Essays on the Georgia Supreme Court helps fill a gap in judicial literature on the critical role of appellate courts at the state level. In his introduction, George H. Carley, justice, Supreme Court of Georgia, notes that "developing each topic from a historical as well as an academic viewpoint results in essays that are interesting and useful to both practitioners and the courts."
For example, the first essay, "Juristic Giants: A Georgia Study in Reputation," focuses on the extent to which three U.S. Supreme Court judges, John Marshall, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., and Benjamin Cardozo, have been cited in Georgia Supreme Court decisions. Sentell examines statistical research to shed light on the justices' historic role in Georgia case law tradition.
The second essay, "Peculiarity of Per Curium: In the Georgia Supreme Court," examines how the utilization of this judicial tool does or does not hold constant over time and its role in contemporary jurisdictional communication. The third essay profiles the impetus, history, pattern and results of the dissenting opinion in Georgia's Supreme Court. The author uses various examples to demonstrate how the practice has steadily increased over time to reveal substantial disagreement as a fixture of the court.
In "Lightening the Load: In the Georgia Supreme Court," Sentell analyzes how two procedures, Rule 59 and certiori, have significantly affected the court's workload over a period of time to provide it with a measure of functional discretion.
The author, R. Perry Sentell Jr., served on the faculty of the University of Georgia's School of Law for more than 40 years before retiring in June 2004. He was the Marion and W. Colquitt Carter Chair in Tort and Insurance Law. Sentell is renowned throughout the state for his expertise in municipal government and legislative government law. He is the author of numerous books and articles and published an annual "Survey of Local Government Law" for the Mercer Law Review . The recipient of many honors, he recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association.
Essays on the Supreme Court of Georgia, 119 pages, softbound, is available for $17.95 (plus tax and shipping) from the Publications Program, Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia, 201 N. Milledge Ave., Athens, Ga., 30602. All orders must be prepaid. For ordering details, call 706-542-6377 or go to the online store at www.vinsoninstitute.org/store.
