Herbert Wechsler

2025-02-21T20:46:21Z

2601:152:1481:ED20:90E8:45AD:546:A3F5:

{{Short description|American legal scholar (1909–2000)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Herbert Wechsler
| image =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1909|12|4}}
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2000|4|26|1909|12|4}}
| death_place = New York City, U.S.
| employer = [[Columbia Law School]]
| education = [[City College of New York]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br />[[Columbia Law School|Columbia University]] ([[LL.B.|LLB]])
| occupation = {{hlist|Law professor|author}}
| known_for =
| awards = [[Henry J. Friendly Medal]] (1993)
}}

'''Herbert Wechsler''' (December 4, 1909 – April 26, 2000) was an American legal scholar and former director of the [[American Law Institute]] (ALI). He is most widely known for his [[constitutional law]] scholarship and for the creation of the [[Model Penal Code]]. ''[[The Journal of Legal Studies]]'' has identified Wechsler as one of the most cited legal scholars of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Shapiro |first=Fred R. |year=2000 |title=The Most-Cited Legal Scholars |journal=Journal of Legal Studies |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=409–426 |doi=10.1086/468080 |s2cid=143676627 }}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Wechsler entered [[City College of New York]] at 16 and graduated in 1928, with a [[bachelor's degree]] in [[French language|French]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Tamar |last=Lewin |title=Herbert Wechsler, Legal Giant, Is Dead at 90 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9904E0DB1F30F93BA15757C0A9669C8B63 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=April 28, 2000 }}</ref> He enrolled at [[Columbia Law School]], where he served as editor-in-chief of the ''[[Columbia Law Review]]'' and graduated in 1931. After graduation, he joined the faculty and took a one-year leave to clerk for Justice [[Harlan F. Stone]] of the [[US Supreme Court]].<ref name="C250">{{cite web|url=http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/your_columbians/herbert_wechsler.html|title=C250 Celebrates Your Columbians: Herbert Wechsler|publisher=Columbia University|author=Rudy Carmenaty|year=2004|access-date=September 16, 2007}}</ref><ref name="ALI">{{cite web|url=http://www.ali.org/ali/R2204_Wechsler.htm |title=Herbert Wechsler |publisher=ALI Reporter |date=Summer 2000 |access-date=September 16, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071109175918/http://www.ali.org/ali/R2204_Wechsler.htm |archive-date=November 9, 2007 }}</ref>

== Lawyer ==
In 1940, Wechsler went to [[Washington, D.C.]], to work for the [[US Department of Justice|Department of Justice]]. He argued five cases in front of the US Supreme Court during that period.{{Citation needed|date=September 2007}}

During [[World War II]], Wechsler served as assistant attorney general in charge of the War Division. This included leading the litigation for [[Korematsu v. United States|Korematsu v. U.S.]], the case challenging the [[Internment of Japanese Americans|Japanese Internment]] during World War II.

In 1945 and 1946, he was a principal assistant to US Judge [[Francis Biddle]] and US Alternate Judge [[John J. Parker]] at the [[Nuremberg trial]], the trial of the principal Nazi war criminals. He then returned to [[Columbia Law School]], where he remained an active professor until 1978, when he took [[emeritus]] status.<ref name="C250" /><ref name="ALI" />

In 1959, Wechsler delivered his Holmes lecture at [[Harvard Law School]], "Toward Neutral Principles of Constitutional Law." It was also around this time that Wechsler authored a number of [[casebook]]s that changed ideas about criminal law and the federal courts. In 1963, Wechsler's proposed official draft of the [[Model Penal Code]] was approved, bringing to a close a decade-long project at the [[American Law Institute]]. His wife, Doris Wechsler, noted that he considered the Model Code to be his greatest achievement. Shortly after the approval of the Model Code, Wechsler was named director of the Institute, a position which he held until 1984.<ref name="ALI" />

In 1964, Wechsler argued the seminal case ''[[New York Times v. Sullivan]]'' before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court in that case unanimously held that the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First]] and [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendments]] barred awards of damages to a public official for defamation relating to his or her official conduct unless the public official proves "actual malice."<ref name="C250" /><ref name="Speaking">{{cite book|last=Abrams|first=Floyd|title=Speaking Freely|url=https://archive.org/details/speakingfreelytr00abra|url-access=registration|publisher=Viking Press|year=2005|page=[https://archive.org/details/speakingfreelytr00abra/page/4 4]|isbn=978-0-670-03375-1 }}</ref>

Wechsler served as the first chair of the New York Commission on Judicial Nomination from 1977 until 1982.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://cjn.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2021/06/cjn-11-10-19_apointment-of-commission-chair.pdf|title=The Commission on Judicial Nomination Announces the Appointment of Hon. E. Leo Milonas to Serve as the Sixth Chair in its History|work=Commission on Judicial Nomination|date=February 7, 2019|access-date=January 26, 2022}}</ref>

== Accomplishments ==
During Wechsler's tenure as director, the American Law Institute completed the second restatement of the [[Conflict of laws|Conflict of Laws]], [[Contract]]s, [[Judgment]]s, and [[Torts]] as well as the original restatement of Foreign Relations Law of the United States and large parts of the Second Restatement of [[Property law|Property]]. The Institute also conducted various studies in federal taxation and completed the Federal [[Securities regulation in the United States|Securities]] Code, the Model [[Land development|Land Development]] Code, the Model Code of [[Arraignment|Pre-Arraignment]] Procedure, the Study of the Division of [[Jurisdiction]] Between State and Federal Courts, and made major revisions to the [[Uniform Commercial Code]]. The ALI's Principles of [[Corporate governance|Corporate Governance]] and the current Restatement of Foreign Relations Law of the United States were also conceived, initiated, and developed under his direction.<ref name="ALI" />

Following his retirement as director of the ALI in 1984, Wechsler remained active in the Institute's activities as a member of the council until his death in 2000.<ref name="ALI" />

== Awards and honors ==
In 1993, Wechsler became the third recipient of the American Law Institute's [[Henry J. Friendly Medal]] for "outstanding achievement in promoting reform and clarification of the law" and for the way that his "outstanding intelligence, integrity, and devotion to the law... enriched the subjects of Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, and Federal Jurisdiction, as well as legal thinking generally."<ref name="ALI" />

Wechsler also received the Association Medal of the [[New York City Bar Association]] for exceptional contributions to the honor and standing of the bar in the community.

Wechsler was a member of both the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] and the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Herbert Wechsler |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/herbert-wechsler |access-date=May 16, 2022 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Herbert+Wechsler&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=May 16, 2022 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 9)]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Internet Archive short film|id=org.ali.history.wechsler.2|name=ALI Audiovisual History – Herbert Wechsler (Part 1) (1989)}}
* {{Internet Archive short film|id=org.ali.history.wechsler.1|name=ALI Audiovisual History – Herbert Wechsler (Part 2) (1989)}}
* [https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/10392033 Guide to the Herbert Wechsler papers] at the Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New York NY

{{s-start}}
{{s-aca}}
{{succession box | before=[[Herbert Funk Goodrich]]| title=Director of the [[American Law Institute]] | years=1963–1984 | after=[[Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr.]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wechsler, Herbert}}
[[Category:1909 births]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:City College of New York alumni]]
[[Category:Columbia Law School alumni]]
[[Category:Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States]]
[[Category:Law clerks of Harlan F. Stone]]
[[Category:United States assistant attorneys general]]
[[Category:Scholars of criminal law]]
[[Category:American scholars of constitutional law]]
[[Category:Fellows of the British Academy]]
[[Category:20th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:Members of the American Law Institute]]
[[Category:Corresponding fellows of the British Academy]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]

Vero - Wikipedia - User contributions [en]

Herbert Wechsler