United States v. Hicks

When I review the facts of this case, I think of this core idea expressed by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.:

*73When we study law we are not studying a mystery but a well-known profession. We are studying what we shall want in order to appear before judges, or to advise people in such a way as to keep them out of court____ People want to know under what circumstances and how far they will run the risk of coming against what is so much stronger than themselves [the public force of the courts].

“The Path of Law,” Collected Legal Papers 167 (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1921). More…