Harvard Law School - Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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gn Ynemorlam EDWIN MERRICK DODD, .lr Fessenden Professor of Law I888-I95I

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ERRICK DODD, who was graduated from Harvard College in 1910 and from the Law School in 1913, returned to the Law School in 1928 as a teacher of Corporations and Corpora- tion Finance. He devoted the remaining 23 years of his life to the analysis, writing and teaching of the principles and history of American collec- tive enterprise. To a generation of students he taught not only the intricacies of corporate law, but also the value of gentlemanly philosophy of life. His class-room manner was such that he was able to stimulate discussion and thought without abandoning the kindly approach that was such an essential part of his nature. Those who were not privileged to be his stu- dents, however, will best remember Merrick Dodd as an outstanding legal analyst and his- torian in the corporate field. His interpretations of the changes which took place during the period in which he was teaching rank among the most searching studies in their area. His writ- ing, fresh and clear, was motivated by a genuine and growing love of legal economic history. 4-2 llarvard Law Review 977 marks the first of what was to become a sizeable and comprehensive body of learning on the law of business associ- ations. The article, Dogma and Practice in the Law of Associations, evidenced the capacities which made him the foremost commentator of the era on the corporation in society and law. His subsequent works, though broad in scope, develop a basic theme: the protection of various classes of security holders through the imposi- tion of fiduciary principles in the government and restraint of corporate management. Merrick Dodd's ability to analyze the present state of the law was buttressed by his vast know- ledge of its past. Had he not been a legal scholar, he would undoubtedly have been an historian. ln his work he managed admirably to combine both these interests. Although his writings on the long period of American collective enterprise are already impressive, perhaps his most signifi- cant contribution is yet to be made. At the time of his death, Professor Dodd had brought to the verge of publication a book which he had spent many years in planning and writing. Fortu- nately, the manuscript of this work on the early legal history of business corporations in America had reached the point where it can soon be pub- lished. The book comprises an all-inclusive study lo which Professor Dodd had devoted much time and energy during recent years, years in which he also carried a full teaching load, worked toward a new case book and a new edition of another, and during the war years, performed important public service. Professor Ralph J. Baker, a friend and close associate of Professor Dodd for many years, ex- pressed the feelings of many when he wrote in the Harvard Law Review: ln a minute recently adopted by thc lac- ulty, it was said: 'If students, colleagues, rela- tives and friends were asked what character- istic of his stood uppermost in their minds, they would probably all agree that it was his kindliness., To this I add his superb honesty of mind, his simple sincerity and his shy capacity to be a friendf,