Use of history in legal decision-making . . . and bourbon

 I want to discuss the uses and abuses of history by courts in the decision-making of litigation. To set the stage, here is one example:  Maker's Mark Distillery v. Diageo North America:  https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/12a0126p-06.pdf

And since we are talking about bourbon, here is that classic appreciation of the amber beverage by the novelist Walker Percy:   http://www.claremont.org/publications/crb/id.764/article_detail.asp