The obituaries I have seen until now understandably focus on his work as a judge. Here I would like to honour his achievements by looking at his work as a legal historian. A number of obituaries have appeared which focus on his contributions as a judge. Noonan (1926-2017) wrote also about American law in past and present. Before and during his period as a judge he did research in the field of medieval and modern canon law. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. He served for thirty years as a judge of the Ninth U.S. Should an historian act as a judge, pronouncing verdicts on the past? Should a judge express views about the past or even use the past for his judgments? How can legal history help judges? Can you imagine that knowing about the history of medieval canon law, a subject seemingly quite distant from modern times, can prepare someone to become a respected judge? For a moment you might think I seduce you to follow me in an experiment, but I had rather tell here about the experiences of a scholar and judge who dealt in his life with exactly the questions at the start of this post. Noonan Jr – Erice,1998 – photo Kenneth Pennington
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