Jurisprudence

One of the statues outside of the Howard M. Metzenbaum Courthouse. Jurisprudence (which means "Justice System") features a hooded woman seated on a throne. She rests her left arm on her knee, which she has raised by planting her foot firmly on a stack of books in front of her. Her right arm curls behind her, as she supports a massive tablet that is wedged against her hip. "LEX", the Latin word for Law, is boldly inscribed across the top of the tablet above a relief of an Eagle. Her eyes are shut.

Kneeling to her left, in a pleading heap, is a figure of a man in chains. His body is weak and desperate, but his genuflecting pose is respectful-- reverential, even. His naked body is exposed to the elements and not even her cloak shades him from the sun nor protects him from the city's inclement weather.

To her right is the figure of a woman, holding a toddler. The cherubic little boy wraps one arm around his mother's neck in an embrace, and extends the other arm out to the viewer. These figures are shaded and protected by the tablet of law and by Blind Justice herself.

Daniel Chester French was one of the most prolific and prominent American sculptors of the early twentieth century. His sculpture adorns courthouses and inhabits countless monuments, the most prominent being his Lincoln in the Lincoln memorial in Washington D.C.