ROSCOE POUND - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 03/12/1947 - HFSID 343932

ROSCOE POUND
The Dean of Harvard Law School signs this typed letter in response to an autograph request
Typed letter signed: "Roscoe Pound" in black ink. 7½x5½. March 12, 1947, Massachusetts. Typed on Law School of Harvard University letterhead to "Dear Mr. Ward" in full: "I am sorry to have been slow in responding to your request. It came at a time when I was struggling with a huge pile of examination books which demanded my immediate attention. Perhaps this letter with my personally appended signature will comply with your request. Yours very truly". Legal scholar Roscoe Pound (1870-1964), who graduated with a Botany degree from the University of Nebraska, never attended law school. Nevertheless, he became Dean of the Nebraska law school in 1903, a law professor at Harvard in 1910, and Dean of Harvard Law School (1916-1936). During his strict tenure, Harvard Law School registrations doubled, but one-third of the students there failed to graduate. Pound was one of the most often cited legal scholars of the 20th century. Initially, Pound espoused "legal realism," believing that judges should make decisions with the public interest in mind. He was highly critical of the "legal formalism" of the US Supreme Court's majority during the early New Deal. In 1937, however, Pound broke with President Roosevelt and condemned the "legal realism" he had previously espoused. Pound remained on the Harvard Law School faculty after resigning from the deanship. Lightly toned. Corners rounded. Vertical mailing folds. Adhesive residue on verso. Otherwise, fine condition.