Introductory Remarks on the Aesthetics of Law

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., long-term US Supreme Court Justice and one of the greatest American legal philosophers, made the following comment on the law in 1855, one that is surprising for its metaphorical nature: “When I think of the law I see a princess mightier than she who once wrought at Bayeux, eternally weaving into her web dim figures of the ever lengthening, past-figures too dim to be noticed by the idle, too symbolic to be interpreted except by her pupils, but to the discerning eye disclosing every painful step and every world-shaking contest by which mankind has worked and fought its way from savage isolation to organic social life.” (Holmes 1885, qtd. in: Marke 1955, pp. 62–63) Underlying this metaphorical description, there are several important features of the law. Even without going into the depth of the metaphor used by Holmes, the historical and cultural context or the context directly related to the aesthetics of the law, one feature immediately comes to mind, unambiguously and effortlessly: BEAUTY. If the image of a princess comes to mind when thinking about the law, it is probably an extremely beautiful image; after all, in all fairy tales and stories of chivalry, princesses are always distinguished by their extraordinary beauty. Holmes goes further, however, because his princess—the law—is powerful, more powerful than the one who ruled in Bayeux. Her skills are extraordinary: she “eternally weaves into her web dim figures of the ever lengthening past.” But the tale she weaves, replete with symbol and meaning, is unavailable to the idle; a correct interpretation can only be made by her disciples (those learned in the law). But, at the same time, to each person, who diligently views the web the princess weaves, the sense and meaning of the law appears, the law thanks to which humanity has escaped from isolation and has built an organized community.