Cooley Doctrine
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Thomas McIntyre Cooley (January 6, 1824 – September 12, 1898) was an American judge. He was the 25th
Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...
and a Chief Justice of the
Michigan Supreme Court The Michigan Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is Michigan's court of last resort and consists of seven justices. The Court is located in the Michigan Hall of Justice at 925 Ottawa Street in Lansing, the s ...
, between 1864 and 1885. He was the father of sociologist
Charles Cooley Charles Horton Cooley (August 17, 1864 – May 7, 1929) was an American sociologist. He was the son of Michigan Supreme Court Judge Thomas M. Cooley. He studied and went on to teach economics and sociology at the University of Michigan. He was ...
. He was a charter member and first chairman of the
Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later Trucking industry in the United States, truc ...
(1887). Cooley was appointed Dean of the
University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (branded as Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparati ...
, a position he held until 1883. Thomas M. Cooley Law School of
Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan. The most populous city in Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County, parts of the city extend into Eaton County, Michigan, Eaton County and nort ...
, founded 1972, was named after Justice Cooley. Also, Cooley High School in
Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
and Cooley Elementary School in Waterford, Michigan, are named in Justice Cooley's honor. Justice Cooley is recognized by the State Bar of Michigan as a "Michigan Legal Milestone".


Early life and career

In 1824, Thomas Cooley was born in Attica, New York, to farmers Thomas Cooley and Rachel Hubbard. He attended Attica Academy and took an interest in the law and literary pursuits. In 1842, he studied law under Theron Strong, who had just completed a term as a U.S. Representative for New York to the
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
of the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
. The next year, he moved to
Adrian, Michigan Adrian is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Lenawee County, Michigan, Lenawee County. The population was 20,645 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Adrian lies in Michigan's 5th congressional district. The c ...
, and continued to study law. By 1846, he was admitted to the Michigan bar and married Mary Horton. In addition to his small legal practice, Cooley was active in other intellectual and political pursuits. He wrote poems criticizing
slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
and celebrating the European revolutions of 1848, edited pro-Democratic newspapers, and founded the Michigan branch of the
Free Soil Party The Free Soil Party, also called the Free Democratic Party or the Free Democracy, was a political party in the United States from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party. The party was focused o ...
in 1848. By 1856, he became a Republican. In the 1850s, he slowly built his professional reputation. He was compiler of Michigan statutes and a reporter for the
Michigan Supreme Court The Michigan Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is Michigan's court of last resort and consists of seven justices. The Court is located in the Michigan Hall of Justice at 925 Ottawa Street in Lansing, the s ...
. In 1859 he moved to
Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...
, and became one of the
University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (branded as Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparati ...
's first professors. He would go on to play a major role in the development of the university and the Law School, serving on faculty until 1884, including a long stint as the law school's dean from 1871 until 1883. in 1864, Cooley was elected to the Supreme Court of Michigan, and served as the chief justice for 20 years. Politically, he remained a Republican, and even considered running for Congress in 1872. However, he maintained a certain independence politically, and bolted from the Republican party as a
mugwump The Mugwumps were History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican political activists in the United States who were intensely opposed to political corruption. They were never formally organized. They famously Party switching, swit ...
to support
Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Hist ...
in 1884, and later in 1894. This independence may have cost him an appointment to the US Supreme Court.History and Traditions: Thomas M Cooley
www.law.umich.edu Retrieved January 8, 2012.
However, he was rewarded politically when in 1887 when President Cleveland nominated him to the
Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later Trucking industry in the United States, truc ...
, one of the first independent agencies of the federal government. With Mary Horton he had six children, including
Charles Cooley Charles Horton Cooley (August 17, 1864 – May 7, 1929) was an American sociologist. He was the son of Michigan Supreme Court Judge Thomas M. Cooley. He studied and went on to teach economics and sociology at the University of Michigan. He was ...
, a distinguished American sociologist, and Thomas Benton Cooley, a noted pediatrician. he died in Ann Arbor Michigan in September 1898.


Academic works

Many of the original tomes memorializing and comprising Cooley's scholarly works are preserved and on display in the Thomas M. Cooley Law School Strosacker Law Library.


''Constitutional Limitations''

In 1868 Cooley published ''A Treatise on the Constitutional Limitations Which Rest Upon the Legislative Power of the States of the American Union'', in which he analyzed the creation of state constitutions and the enactment of laws. By 1890, the sixth edition was printed.


''Law of Taxation Including the Law of Local Assessments''

In 1876, Cooley published ''A Treatise on the Law of Taxation Including the Law of Local Assessments'', which considered the government's power and motives to institute taxes. The book discusses the particulars of taxes assessed against property and businesses, as well as legal remedies against illegal and unjust taxation.


''Law of Torts''

In 1878, Cooley completed and published his work ''A Treatise on the Law of Torts or the Wrongs Which Arise Independently of Contract''. One edition of Cooley's treatise on the subject matter of
tort law A tort is a civil wrong, other than breach of contract, that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with crime ...
was published in Chicago by Callaghan and Company in 1907. A Students' Edition was edited by John Lewis, a legal scholar and contemporary of Cooley. Lewis also wrote ''A Treatise on the Law of Eminent Domain''. As a
collegial Collegiality is the relationship between colleagues, especially among peers, for example a fellow member of the same profession. Colleagues are those explicitly united in a common purpose and, at least in theory, respect each other's abilities t ...
work, Cooley's treatise on torts made extensive use of citations to
case law Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is a law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of ...
.


''Constitutional Law in the United States''

While Dean of the University of Michigan, Cooley had published his treatise ''The General Principles of Constitutional Law in the United States of America'' in March 1880. One edition was published in Boston by
Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emil ...
in 1891. A second edition was prepared by legal scholar Alexis C. Angell in August 1891. A third edition was published in Boston by Little, Brown and Company in 1898.


Legal theories


Full faith and credit clause

Renowned constitutional law scholar Edward S. Corwin wrote of the extranational judicial recognition (and, of course, that under the United States) of the implementation of, or concurrence with, Article IV, within which is the
full faith and credit clause Article IV, Section 1 of the United States Constitution, the Full Faith and Credit Clause, addresses the duty that states within the United States have to respect the "public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state". Accor ...
of the
United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...
: " accordance with what is variously known as Conflict of Laws,
Comity In law, comity is "a principle or practice among political entities such as countries, states, or courts of different jurisdictions, whereby legislative, executive, and judicial acts are mutually recognized." It is an informal and non-mandatory c ...
, or Private International Law, rights acquired under the laws or through the courts of one country may often receive recognition...in the courts of another country, and it is the purpose of .S. Const., Art. IV, Sec. 1to guarantee that this shall be the case among the States in certain instances." Corwin, or the editors of the 1978 Princeton University Press edition of ''The Constitution and What it Means Today'' thereinafter cited the Third Edition of Cooley's ''Principles of Constitutional Law''.


Establishment clause

Corwin wrote, as to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution (a clause contained within Amendment I), " hat Justice Story believed the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
was still free to prefer the Christianity">Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
religion over other religions, in contrast to modern Constitutional law and interpretation] is also supported by Cooley in his ''Principles of Constitutional Law'', where it is said that the clause forbids 'the setting up of recognition of a state church of special favors and advantages which are denied to others.'"


Due process of law

"This assumption," Robert G. McCloskey wrote as to the legal essentiality of the concept
due process of law Due process of law is application by the state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to a case so all legal rights that are owed to a person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual pers ...
in ''The American Supreme Court'', "was a product no doubt of many converging factors: the multiplication of 'welfare state' threats, the Macedonian cries of the business community and its legal and academic defenders, a growing awareness that an interpretation of due process which seemed impossibly novel €”nd probably unnecessary a decade before €”ould be made acceptable by slow accretion and might prove very useful in the cause of righteousness. As Waite wrote, the voices of two great contemporaries Thomas M. Cooley and Stephen J. Field, must have been echoing in his mind. Cooleyβ€²s classic treatise ''Constitutional Limitations'', first published in 1868, had become a canonical text for jurists, and ooley'ssupport of due process in its emerging form gave the stamp of scholarly approval to an interpretation that seemed ethically more and more imperative."


Freedom of the press

Corwin, or the editors of the 1978 Princeton University Press edition of ''The Constitution and What it Means Today'', also cited Cooley in ''Constitutional Limitations''. As to Amendment I, as to Freedom of the Press in the United States, Corwin writes: about half of the
State State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...
constitutions, our State
courts A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and administer justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law. Courts gene ...
... n reference to prevailing attitudes prior to the [AmericanAmerican Civil War">Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
, gradually wrote into the common law of the States the principle of "qualified privilege," which is a notification to plaintiffs in libel Lawsuit, [law]suits that if they are unlucky enough to be office holders or office seekers, they must be prepared to shoulder the almost impossible burden of showing defendant's "special malice". Students of
Constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...
and
Tort law A tort is a civil wrong, other than breach of contract, that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with crime ...
will note this additional aspect of modern libel law as applied to legal issues intersecting the comments and comportment of public figures.


Municipal corporations

Within his treatise ''The General Principles of Constitutional Law in the United States of America'', on the subject of
municipal corporation Municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally o ...
s, Cooley wrote:


Works edited

* Sir William Blackstone
Commentaries on the laws of England: in four books, Volume 1
', Callaghan and Company, Chicago, 1872
Volume 2
Callaghan and Company, Chicago, 1884. *
Volume 2Cooley, Thomas M. (1878) A Treatise on the Constitutional Limitations Which Rest Upon the Legislative Power of the States of the American Union, 4th Ed. Boston:
Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emil ...


Cooley Doctrine

In a contrasting legal theorem to that of Dillon's Rule (which posits that towns and cities have no ''independent'' authority except as explicitly or implicitly granted by a state legislature) the Cooley Doctrine proposed a legal theory of an inherent but constitutionally-permitted right to local self-determination. In a concurring opinion, Cooley, J., wrote "local government is matter of absolute right; and the state cannot s to the case referenced in the main opinion, ''People v. Hurlbut''take it away."''People v. Hurlbut'', 24 Mich. 44, 108 (1871).


Case law

* ''The People ''ex rel'' the Detroit and Howell R.R. Co. v. the Township Board of Salem''


See also

* Bibliography of the United States Constitution


Notes and references


Sources


Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society: Thomas McIntyre CooleyUniversity of Michigan Law School: ''History and Traditions: Thomas M. Cooley''Carrington, Paul D. "The Constitutional Law Scholarship of Thomas McIntyre Cooley" 41 Am. J. Legal Hist. 368 (1997).Jones, Alan. "Thomas M. Cooley and the Michigan Supreme Court: 1865–1885", 10 Am. J. Legal Hist. 97 (1966).Knowlton, Jerome C. "Thomas McInture Cooley", 5 Mich. L. Rev. 309 (1906–1907).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooley, Thomas Mcintyre 1824 births 1898 deaths American legal scholars Chief justices of the Michigan Supreme Court Deans of law schools in the United States Legal history of Michigan People from Attica, New York People of the Interstate Commerce Commission American scholars of constitutional law Deans of University of Michigan Law School University of Michigan Law School faculty 19th-century Michigan state court judges Justices of the Michigan Supreme Court Presidents of the American Bar Association