Eugene Wambaugh (February 29, 1856 – August 6, 1940) was an American legal scholar. He was born on a farm near
Brookville, Ohio to Rev. A. B. Wambaugh and Sarah Wells Wambaugh. He was educated at
Harvard (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 ...
bar in 1880, he practiced law in
Cincinnati until 1889. He was
professor 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 Cambri ...
'', 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'' (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 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 omnipres ...
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 ar ...
'', 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, an international authority on plebiscites, and Miles, a Boston attorney. Eugene Wambaugh died at his summer home in
Dublin, New Hampshire.
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{{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