Book Reviews

Abstract

Christine Desan of Harvard Law School reviews “Constitutional Money: A Review of the Supreme Court's Monetary Decisions”, by Richard H. Timberlake. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Reviews ten U.S. Supreme Court cases and decisions that dealt with monetary laws and presents a summary history of monetary events and policies as they were affected by the Court's decisions. Discusses the current condition of monetary affairs in the United States; the emergence of money in civilized societies; the bimetallic monetary system and appearance of a national bank; McCulloch v. Maryland, 1819; Congress's power ““to coin money and regulate the value thereof …”; Craig v. Missouri, 1830; Briscoe v. The Bank of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, 1837; federal government issues of Treasury notes and greenbacks; the track of the legal tender bills through Congress; Bronson v. Rodes, 1868; Veazie Bank v. Fenno, 1869; Hepburn v. Griswold, 1870—the legal tender issue; Knox v. Lee and Parker v. Davis—reversal of Hepburn; monetary affairs in the United States, 1871–83; the third legal tender case—Juilliard v. Greenman, 1884; commentaries on the legal tender decisions—the issue of sovereignty; other commentaries on the legal tender cases; the (Gold) Currency Act of 1900 and monetary affairs in the United States before 1914; the Federal Reserve System, 1914–29; the Great Contraction, 1929–33; gold—where did it go, and why didn't the gold standard work?; the Gold Clause cases, 1934–35; gold and monetary affairs in the twentieth century; and a constitutional monetary system. Timberlake is Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Georgia and Adjunct Scholar at the Cato Institute.”