Jaffe Club Wins Ames Competition; Collins, Skornia Take Top Honors

Charles E. Whittaker, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and his two associates last night awarded top honors in the Harvard Law School Ames Competition to the Jaffe Club before a packed courtroom in Austin Hall.

"These young men are the finest, the best trained, the ablest on their feet, that it has been our pleasure to listen to," declared Justice Whittaker, after hearing Charles C. Collins, Jr. and Thomas A. Skornia. Their opponents in the Magruder Club were Thomas G. Conway and John M. Wisdom, Jr.

Shackelford Miller Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals, and Paul G. Kirk '26, of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, concurred. "In my four years on the Supreme Court it is rare that I have heard better arguments," Whittaker continued.

Sitting as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the judges heard an appeal in the case of Great Northern Insurance Co., Inc., defendant, vs. Jonathan Hammond, plaintiff. The plaintiff, argued by the Magruder Club, contended that the transfer of a suit to collect damages in an automobile accident from a Wisconsin to a New York court, on request of the defendant, was improper, and should be reversed. The defendant maintained that New York law should apply, and that the case should be dismissed.

Oral, Written Arguments

Each side had one hour to present its oral case, and answer questions from the bench. Each Club also filed a written brief in support of its position.

In deciding the case, the Court considered only which team was more skillful in oral and written argumentation. Justice Whittaker declined to comment on the points of law in question, stating that similar circumstances might arise in actual cases at which he and his associates were presiding.