Myres S. McDougal
Encyclopedia
Myres S. McDougal was a professor at the Yale Law School
for fifty years. Born in Burton Mississippi on November 23, 1906, he died on May 7, 1998.
He received undergraduate and LL.B. degrees from the University of Mississippi
, was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, from which he received a B.C.L. in 1930, and received a J.S.D. from Yale in 1931. He began teaching property law at Yale in 1934. During World War II
he served as assistant general counsel of the US Lend-Lease Administration
in 1942 and general counsel of the US State Department’s Office of Foreign Relief and Rehabilitation Operations. After the war he returned to the Yale Law School and achieved recognized distinction in the field of international law. Professor McDougal served on the US delegation to the 1969 UN conference in Vienna that produced the Convention on the Law of Treaties. Second Circuit Judge José A. Cabranes
said of him, "Myres McDougal was, without a doubt, the greatest international lawyer of his time."
Professor McDougal's books included:
His students included: Byron R. White, Bill Clinton
,, Nicholas Katzenbach
, and José A. Cabranes
.
As a property scholar, Professor McDougal was famous for asking the question, later asked and answered in United States v. Willow River Power Co.
, whether the courts protect an asserted interest because it is a property right or is it a property right because the courts protect it. Professor McDougal was also famous for popularizing in legal analysis the concept of hierarchy of values
, and the fact that different jurists' or analysts' resolution of particular legal controversies could be explained as the result of their having different hierarchies of values.
Professor McDougal was president of the American Society of International Law and was president of the Association of American Law Schools.
Yale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
for fifty years. Born in Burton Mississippi on November 23, 1906, he died on May 7, 1998.
He received undergraduate and LL.B. degrees from the University of Mississippi
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1844, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford, four branch campuses located in Booneville, Grenada, Tupelo, and Southaven as well as the...
, was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, from which he received a B.C.L. in 1930, and received a J.S.D. from Yale in 1931. He began teaching property law at Yale in 1934. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he served as assistant general counsel of the US Lend-Lease Administration
Lend-Lease
Lend-Lease was the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations with materiel between 1941 and 1945. It was signed into law on March 11, 1941, a year and a half after the outbreak of war in Europe in...
in 1942 and general counsel of the US State Department’s Office of Foreign Relief and Rehabilitation Operations. After the war he returned to the Yale Law School and achieved recognized distinction in the field of international law. Professor McDougal served on the US delegation to the 1969 UN conference in Vienna that produced the Convention on the Law of Treaties. Second Circuit Judge José A. Cabranes
José A. Cabranes
José Alberto Cabranes , is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Formerly a practicing lawyer, government official, and law teacher, he was the first Puerto Rican appointed to a federal judgeship in the continental United States .-Background:Cabranes was born in...
said of him, "Myres McDougal was, without a doubt, the greatest international lawyer of his time."
Professor McDougal's books included:
- The law school of the future: From legal realism to policy science in the world community (1947)
- Property, wealth, land: Allocation, planning and development; selected cases and other materials on the law of real property, an introduction (1948)
- The Public Order of the Oceans: A Contemporary International Law of the Sea (1962) (with William T. Burke)
- Law and Public Order in Space (1963) (with Harold D. Lasswell)
- Human Rights and World Public Order: The Basic Policies of an International Law of Human Dignity (1980) (with Harold D. Lasswell and Lung-chu Chen)
- The International Law of War: Transnational Coercion and World Public Order (1994) (with Florentino P. Felciano)
His students included: Byron R. White, Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
,, Nicholas Katzenbach
Nicholas Katzenbach
Nicholas deBelleville Katzenbach is an American lawyer who served as United States Attorney General during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration.-Early life:...
, and José A. Cabranes
José A. Cabranes
José Alberto Cabranes , is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Formerly a practicing lawyer, government official, and law teacher, he was the first Puerto Rican appointed to a federal judgeship in the continental United States .-Background:Cabranes was born in...
.
As a property scholar, Professor McDougal was famous for asking the question, later asked and answered in United States v. Willow River Power Co.
United States v. Willow River Power Co.
United States v. Willow River Power Co., is a 1945 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court involving the question whether the United States was liable under the Fifth Amendment for a “taking” of private property for a public purpose when it built a dam on navigable waters that raised the water level...
, whether the courts protect an asserted interest because it is a property right or is it a property right because the courts protect it. Professor McDougal was also famous for popularizing in legal analysis the concept of hierarchy of values
Hierarchy of values
Hierarchy of values is a concept in US legal analysis that Yale Law School Professor Myres MacDougal popularized. It refers to an ordered list of social values that influence judicial decision-making. Different jurists or legal analysts may order values in different hierarchies, which leads them to...
, and the fact that different jurists' or analysts' resolution of particular legal controversies could be explained as the result of their having different hierarchies of values.
Professor McDougal was president of the American Society of International Law and was president of the Association of American Law Schools.
See also
- Yale Law Journal, March 1, 1999 - Issue devoted to Testimonial to late Yale Law School Professor Myres McDougal.
- Video interview at Yale.