Joseph Story and the Comity of Errors

Joseph Story and the Comity of Errors examines the decisions of Supreme Court justice and Harvard law professor Joseph Story (17791845). According to Alan Watson, Story erred in his interpretation of Dutchman Ulrich Hubers theory of comitythe respect accorded by one sovereignty to another sovereigntys laws. Watson suggests that it is because of Storys misinterpretation that the Dred Scott case went before the United States Supreme Court, whose notorious ruling against Scott fed directly into heated sectional conflict that culminated in the Civil War. Demonstrating the odd twists and turns that legal development sometimes takes, the book is also a fascinating case study that reveals much about the relationship of law to society.