| | Holmes Sr. once compared himself to Socrates,<ref>Holmes' father declared that he had been “accused of the crime for which Socrates suffered; that of being a poisoner of public opinion.” (“[http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9406E3D7103AEF34BC4051DFB3668382649FDE Speech of Oliver Wendell Holmes at the Unitarian Convention in Boston]”, ''The New York Times'', May 28, 1859)</ref> but Holmes Jr. took the part of Thrasymachus<ref>”I proclaim that justice is nothing else than the interest of the stronger.” Plato (A.D. Lindsay, tr.), ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=D868ZOuNQ5QC The Republic]'' (London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd, 1954) ISBN 1603035621, p. 52</ref>—that “might makes right”—when he wrote that “force... is the ''ultima ratio''.”<ref>Holmes to Frederick Pollock, February 1, 1920, in Richard A. Posner, ed., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=HamEkfqdMcEC The Essential Holmes: Selections from the Letters, Speeches, Judicial Opinions, and Other Writings of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.]'' (University of Chicago Press, 1992), p. 103</ref> The “proximate test of a good government,” he wrote, is that “the dominant power has its way.”<ref>Oliver Wendell Holmes, “Montequieu” (1901), in ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=66UPxXl2KU8C Collected Legal Papers]'' (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1920), p. 258</ref> A “law should be called good if it reflects the will of the dominant forces of the community,” he wrote to [[Felix Frankfurter]], “even if it will take us to hell.”<ref>Holmes to Frankfurter, March 24, 1914, reprinted in Robert M. Mennel and Christine L. Compston, eds., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=nJAXIYZKyFUC Holmes and Frankfurter: Their Correspondence, 1912-1934]'' (Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1996) ISBN 0874517583, p. 19</ref> | | Holmes Sr. once compared himself to Socrates,<ref>Holmes' father declared that he had been “accused of the crime for which Socrates suffered; that of being a poisoner of public opinion.” (“[http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9406E3D7103AEF34BC4051DFB3668382649FDE Speech of Oliver Wendell Holmes at the Unitarian Convention in Boston]”, ''The New York Times'', May 28, 1859)</ref> but Holmes Jr. took the part of Thrasymachus<ref>”I proclaim that justice is nothing else than the interest of the stronger.” Plato (A.D. Lindsay, tr.), ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=D868ZOuNQ5QC The Republic]'' (London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd, 1954) ISBN 1603035621, p. 52</ref>—that “might makes right”—when he wrote that “force... is the ''ultima ratio''.”<ref>Holmes to Frederick Pollock, February 1, 1920, in Richard A. Posner, ed., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=HamEkfqdMcEC The Essential Holmes: Selections from the Letters, Speeches, Judicial Opinions, and Other Writings of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.]'' (University of Chicago Press, 1992), p. 103</ref> The “proximate test of a good government,” he wrote, is that “the dominant power has its way.”<ref>Oliver Wendell Holmes, “Montequieu” (1901), in ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=66UPxXl2KU8C Collected Legal Papers]'' (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1920), p. 258</ref> A “law should be called good if it reflects the will of the dominant forces of the community,” he wrote to [[Felix Frankfurter]], “even if it will take us to hell.”<ref>Holmes to Frankfurter, March 24, 1914, reprinted in Robert M. Mennel and Christine L. Compston, eds., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=nJAXIYZKyFUC Holmes and Frankfurter: Their Correspondence, 1912-1934]'' (Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1996) ISBN 0874517583, p. 19</ref> |