Zechariah Chafee Jr. (December 7, 1885 – February 8, 1957) was an American
judicial philosopher and
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...
advocate, described as "possibly the most important
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
scholar of the first half of the twentieth century" by
Richard Primus.
Chafee's avid defense of
freedom of speech led to Senator
Joseph McCarthy calling him "dangerous" to America.
Biography
Chafee was born in
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...
, and graduated from
Brown University, where he was a member of
Alpha Delta Phi, in 1907. Later, he received a law degree from
Harvard University
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 high ...
, completing his
LL.B.
Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
in 1913. He was influenced by the theories of
sociological Jurisprudence presented by
Roscoe Pound and others at Harvard. He met
Harold J. Laski, a political scientist and the later Chairman of the
British Labour Party, who became a lifelong friend. He practiced at the law firm of
Tillinghast & Collins from 1913–1916. Chafee joined Harvard Law School as an assistant professor at
Harvard Law School in 1916, and was promoted to full professor in 1919. He was appointed
Langdell Professor of Law in 1938 and university professor in 1950. He remained at Harvard Law School until 1956.
Chafee was also an authority on
equity,
interpleader
Interpleader is a civil procedure device that allows a plaintiff or a defendant to initiate a lawsuit in order to compel two or more other parties to litigate a dispute. An interpleader action originates when the plaintiff holds property on beha ...
,
negotiable instruments, and
unfair business competition. In 1936 Chafee drafted the
Federal Interpleader Act of 1936 (); he considered this his foremost professional accomplishment. He became an expert on congressional
apportionment and helped apportion seats in the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
based on the
1930
Events
January
* January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will b ...
,
1940
A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* Januar ...
and
1950 censuses.
In 1920, he was one of twelve lawyers reporting on illegal activities of the
Department of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
.
Chafee nearly lost his job in 1921. He was brought before the
Harvard Board of Overseers The Harvard Board of Overseers (more formally The Honorable and Reverend the Board of Overseers) is one of Harvard University's two governing boards. Although its function is more consultative and less hands-on than the President and Fellows of Harv ...
on a charge of radicalism for his questioning of the sentence handed down in
Abrams v. United States . He defended himself eloquently before a special committee in the
Harvard Club of Boston
The Harvard Club of Boston is a private social club located in Boston, Massachusetts. Its membership is open to alumni and associates of Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, and Fletcher School of Law and ...
and was allowed to remain at the law school.
From 1929 to 1931 Chafee was a consultant to the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement (
the Wickersham Commission) for which he co-authored a report on lawlessness in law enforcement in 1931.
He was Lowell Television Lecturer for the 1956-1957 academic year and finished a 16 lecture television series "The Constitution and Human Rights", an adaptation of a general education course he developed here in 1950, on Boston's educational Channel,
WGBH just before he died.
Chafee received the following
honorary degree
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
s:
Doctor of Law
A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL ...
from
St. John's University, in 1936, Brown University in 1937, and the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
in 1953;
Doctor of Civil Law
Doctor of Civil Law (DCL; la, Legis Civilis Doctor or Juris Civilis Doctor) is a degree offered by some universities, such as the University of Oxford, instead of the more common Doctor of Laws (LLD) degrees.
At Oxford, the degree is a higher ...
from
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...
in 1941; and
Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Docto ...
from
Colby College
Colby College is a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine. It was founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, then renamed Waterville College after the city where it resides. The donations of Christian philant ...
in 1944.
He was a Fellow at Brown University, and a member of the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
, the
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...
, the
Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 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 ...
, the
Massachusetts Historical Society,
Alpha Delta Phi,
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...
, the
Harvard Club of Boston
The Harvard Club of Boston is a private social club located in Boston, Massachusetts. Its membership is open to alumni and associates of Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, and Fletcher School of Law and ...
, the
Tavern Club (of Boston), and the
Century Association).
Civil liberties
Chafee wrote several works about
civil liberties, including:
* ''Free Speech'' (1920)
* ''Free Speech in the United States'', 1941 (expanded edition of ''Freedom of Speech'')
* ''Government and Mass Communications'', 1947
* ''The Blessings of Liberty'', 1956
Chafee's first significant work (''Freedom of Speech'') established modern
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
theory. Inspired by the United States' suppression of radical speech and ideas during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Chafee edited and updated a collection of several of his journal articles. In these individual articles-cum-chapters, he assessed significant World War I cases, including those of
Emma Goldman.
He revised and reissued this work in 1941 as ''
Free Speech in the United States'', which became a leading treatise on
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
law. His scholarship on civil liberties was a major influence on
Oliver Wendell Holmes's and
Louis Brandeis's post-World War I jurisprudence, which first established the
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
as a significant source of civil liberties. Chafee met with Justice Holmes after the
''Schenck'' case , which upheld a conviction of an activist who encouraged draft resistance, and convinced him that free speech needed greater consideration. Shortly thereafter, Holmes joined Brandeis in a dissent in another World War I dissent case; this dissent is recognized as the foundation of modern First Amendment jurisprudence.
Some of Chafee's more important work occurred through his membership on the
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...
's
Bill of Rights
A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pr ...
Committee to 1938 to 1947. In this capacity he submitted
brief
Brief, briefs, or briefing may refer to:
Documents
* A letter
* A briefing note
* Papal brief, a papal letter less formal than a bull, sealed with the pope's signet ring or stamped with the device borne on this ring
* Design brief, a type of ed ...
s ''
amicus curiae'' several
Supreme Court of the United States cases. In (
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, Chafee submitted a ''amicus curiae'' brief to the Supreme Court hoping to persuade the Court to reverse an earlier decision upholding a state law requiring a
salute
A salute is usually a formal hand gesture or other action used to display respect in military situations. Salutes are primarily associated with the military and law enforcement, but many civilian organizations, such as Girl Guides, Boy Sco ...
to the
flag by children of
Jehovah's Witnesses based in the principles of
freedom of speech and
freedom of religion
Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freed ...
.
Chafee was, from 1943 from 1947, vice-chairman of the Commission on the Freedom of the Press (
Hutchins Commission
The Hutchins Commission (whose official name was the Commission on Freedom of the Press) was formed during World War II, when Henry Luce (publisher of ''Time'' and ''Life'' magazines) asked Robert Hutchins (president of the University of Chicago) ...
). The Commission was established in 1943 by
Henry Luce to determine if
freedom of the press was in danger in the United States and was chaired by
Robert Maynard Hutchins
Robert Maynard Hutchins (January 17, 1899 – May 14, 1977) was an American educational philosopher. He was president (1929–1945) and chancellor (1945–1951) of the University of Chicago, and earlier dean of Yale Law School (1927–1929). His& ...
.
Chafee became an advocate for international human rights through his work as a representative on the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
Subcommission on Freedom of Information and the Press in 1947 through 1951. He was a United States delegate to the 1948 United Nations Conference on Freedom of Information and the Press.
Family and personal life
Chafee married Bess Frank Searle in 1912 and had four children: Zechariah Chafee III, Robert S. Chafee, Anne Chafee Brien, and Ellen Chafee Tillinghast. He and his wife both suffered nervous breakdowns and his son, Robert, committed suicide.
He was the scion of a notable Rhode Island family that traced its Rhode Island lineage back to
Roger Williams. His father, Zechariah Chafee (Sr.), was long affiliated with Brown University. Chafee's nephew was United States Senator
John Chafee
John Lester Hubbard Chafee ( ; October 22, 1922 – October 24, 1999) was an American politician and officer in the United States Marine Corps. A member of the Republican Party (United States), he served as the 66th Governor of Rhode Island, as ...
, who was also a former Governor of Rhode Island and U.S. Secretary of the Navy, and his grandnephew
Lincoln Chafee
Lincoln Davenport Chafee ( ; born March 26, 1953) is an American politician. He was mayor of Warwick, Rhode Island from 1993 to 1999, a United States Senator from 1999 to 2007, and the 74th Governor of Rhode Island from 2011 to 2015. He was a m ...
is a former Governor of Rhode Island and former U.S. Senator.
Death
Chafee died in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 8, 1957 after suffering a heart attack a few days earlier.
See also
*
Imminent lawless action
*
Ernst Freund
Ernst Freund (born January 30, 1864 in New York City – died October 20, 1932 in Chicago, Illinois) was a noted American legal scholar. He received a Dr. Jur. from the University of Heidelberg (1884) and a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia ...
References
Further reading
*
* Zechariah Chafee Jr., and Erika S. Chadbourn. ''The Zecharia Chafee Jr. Papers'' (Jan. 1987) (American Legal Manuscripts from the Harvard Law School Library; microform)
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Collins, Ronald K.L. Collins, ''The Fundamental Holmes: A Free Speech Chronicle and Reader'' (Cambridge, 2010).
*
External links
*University of Arkansas'
Free Speech Philosophers — Zechariah Chafee*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chafee, Zechariah
1885 births
1957 deaths
Brown University alumni
American legal scholars
First Amendment scholars
Free speech activists
20th-century American lawyers
Philosophers of law
Harvard Law School alumni
Harvard Law School faculty
Lawyers from Providence, Rhode Island
Equity (law)
Chafee family