Dean Pound's characterization of Justice Holmes:

"By general consent, Oliver Wendell Holmes will be ranked high among the ten greatest judges in American judicial history. Indeed, he is recognized throughout the English-speaking world as one of a handful of leaders in Angio-American law. We commonly hear of him as a great dissenter. But in his career of half a century on the bench, he left his mark on every part of the law. Moreover, his dissenting opinions on questions of the reasonableness of legislation are proving starting points for constructive reasoning, and he is likely to be counted a maker of the bill of rights as Marshall was of the provisions fixing the powers of the general government. Furthermore, he was a great legal historian and later a leader in the movements which have remade the science of law in the present century."