieldof legalsociologys, of course,nfinite. Evenmental

giantsof MaxWeber's taturecan illuminateonly cornersof it.But far moreimportant han the actualsubjectmatterof legalsociologysone'sapproachostudyingheinterrelationf lawandsociety.It is in thisrespecthat MaxWeberhasmadea contribu-tion at leastas significant s that of Ehrlich.W. FRIEDMANN*

CASESANDTEXT ONWILLSANDADMINISTRATION.ByLowell Tur-rentine. St. Paul: West Publishing Co. I954. xxxii + 419 pages.$7.50-It is axiomatic hat a casebook houldnot attemptto be allthingsto all people. But, with understandableeal, a casebookeditorandhis publishers reoftenproneto appeal o the wishesandneedsof too many. When suchenthusiasms carriednto a

field like wills, where substantive nd procedural roblemsarelargelycontrolledby local codes,the effectivenessf an editor'sworkis greatlydiminished.Fortunately, rofessorTurrentine asbeencontent opresent pecificproblemswhichfuturelawyersarelikelyto encounter,withoutattemptingo presenteveryconceiv-able variationproducedby statutorydifferences.Yet the moreimportant ariances reaptlyandconcisely tated n textor foot-notes.It isnoparadoxosaythathere s acasebookwhich s likelyto appeal o many.Althoughthisbookis a compromise-betweenhe conflictingpressuresf "barexaminationquestions overinga wide rangeofsubjectmatter,and shrunkenallotmentof time for the course"'in Wills-it is anexcellentone. Whilethe bookwasdesigned or1. P. 5.* Professorof Law, Universityof Toronto.1. P.ix.

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