Harvard Law School - Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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HARLAN FISKE STONE -THE MAN ARLAN FISKE STONE was born in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, October 11, 1872. During his childhood his family moved to Amherst, where he received his primary and secondary education. Scientific endeavor was first to claim Stone's effort. He entered Massachusetts Agricultural College in 18893 but hopes of a career as a scientific farmer were dashed when in his freshman year young Harlan left under what hardly may be called favorable circumstances. The next fall Stone entered Amherst. His college accomplishments during the succeeding four years brought him recognition both in his academic pursuits and on the football field. His scientific leaning still persisted: in 1894 he received his B.S. from Amherst and started teaching science at the Newburyport High School. Once the law and Stone were mated, they not only ascended to the top rung of the ladder of legal success but covered the field laterally as well. After receiving his LLB. from Columbia Law School in 1898, the future Chief Justice spent three years as a lecturer on law at that school and later turned his atten- tion to the practice of law in New York. In 1910 he returned to Columbia to assume the deanship and remained at this post for thirteen years. During his tenure legal education was in a state of flux and offered rich formative oppor- tunities to those directing its course. After his resignation as dean in 1923, Stone joined the law firm of Sullivan and Cromwell. It was not long before public service was to claim his attention. A fellow Amherst student was occupying the White House in 1924, when the need of cleansing the Attorney General's oflice became pressingly necessary. President Coolidge brought Harlan Stone to Wasliington to succeed Attorney General Daugherty in that office and do the job. ln less than a year he passed from the executive to the judicial branch of the government, but the path was a stormy one, through the legislative branch. Senator Norris led tl1e attack on the Stone confirmation and was supported by those who were suspicious of the appointee's association with large financial interests and big business. Finally on March 2, 1925 Harlan Fiske Stone became an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Stonc's philosophy of law and. his contribution to our legal system arc con- tained in many decisions and law review articles. But the general recognition of his success as a Justice can be succinctly illustrated by the wide approval accorded President Roosevelt's appointment of Mr. Justice Stone to the Chief Justiceship of the United States in 1941.

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NOEL T. DOWLING E revered this Court as . . . the indispensable implement for the main- tenance of our federal system :, he 'cwithdrew from every other activity and the work of the Court was tl1e uabsorbing interest of his life. ' This might well have been said about Chief Justice Stone. Actually it was what he him- self said about Justice Brandeis. But in speaking thus of an associate whom he so greatly admired he was also, I think, expressing convictions of his own. At all events he was touching upon two matters of deep concern to him, namely, the institutional respon- sibility of the Court and the personal responsibility of the Justices. Of all the Courtis responsibilities as an uimplement of Covernmentv fhe liked to call it thatj, he was especially concerned with its power in constitu- tional cases-the circumstances in which it might set aside legislative or other governmental action. It is somewhat speculative, to be sure, but I doubt whether any Justice who ever sat on that Bench gave a more considered or sustained attention than he to the problems inherent in the doctrine of judicial review of constitutional questions. He made no pretensions to ready answers, but his efforts revealed a clearer pattern than is commonly perceived. And that, as a Justice, he should keep himself wholly to the work of the Court was to him a manifest duty, not only because there was plenty to do but also because in singleness of purpose he saw the best means of imparting tl1e fullest measure of strength to the Court itself. 10 Stone Professor of Law, Columbia University

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we SUQH 90:5 of file ,NQPUQFJ olllfllfll Scdoof By W. Barton Leach and Robert A. Hendrickson Our lips shall tell it to ou.r's0ns, And they in turn to tlzeirsf' N May 26, 1778, when Isaac Royall executed his will, there was no law school in North America and no professorship of law in any of the several American colleges. The apprentice system was the pathway to the profession. Royall was a wealthy citizen of Massachusetts resident in London, which he had reached via Halifax, a circumstance that called for explanation in the years immediately following Paul Reverels ride. But Royall always maintained that he was not a Tory refugee. Partly, doubtless, to prove his point he left to Harvard College the proceeds of sale of two thousand acres to establish a Professor of Laws or a Professor of Physicic and Anatomy. The money value of this gift can be judged from the fact that after thirty-live years of accumu- lation the principal stood at about 358,000 Royall died in 1781. For reasons not entirely clear, his gift was not used until 1816. Meanwhile professorships of law had been established in at least three other colleges, the most noteworthy being at Columbia where the chair was held by James Kent, later Chancellor of New York. Also, during this interval, Judge Tapping Reeve established a law school at Litchfield, Connecticut. So Harvard had neither the first professorsliip of law nor the first law school. But, as will appear, she had the first university law school and, since the Litchfield Law School died young, she has the oldest law school still operating. If it matters. ISAAC PARKER AND' STEARNS fl816-18295 - When the Overseers decided in favor of a uljrofessor of Laws, Isaac Parker, Chief Justice of lVlassaehusetts, received the appointment. 1-le gave occasional lectures to undergraduates and a few Boston lawyers. There were no profes- sional students. On Parkeris recommendation the College in 1817 voted to appoint a uUniver- sity Professor of Law, who shall reside in Cambridge, and open and keep a school, which should he ua new department at the University. Asahel Stearns was appointed, moved to Cambridge, and set up shop in three rooms of a two- story brick building on the present site of the Harvard Trust Company. The phrase 'fset up shop is used advisedly since the University Professor was to be paid by the fees of his students. Looking at the portraits of Parker and Stearns one would not expect them to have been great teachers. And in truth and in fact they were not. Parker's resignation was requested in 1827 and Stearns' in 1829. STORY AND GREENLEAF C1829-18485 As John lVlarshall gave spiritual birth to the Supreme Court years after it had come into being as an institution, so Joseph Story gave spiritual birth to the Harvard Law School. If there ever was an inspired countenance Story had it. We recommend that you spend three minutes before his portrait in the Reception Lobby of Langdell Hall. Story lectured and wrote his books-Baihnents, Agency, Partnership, Equity Jurisprudence, Equity Pleading, and others-but could serve only during recesses of thc Supreme Court of the United States of which he continued to be an Associate Justice. Said Charles Sumner, ulclis students love him, the good scholars for the knowledge he distributes, the poor tif any there bel for the 12