Harvard Law School - Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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THEY WILL BEEUMEIAW, PARTNERS Herman li. Brnudmiller Hillurga Graduated Tl!!'fl'H.9lr 'U!'!3'33FUUL1ITHf NNW . HW lf- . a large number of challenging difficulties. To achieve substantial justice of the type We would like to hope civilian courts dispense, within the disciplined ranks of a military establishment, seems, at times, to be an im- possibility. On the face of it, a better ex- ample of colliding objects cannot be found. The Morgan Committee began its Work in August of 1948 and completed its mam- moth task by submitting a completed Uni- form Code of Military Justice in February, 1949. This was a remarkable achievement, and it will stand as a monument to Pro- fessor Morgan. Although Professor Morgan had served in the Office of the Judge Advocate Gen- eral of the Army in World War I, he had not been concerned with problems of mili- tary law for some twenty-five years. His ability to master the whole, complex and technical subject of military law was a rev- elation. The problems usually faced by the academic professor in the practical work- a-day World were no problems so far as he was concerned. As Chairman of the Com- mittee, his erudition and amazing fund of legal knowledge Were smoothly and quickly translated into the most practical solutions. All the tools of the teaching professor Were natural and useful in his hands when used in conferences Which brought together people representing strong conflicting view- points. He cajoled, he persuaded, he con- vinced. He listened, he was convinced, he changed his mind. This was the same Pro- fessor Morgan, but in a wholly different classroom. We saw the same brilliance practically applied in an important and highly specialized field of law. As I am sure two generations of Harvard students have found, he was conservative in all things, except his shining ideas and ideals. We found a sharp mind Working with a Warm heart. On a subject on which honest men differ, he achieved a remarkable unanimity of opinion among the Committee members, and produced the Uniform Code of Mili- tary Justice, which provides the some sub- stantive law and the same procedures for all persons serving in all the armed forces. Felix A. Larkin Department of Defense Page five

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he served as assistant to the Judge Advo- cate General of the Army, and when it was determined to unify the services it was in the nature of things that Mr. Forrestal, the Secretary of Defense, should ask Mr. Mor- gan to act as chairman of a committee to draft a Uniform Code of Military Justice. It has been my happy lot to have an office adjoining his in Langdell Hall, and for many years I have been able at all times to consult with him and to draw on his knowledge and wisdom. For he has in large measure the combination of scienfia at sap- imzfia, as that great lawyer Cicero might express it. He is naturally endowed with wisdom, and he has acquired knowledge through study and experience. But over and beyond this, he has character, that intellectual and moral quality which we call integrity. And besides he has a personality which inevitably makes friends of his col- leagues and his students, among whom I am privileged to include myself. Austin W. Scott Harvard Law School IT IS always difficult to appraise the attainments and character of a man- doubly so when he is a prominent figure. In the case of Professor Edmund M. Morgan, Jr., however, no task remains. A conclu- sion has long since been reached and ap- proved. His national reputation for schol- arship and teaching excellence is evidence of the place he has achieved in American Law. He is one of its masters. While it would seem, under these circum- stances, that little else can be said, I believe too little is known of his public work. I have in mind, particularly, Professor Mor-- gan's contribution to the judicial processes of government. The activity I have per- sonal knowledge of relates to his contribu- tions to the Department of Defense in connection with his service as Chairman of the Department of Defense Committee on A Uniform Code of Military Justice. Some background, I think, will give perspective to Professor Morgan's work on the Uniform Code. The court-martial sys- tems and military justice have been the subject of heated controversy for gener- ations. Military justice has always presented Page eight

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7 W, Y Developments Af Che auf School A story is told about one of the several occasions when the faculty of the Harvard Law School considered the question of ad- mission of women. This time was about 1913, when Ezra Ripley Thayer was dean. After some discussion, one of the members of the faculty, not known for his reticence, spoke up and said, If women are admitted to the School, I will have to revise all my lectures. There was a suitable pause. The dean is then reported to have said, Are there any other arguments in favor of the proposal? When one is speaking of changes at the Harvard Law School and the future course of its development, it will be impossible not to record that women were finally admitted to the School in the fall of 1950 falthough two were actually registered, in cooperation with Radcliffe College, as long ago as 1899, and attended classes for a few weeks until the arrangement was vetoed by the Corpor- ationj. Nevertheless, it does not seem to me that this particular development is either very important or very significant. Most of us have seen women from time to time during our lives, and have managed to sur- vive the shock. Wfe have even had a few around Langdell and Austin Halls for a good many years now, with no serious con- sequences. There seems to be no likelihood that we will have a very large proportion of women among our students. I think we can take it, and I doubt if it will change the character of the School or even its atmos- phere to any detectable extent. As of to- day, I doubt if this change alone will require nhl'- DEAN ERXVIN N. GRISWOLD any of our faculty members to revise many of their lectures. But there are some other developments in the air which do seem to me to be of great significance. As far as I know there are no plans for revolutionary change. I do not detect any notion that the Harvard Law School feels that it has devised a new formula for legal education, or that my brethren of the faculty propose throwing over all of the past and replacing it with some dazzling new-found approach to the law and legal education. Nevertheless, there are developments. Most of the lectures given in the School in 1913 would seem inadequate nowg while many of those now given would have struck the students of that earlier gener- ation as strange, vague, and far afield. Without meaning to be exhaustive, and without undertaking to foretell very much of the future, let me list below some of the significant developments which seem to me to be occurring in the Law School, at the middle of the twentieth century. 1. Teaching Materials and Meilaods. Law Schools have had to make some remarkable adjustments since fifty years ago. We are inclined to look back on those days as a relatively simple period, and we may well be right. Five courses in the first year, six in the second, six in the third, all standard courses, no Taxation, Labor Law, Adminis- trative Law, Accounting, no seminars, no papers, not much feeling that a lawyer needed to know anything but law, and that rather pure law, too. From such compari- sons, it is easy to see that we have made some changes, and those changes are clearly still in progress. Law schools now have available the same time for their task that they have had for the past seventy-five years or so. But the subject matter with which they must deal has greatly changed and increased. The necessary adjustments in teaching programs have not been easy to make and are by no