Discussion of Robinson's Metamorphosis

I'm not sure, but it seems like the source of the quote might be a 1940 Yale Law Journal article by Morris Cohen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Raphael_Cohen), who, interestingly enough, is the father of our very own Felix Cohen. A google search for the quote, as written, yielded no results (except for one quoting this part of Lawyerland), but the Cohen article has the similar quote, "The criminal law represents the pathology of civilization." This is the first line of a paragraph that ends a 24 page article, "Moral Aspects of the Criminal Law," 49 YLJ 987 (1940). The paragraph goes on:

"But just as the study of animal pathology has illumined normal physiology, and has been helpful in physical hygiene, or just as the study of insanity has thrown light on mental processes and has been at times somewhat helpful in mental hygiene, so the study of criminality may illumine normal human motives and be helpful in bringing about just humane social relations. The necessary conditions for this study, however, is the most rigorous, intellectual integrity, the concentration on seeing the facts as they are, regardless of natural sentimental predilections. We must learn to live in an imperfect world, though we dare not relax the effort to make it better."

Robinson is certainly interested in investigating the phenomenon of the criminal law as a pathology in order to "try[] to figure civilization out." But I'm not sure he's approaching it from the standpoint of Morris Cohen, an academic. I will admit not having read the whole article. But judging from his thesis, Morris Cohen is not railing against the system, but critiquing it from the inside, with a functionalist focus on what the law "should *do*":

"By a consideration of some of the ethical problems of the criminal law, I wish to illustrate the truth that the procedure from principles to facts and from facts to principles, without assuming either to be absolute or unquestionable, does not at all lead to complete moral nihilism, but rather clarifies the process of building a systematic view of what the law should do, even though it tolerates a certain amount of probabilism and pluralism in taking into account the wide variations of social conditions and sentiments."

-- MichaelBerkovits - 28 Feb 2008