In the early 1920s, the singularly pre-eminent Chief Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals, Benjamin N. Cardozo, delivered the Storrs Lectures at Yale. He self-deprecatingly thought few would be interested in his in-house revelations, but the crowds at the Law School were so numerous that the venue was moved to the largest auditorium then available. Fortunately, the trailblazing lectures were preserved and published as “The Nature of the Judicial Process.”

His exploratory exegesis encapsulates the jurisprudential structure and operational rationale governing the jurisdiction of his tribunal of last resort within the framework of its limited review powers. His comprehensive hermeneutic digs into the method by which his Court fulfills its unique raison d’etre, and continues as an illuminating guidebook to apprehend and appreciate its present-day mission.