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Address on Accepting Cardozo Award

I salute the courage of any group which dares award an honor to a living man- particularly one still in office- and in such times as these. When events so defy the guidance of established principles, who knows what caprice of individual conduct, what errors of judgment, what straying from principle may lie ahead to make you regret your choice? If I were on a board of award I should choose a living officeholder for honors only if he gave bond at once to retire and to keep silence while life should last.

International Order

We are debtors to this captivating country and city, not only for a generous hospitality, but more importantly for an inspiring leadership. We lawyers from the United States value this opportunity to compare our own legal philosophy and institutions with those of other American commonwealths. You have no doubt been impressed with our modest habit of expounding our own law by a recital of some case we won.

Mobilizing the Profession for Defense

Europe has resumed its ancient strife, and other peoples of the world are obliged to give considerations of defense and security first place in their thoughts. Our philosophy of government makes the law by which the physical forces of the nation are controlled quite as definitely a part of our defense program as the mobilization of the force itself. lawyers are again holding spring meetings under the auspices of our several legal societies to consider the state of our law.

Commencement Address at Albany Law School

It was a generation ago when the Albany Law School charitably honored me with a diploma of graduation. The school was then housed in an ancient State Street building, reputed once to have been consecrated as a church. Its façade suggested a piety that was not fully sustained by the student body. It is a matter of pride to us, who will always remain in debt to the Albany Law School, that its intervening years have been marked by steadily improving facilities and advancing standards.

The Challenge of International Lawlessness

We lawyers would commit only a pardonable larceny if we should appropriate as an affirmation of the ideals of the legal profession a prayer from ancient liturgy:... As men experienced in the conduct of legal institutions which, among men, have largely displaced violence by adjudication, we should have some practical competence in measures to maintain justice among nations.

Our American Legal Philosophy

I am happy to share the hospitality of this occasion- not as a guest, but more nearly as a returned prodigal. When, over a quarter of a century ago, I became a member of this association, it was the expectation of serving for life at the bar of this state. I was lured away for a time from that strict course, although I cannot say that I did much to prevent my seduction.

Indifference to Our History

While the daily conduct of the war is not within the special competence of lawyers and judges, the factors that have slowed the democratic response to the challenge of war is something with which we may usefully concern ourselves.

The Besieged Strongholds of the Mind

When the times cry for action rather than words, an international discussion meeting such as this can justified only by the assumption that the deeds of men are the products of their thoughts. It is idle to deny that by and large the deeds of the United Nations, except in defense of actual homelands in Russia and England, have been on a disappointing level of accomplishment.

The Law Above Nations

At this time dissension and lawlessness have the upper hand in much of the world. But we members of the legal profession throughout the Americas happily are united in a community of interest in the development and improvement of the legal systems of our several countries.

The Law Is a Rule for Men to Live By

I believe it was Emerson who said that institutions are but the lengthened shadows of individuals. It is my purpose to speak of Mr. Justice Brandeis, the man under whose lengthen shadow we gather tonight.