Roscoe Pound

New Paths of the Law Roscoe Pound

Originally published: [Lincoln]: University of Nebraska Press, 1950. 69 pp. Notable for their conservatism, which became more pronounced in subsequent publications, these lectures reflect on developments in the international legal order during the late 1940s. Pound detected three legal paths : those of liberty, humanitarianism and authoritarianism. The first, which he endorses, seeks to realize a maximum of free individual self-assertion. Legal humanitarianism, which he criticizes heavily, is the expansion of injury law to include social redress and consumer protection. His antipathy toward the authoritarian path goes beyond a condemnation of authoritarian regimes like the Soviet Union to a rejection of any form of social legislation, such as socialized medicine or state-run pensions. These lectures were delivered at the University of Nebraska (where Pound had been dean of the College of Law from 1902-1907) and marked the establishment of the Roscoe Pound Lectureship Series.