Pound, Roscoe, 1870–1964, American jurist, b. Lincoln, Nebr. He studied (1889–90) at Harvard law school, but never received a law degree. Pound was a prominent botanist as well as a jurist, and spent his early years in Nebraska practicing and teaching law, simultaneously serving as director of the state botanical survey (1892–1903). Pound was then professor of law at Harvard (1910–37) and dean of the law school (1916–36), where he introduced many reforms. He advanced the "theory of social interests" in law, asserting that law must recognize the needs of humanity, and take contemporary social conditions into account. Some theorists believe that his work may have inspired Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal program in the 1930s. A prolific writer, his books on jurisprudence include Introduction to the Philosophy of Law (1922, repr. 1959), Criminal Justice in America (1930, repr. 1975), Contemporary Juristic Theory (1940, repr. 1981), and Social Control through Law (1942).

Bibliography

See study by D. Wigdor (1974).

Pound, Roscoe

Roscoe Pound.

(credit: Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)

(born Oct. 27, 1870, Lincoln, Neb., U.S.—died July 1, 1964, Cambridge, Mass.) U.S. legal educator and botanist. After studying botany at the University of Nebraska and law at Harvard University (1889–90), he was admitted to the Nebraska bar, and he practiced law while also teaching at the state university (1890–1903). At the University of Nebraska he directed the state botanical survey (1892–1903) and discovered a rare fungus (Roscopoundia). He later taught at several law schools, most notably Harvard (1910–37), where he also served as dean (1916–36), instituting many reforms. He was perhaps the chief U.S. advocate of sociological jurisprudence, which holds that statutes and court decisions are affected by social conditions; his ideas apparently influenced the New Deal programs of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt. After World War II he helped reorganize the judicial system of Taiwan.

Pound, Roscoe (1870–1964) legal scholar, botanist; born in Lincoln, Nebr. Considered one of the nation's leading jurists outside the Supreme Court, he taught for many years at the University of Nebraska (1892–1903), at Northwestern (1907–09), at the University of Chicago (1909–10), and then at Harvard Law School (1910–47). During his early career as a botanist, he discovered a rare lichen thereafter named "Roscopoundia." He advanced the idea of sociological jurisprudence and his "theory of social interests" influenced several New Deal programs. The theory took actual societal conditions into account rather than maintaining strict adherence to legal codes. However, he later felt that many New Deal programs were grossly mismanaged and thus promoted a welfare or "service state." He set forth these misgivings in Justice According to Law (1951). Gifted with boundless energy and an encyclopedic memory, he authored many books including Readings on the History and System of the Common Law (1904), Law and Morals (1924), and Jurisprudence (5 vols. 1959).