There isn’t a lot of praise circulating for American institutions today. Even though we can see abundant evidence of the shortcomings of alternative systems in Russia, China and elsewhere, too many Americans are buying populist propaganda against their own government. Lately, it’s the courts’ turn. Judges are being denounced as biased, corrupt and incompetent, not…

Most people with a case in court can’t understand what goes on in a lawsuit and are increasingly unwilling to accept what comes out of it. For reasons unknown to them, the case goes round and round for years without reaching its merits, and then the parties are forced to settle because their money and…

The contemporary American lawsuit focuses on its own form rather than the human problem that prompted it. Starting with a needlessly complicated complaint, it’s followed by years of maneuvering about its adequacy, generating massive amounts of discovery. For any of a half-dozen reasons, it never gets to trial. The result often baffles the parties and…

Contemporary American judges have more in common with Medieval monks than just wearing robes. Today’s courts are dominated by formalists. After reviewing decisions from the last several months—about guns, abortion, and industrial pollution—they remind me of work by the 13th and 14th Century scholastics, dominated by the monks who dictated thinking in Europe prior to…