The Effect of an Unconstitutional Statute

Book excerpt: Field, Oliver P. The Effect of an Unconstitutional Statute. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1935. xi, 355 pp. Reprinted 2002 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. LCCN 2001022508. ISBN 1-58477-181-X. Cloth. $80. * State and federal courts have a long history of deeming statutes unconstitutional. Although there have been a number of treatises on the nature of judicial review, this volume treats the issue of the results of a statute deemed unconstitutional. "The varying meanings of the process of 'declaring a statute unconstitutional' or unenforceable, the meaning of 'unconstitutionality,' the legal effect of the tainted statute or its defective part, and of the decision branding it, are the subject matter of this scholarly and effective book." Edwin Borchard, Yale Law Journal 45:1533. Marke, A Catalogue of the Law Collection at New York University (1953) 397-398.