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Thinking About Law and Creativity: On the 100 Most Creative Moments in American Law

In a boon for fans of law lists everywhere, Valparaiso School of Law professor Robert F. Blomquist has put together a list of the “100 Most Creative Moments in American Law.”

Professor Blomquist surveyed 426 American law professors in 2005, seeking their opinions on the most creative moments in Anglo-American law. Based on their replies and his own opinions, and after limiting his focus to American law, Blomquist provides in his forthcoming article a rich discussion of creativity and ‘creative moments’ in law, and a delightful top-100 list of such moments.

Blomquist also provides explanations for why each of those moments qualified for the list. It makes for a grand Memorial Day weekend read, as well as the challenge all such lists provide for the reader: what is missing, and how would you have ranked them?

Find the abstract and link to the full text of the article on SSRN. Here are the top and bottom 10s to get you started:

Top 1-10 Most Creative Moments in American Law

1. The Constitution of the United States (1787) and the ratification debates (1787-1788).
2. The Declaration of Independence (1776).
3. The Bill of Rights (1791-1792).
4. The Articles of Confederation (1777).
5. The Ordinance of 1787: the Northwest Territorial Government.
6. Marbury v. Madison (1803).
7. President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation (1863).
8. The Judiciary Act of 1789.
9. President Lincoln’s suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus during the Civil War (1861-1865).
10. Brown v. Board of Education (Brown I & Brown II) (1954-55).

Top 91-100 Most Creative Moments in American Law

1. Daubert v. Merrill Dow (1993).
2. Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971).
3. Euclid v. Ambler (1926).
4. Erie R.R. v. Tompkins (1938).
5. New York Times v. Sullivan (1964).
6. Katz v. U.S. (1967).
7. Shelley v. Kraemer (1948).
8. Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council (1992).
9. Miller v. California (1973).
10. Goldberg v. Kelly (1970).

Sources: Legal History Blog, ABA Journal