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"path": "/2026/05/mumford-on-holmes-and-anglo-american.html",
"publishedAt": "2026-05-28T04:30:00.000Z",
"site": "https://legalhistoryblog.blogspot.com",
"tags": [
"Re-Enacting The Judicial Philosophy Of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.: Saunders v. Vautier and Claflin v. Claflin Compared",
"NYPL"
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"textContent": "**Ann Mumford, Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London** , has posted Re-Enacting The Judicial Philosophy Of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.: Saunders v. Vautier and Claflin v. Claflin Compared:\n\n> ---\n> Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (NYPL)\n> Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. sat on the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in 1889, when, in the case of _Claflin v Claflin_ , he joined the decision that a trust may not be modified if the intention of the testator would be undermined. _Claflin_ rejected Lord Cottenham's reasoning in _Saunders v Vautier_ that, under certain circumstances, beneficiaries may compel the termination of the trust and transfer the property to them. _Claflin v Claflin_ and _Saunders v Vautier_ are perhaps the two most famous cases in Anglo-American Equity. Through a detailed examination of manuscripts, this article offers a comparative expansion of the US and English histories, and particularly considers the role played by Holmes. Re-enactment theory offers the possibility of creating, or reliving, the intellectual process that led to _Claflin_ , thus revealing a significant moment in the history of US federalism.\n\n--Dan Ernst",
"title": "Mumford on Holmes and Anglo-American Equity",
"updatedAt": "2026-05-28T04:30:00.108Z"
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