Roscoe Pound Celebrates 90th Birthday

Roscoe Pound, Dean of the Law School, Emeritus, celebrated his ninetieth birthday yesterday.

Pound was Dean of the Law School from 1916 to 1945, when he retired at the age of 75. He is best known for his philosophy of "sociological jurisprudence," the concept of law as a force which promotes harmony in an organized society. He has received honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from 17 universities.

Yesterday, exactly 90 years since he was born in Lincoln, Neb., Dean Pound reminisced over "Three Score and Ten Years of the Harvard Law School" before 650 Law students, Faculty members, and old friends.

The overflow crowd at the Ames Courtroom heard him speak of the days when the Law School consisted of one building; when everyone from a professor to the janitor, was called "Mr."

He related how he had caught a janitor operating a still in the Law School during Prohibition, and he spoke of professors who are now legendary figures in the annals of Law School history.

But as much as the Law School has changed, Dean Pound concluded. It has possessed one enduring characteristic: "That things are done thoroughly ... it has always been a place where there is hard work going on all the time."

On behalf of the Faculty, Erwin N. Griswold, Dean of the Law School, presented Dean Pound with a supplement to the bibliography of his works given him by the Faculty on his 70th birthday.