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Samuel Williston (September 24, 1861 – February 18, 1963) was an American lawyer and law professor who authored an influential treatise on contracts.


Early life, education and family

Williston was born in
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to a family prosperous from the mercantile trade but whose fortunes declined during his youth, which he recalled, "served as a spur to endeavor." He was graduated from
Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...
in 1882 and worked for three years as a survey assistant for a railroad and teaching at a boarding school. An aunt's bequest enabled him to enroll in
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 c ...
, where he thrived. He was an editor of the first volume of the ''
Harvard Law Review The ''Harvard Law Review'' is a law review published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the ''Harvard Law Review''s 2015 impact factor of 4.979 placed the journal first out of 143 ...
'', and in 1888 he graduated first in his class with LL.B. and M.A. degrees. On September 12, 1889, he married Mary Fairlie Wellman. They had two daughters: Dorothea Lewis Williston (Mrs. Murray F. Hall), and Margaret Fairlie Williston (Mrs. Chester B. McLaughlin, Jr.). His wife died in 1929.


Legal career

Early in Williston's career, from 1888 to 1889 he worked as the private secretary to U.S. Supreme Court
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Horace Gray. In the summer of 1889, he helped to collate laws from various U.S. states in order to help formulate the state
constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...
s of
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and
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. From 1895 to 1938, Williston was a law professor at
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 c ...
, and in 1910, he briefly served as
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dean. In 1903, he was named Weld Professor and, in 1919, was named to the Dane Professorship at Harvard. Students described him as "a gentle, good-humored teacher who charmed his classes with hypothetical cases involving his horse, Dobbin, and who regularly invited students to dine with his family on Sundays," and "a master of the Socratic method." Amongst his most important contributions at this time were the drafting of four laws aimed at providing national commerce with a legally uniform architecture. The Uniform Laws of Sales (1906), Warehouse Receipts (1906), Bills of Lading (1909), and Stock Transfers (1909) would in fact serve as precedents for the construction of the Uniform Commercial Code some decades later. On December 10 and 11, 1913, Williston unsuccessfully argued for the defense in the case of ''Boston & Maine Railroad v. Hooker'' before the U.S. Supreme Court. He became a consultant for the
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
law firm
Hale & Dorr Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, also known as Hale & Dorr and WilmerHale, is an international law firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. It is co-headquartered in Washington, D.C. and Boston. It was formed in 2004 thr ...
, during which time he was involved in cases such as ''Kneeland v. American Loan Trust Company'' and ''Chase National Bank v. Sayles''.


Treatise on contracts

Williston wrote five volumes of his
legal treatise A legal treatise is a scholarly legal publication containing all the law relating to a particular area, such as criminal law or trusts and estates. There is no fixed usage on what books qualify as a "legal treatise", with the term being used broad ...
, "The Law of Contracts", which was first published during the span of 1920 to 1922. The treatise was widely acclaimed as the foremost authority on the topic and was later enlarged in 1938. As Michael Looney noted in the Boston College Law Review (of the 3rd edition): "In the forty years since the original edition appeared, it has gained a pre-eminent place in that field. Quoted or cited by the courts of the United States, Great Britain, and its Dominions as well, it has become the standard authority." In 1932, Williston served as reporter for the First Restatement of Contracts, a highly influential publication in the legal community. This treatise continues to exist to this day, currently edited by Richard A. Lord, professor at Campbell University
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.


Honors and legacy

Williston received accolades both during his lifetime and at the time of his death. In 1905, Williston was made a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
. He was awarded honorary degrees by Harvard, 1910; Amherst, 1923; and Yale, 1926. In 1929, he was honored with the very first
American Bar Association Medal The American Bar Association Medal (or ABA Medal) is the highest award given by the American Bar Association for "exceptionally distinguished service by a lawyer or lawyers to the cause of American jurisprudence." The ABA Board of Governors chooses ...
for "conspicuous service to American jurisprudence." In a 1963 ''
Harvard Law Review The ''Harvard Law Review'' is a law review published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the ''Harvard Law Review''s 2015 impact factor of 4.979 placed the journal first out of 143 ...
'' essay, Justice Felix Frankfurter lauded Williston as being the "greatest artist in teaching." His statement of rules helped make commercial law predictable: "The business life of this nation is based on the writings and the legislation that Samuel Williston drafted," said Harvard Law Professor Arthur E. Sutherland. He, his work and his insistence on contractual formalism are often compared and contrasted to those of
Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & World ...
professor Arthur Linton Corbin, developer of the philosophy of law known as
legal realism Legal realism is a naturalistic approach to law. It is the view that jurisprudence should emulate the methods of natural science, i.e., rely on empirical evidence. Hypotheses must be tested against observations of the world. Legal realists ...
. Corbin was the writer of ''Corbin on Contracts'' and his influence is more evident in the Uniform Commercial Code and the Restatement (Second) of Contracts. He lived to 101 years of age in spite of ill health in his mid-thirties that interfered with his teaching. Williston is the namesake of the Williston Negotiation Competition at Harvard Law School.


See also

* List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 2)


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Williston, Samuel 1861 births 1963 deaths American legal writers American centenarians Men centenarians Harvard Law School faculty Deans of Harvard Law School Massachusetts lawyers Scholars of contract law Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Harvard Law School alumni Harvard College alumni People from Cambridge, Massachusetts Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr people