College of William and Mary - Colonial Echo Yearbook (Williamsburg, VA)

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i-!iJivy{i i;y.( ' T UJ3UJ3yBy oiai T! Cf)C Colotlial 2BcbO, 1921 i? 3 mi ' } jiMup: mMMVJiiJitUi}iJ ' Robert Morton Hughes ROBERT M. HUGHES, the son of Robert V. and Eliza M. Hughes, was born at Abingdon, Virginia, on September lo, 1855. At the age of fifteen years he entered the College of William and Mary, from which he was graduated Bachelor of Arts on July 4, 1873, before the completion of his eighteenth year. Entering the University of Virginia in October of the same year, he received his Master of Arts degree on July 4, 1877. He at once entered upon the practice of the law in the cit y of Norfolk, where he has since continued to reside. Mr. Hughes ' ability as a lawyer has been recognized, and his success evidenced, not only by the importance of the litigation entrusted to him and the character of his clien- tele, but also by the positions of honor and trust conferred upon him by his brethren of the bar. For many years a member and the eighth president of the ' irginia State Bar Association ; for many years chairman of the Library and Legal Litera- ture Committee of the Association and of the Committee on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar, and president since its organization of the Virginia Board of Law Examiners. Mr. Hughes has done permanent, constructive work in shaping the foundations and practice of his profession. He has indeed well repaid that debt which Lord Bacon says every man owes his profession. Though actively and successfully engaged in the practice of the law, and a leader in fixing the lines along which the practice of the law in X ' irginia should proceed, Mr. Hughes has found time to devote to literary pursuits, and as an author in various fields he has earned a national reputation. The publishers of the biographical series of Great Commanders of the Civil ' ar, having invited General Joseph E. Johnston to designate the biographer he would prefer, that distinguished soldier chose his nephew, Mr. Hughes, and his work ranks among the most successful of all that authoritative series. Mr. Hughes ' Treatise upon Admiralty Law, which appeared in 1901, was at once adopted for use in the leading schools of the country ; and at the request of the publishers, three years later, he wrote a treatise upon Federal Procedure, a new edition of which was made necessary by the reorganization of the Federal Court System and the promulgation of the New Judicial Code. A new edition of the Admiralty Law was published in 1920. In 1907, at the request of a lead- ing law book publishing firm, Mr. Hughes wrote the article on Maritine Liens which is incorporated in the Cyclopedia of Law and Procedure. Mr. Hughes is known to the profession, however, not alone as an able practitioner and author, but as a teacher of law as well. By invitation of the authorities he has delivered courses of lectures on Admiralty Law at Washington and Lee, George Washington, and Georgetown Universities. Mr. Hughes worthily maintains the finest traditions of the legal profession in his varied and catholic sympathies in all branches of belles lettres scholarship. i « 1ir»:t .trS t« tS tr»My ft tr« 1.Y iWWSi ' i Page 8 ?iss?i s ifg jf ? ?; ' air g? 7 ' $»7 if7 ,

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mmm mMM Cf)C Colonial Cci)0, 1921 mmmi Jmmis mis mmMM ' M I i i i i I ■g ' I Robert Morton Htcuks. A. B., M. A., I.L. D. % SajHSSsS JSi; Pase ;

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iisssEj- His private library is one of the finest in the South in the extensive range of g interests represented, and its owner ' s knowledge of rare and old editions, and a of the literature of art and sculpture, is typical of the devoted and lifelong stu- dent. Mr. Hughes has from time to time written verse of no mean order of merit, and he has been in constant requisition before literary and patriotic organi- ' zations for addresses on particular occasions and notable men. % Mr. Hughes was especially active in the revival of the mother chapter of « the Phi Beta Kappa Society at its birthplace in 1893, after a period of su.spension d covering nearly three-fourths of a century. He has been enthusiastic in its gi service, having served as president of Alpha Chapter for a number of terms, j and having repeatedly attended the triennial National Councils of the United Chap- i ters as the representative of the mother chapter. Mr. Hughes was for a number of years Rector of the Board of Visitors of the College, and has shown his abiding interest in and love for Alma Mater by his generous gifts of a succession of scholarships, medals and prizes bestowed annually upon the successful students competing for literary honors. Perhaps the best known is the Pi Kappa Alpha Scholarship. awarded to the member of the local chapter of that fraternity, whose translation from a foreign language into English is deemed most worthy by a committee of judges. In 1920, as a fitting culmination to a lifelong service to the College, and in grateful acknowl- edgment, the Board of ' isitors, at the instance of the Faculty, conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws. To all who know either, Mr. Hughes and the old College are inseparably associated. In a life crowded with varied activities — legal, political, literary — any one of which woul d seem to claim his available time, Mr. Hughes has been an outstanding leader in all matters demanding active interest in the affairs of Alma Mater. His love for her is deep and sincere; his loyalty to the old Col- lege in the days of her poverty and obscurity, as in her new day of progress and prosperity, has never known the . ' :l!adow of turning. In recognition of his worth as a man, his abiliiy as a lawyer and author, his culture as a scholar, ho be. s the respect and the admiration of the students and alumni of the old College of William and .Mar , and the Editorial Staff of the 1921 Colonial Echo but give tangible shape to this sentiment when they dedicate it to Robert Morton Hughes. Page 9