Eugene Wambaugh

Eugene Wambaugh (February 29, 1856 – August 6, 1940) was an American legal scholar. He was born on a farm near

Brookville, Ohio Brookville is a small city in northwestern Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Dayton, Ohio, Dayton. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, an increase from 5,289 in 2000 United States Census, ...

to Rev. A. B. Wambaugh and Sarah Wells Wambaugh. He was educated at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

(A.B., 1876; LL.B., 1880). Admitted to the

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

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in 1880, he practiced law in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

until 1889. He was

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

of law at the State University of Iowa College of Law from 1889 to 92 and thenceforth at Harvard. From 1906 to 1913, he was a member of the ''

American Political Science Review The ''American Political Science Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all areas of political science. It is an official journal of the American Political Science Association and is published on their behalf by Cambridg ...

'', and from 1908 to 1912 served as special attorney of the United States Bureau of Corporations. Several universities gave him the honorary degree of LL.D. His publications include: * ''The Study of Cases'' (1892; second edition, 1894) * ''Cases for Analysis'' (1894) * ''A Selection of Cases on Agency'' (1896) * '' Littleton's Tenures'' (1903) * ''A Selection of Cases on

Constitutional Law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a State (polity), state, namely, the executive (government), executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as th ...

'' (four volumes, 1914–15) Wambaugh was an adviser to the State Department on war problems in 1914 and was discharged honorably from the U.S. Army in 1919 with the rank of colonel. He retired from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1925. Wambaugh devised the eponymous Wambaugh's Inversion Test, which provides that to determine whether a judicial statement in a

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...

case is ''

ratio In mathematics, a ratio shows how many times one number contains another. For example, if there are eight oranges and six lemons in a bowl of fruit, then the ratio of oranges to lemons is eight to six (that is, 8:6, which is equivalent to the ...

'' or ''

obiter ''Obiter dictum'' (usually used in the plural, ''obiter dicta'') is a Latin phrase meaning "other things said",''Black's Law Dictionary'', p. 967 (5th ed. 1979). that is, a remark in a legal opinion that is "said in passing" by any judge or arbi ...

'', you should invert the argument, that is to say, ask whether the decision would have been different, had the statement been omitted. If so, the statement is crucial and is ''ratio''; whereas if it is not crucial, it is ''obiter''. Wambaugh married Anna S. Hemphill (d. May 1938) of

Ripley, Ohio Ripley is a village in Union Township, Brown County, Ohio, United States, along the Ohio River 50 miles southeast of Cincinnati. The population was 1,750 at the 2010 census. History Colonel James Poage, a veteran of the American Revolution, ar ...

in 1881. Their children were

Sarah Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a piou ...

, an international authority on plebiscites, and Miles, a Boston attorney. Eugene Wambaugh died at his summer home in

Dublin, New Hampshire Dublin is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,532 at the 2020 census. It is home to Dublin School and ''Yankee'' magazine. History In 1749, the Masonian proprietors granted the town as "Monadnock No. ...

. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wambaugh, Eugene 1856 births 1940 deaths American legal scholars American legal writers Harvard Law School alumni University of Iowa College of Law faculty Ohio lawyers Harvard Law School faculty People from Brookville, Ohio