Pound Will Leave Law School at End of June

Roscoe Pound, University Professor and formerly Dean of the Law School for 20 years, will make public today his intention to retire at the end of June.

Confirming rumors that this term would be his last with the University, Professor Pound disclosed plans to return to China this year to complete the work he began last summer on the codification of Chinese law. "It is not yet time for a formal announcement," the 76-year old legal philosopher added, indicating that the project was still being negotiated with the Chinese Ministry of Justice.

Time to Retire

"It is best to retire before people begin wondering why you don't," mused Professor Pound amidst the casual order that is his office in the stacks of Langdell Library.

During the fall, Professor Pound has carried nine hours of teaching on his weekly schedule, grading all term papers and examinations himself. "I do not think it is fair to my students to have assistants do the work," he said. Since his retirement as Dean of the Law School in 1936 and his immediate appointment as University Professor, he has added undergraduate work to his roster of Law School courses and this year taught two courses in the College.

From Nebraska

The son of a Nebraska lawyer, Professor Pound followed his mother into botany in his college days, taking his degree in that subject from his state's university in 1888 at the age of 17. He was granted a Master's degree the following year and in 1897 earned a Ph.D. in botany.

In 1888, the young Pound came east to Harvard to study for a year at the Law School but left the following spring for independent study and his father's lay office in Lincoln, Nebraska. Professor Pound has never taken an LL.B. in course but has been awarded the honarary Doctor of Laws 14 times.

Formerly Commissioner

Professor Pound doubled as a commissioner of appeals for Nebraska's Supreme Court and an assistant professor in her University's law school until Dean Wigmore of Northwestern offered him a position on his faculty and a chance to practice in Chicago.

A brief sojourn at the University of Chicago in 1909 was the last stop on Professor Pound's way to Harvard. Dean Thayer invited him to become Story Professor of Law and 1913 found him Carter Professor of Jurisprudence. At Dean Thayer's death in 1916, Professor Pound became Dean of the Law School, the first non-graduate of the School to hold that post.