John Newbold Hazard (1909–1995) was a leading

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scholar of

Soviet law The Law of the Soviet Union was the law as it developed in the Soviet Union (USSR) following the October Revolution of 1917. Modified versions of the Soviet legal system operated in many Communist states following the Second World War—including ...

and public administration. Hazard was one of the pioneers in the field of

Sovietology Kremlinology is the study and analysis of the politics and policies of the Soviet Union while Sovietology is the study of politics and policies of both the Soviet Union and former communist states more generally. These two terms were synonymous unt ...

, particularly in Soviet law, administration and politics.

Early life

John Newbold Hazard was born in Syracuse, N.Y., Jan. 5, 1909. He earned the A.B. from

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in 1930, the LL.B. from

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in 1934 and the J.S.D. (Doctor of Juristic Science) from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

in 1939. His career as an American Sovietologist began shortly after the United States recognized the government of the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

in 1933.

Career

Upon his graduation from

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in 1934, he was sent by the Institute of Current World Affairs as the first American to study Soviet law at the Moscow Juridical Institute, later the

Institute of State and Law The Institute of State and Law (ISL) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) (''Russian'': :ru:Институт государства и права РАН, Институт государства и права :ru:Российская акад� ...

. Only a handful of scholars were concerned with Russian diplomacy and business then, and scholarship on Russia was limited principally to historical studies. He approached the field of Soviet law as a pioneer and received the certificate of the Juridical Institute in 1937.

Soviet desk

When World War II broke out, Hazard joined the U.S. government and was assigned to the Soviet desk in the Division of Defense Aid Reports. He helped negotiate the conditions under which the Soviet Union joined the

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

program as its major recipient. He became deputy director of the Soviet branch of the

Lend-Lease Administration Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

, through which the United States furnished food, machinery and services to its allies. As an expert on the USSR, Hazard accompanied

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Henry Wallace on his secret mission to

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in May, 1944. The following year he was chosen as an expert on Soviet law to assist

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in preparing the prosecution of Nazi leaders to be brought before an international tribunal for war crimes.

Columbia University

With his return to civilian life in 1946, he joined the Columbia faculty. Along with four other scholars, Hazard was a founder of the Russian Institute at

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, now the

Harriman Institute The Harriman Institute, the first academic center in the United States devoted to the interdisciplinary study of Russia and the Soviet Union, was founded at Columbia University in 1946, with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, as the Russia ...

, the first academic center in America dedicated to Russian-Soviet studies. He also was a founder of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, the first American professional organization in the field. He was appointed professor of public law at the same time, beginning a teaching career that spanned two generations. He became the Nash Professor of Law in the

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

, received emeritus status in 1977 and continued to teach each semester until 1994. He was associated with the Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law at Columbia and helped shape its programs in Russian and East European law. He was the editor in chief of the Parker School Journal of East European Law, the leading journal in the field. The John N. Hazard Memorial Fellowship at Columbia's Harriman Institute exists to fund scholars researching Soviet and Russian law. John N. Hazard was the mentor of famous

Sovietologist Kremlinology is the study and analysis of the politics and policies of the Soviet Union while Sovietology is the study of politics and policies of both the Soviet Union and former communist states more generally. These two terms were synonymous unt ...

Harold J. Berman.

Scholarship

Hazard's books cover both political science and law. His textbook, ''The Soviet System of Government'', first published by University of Chicago Press in 1957, has been republished in five editions and several languages. Other books include ''Soviet Housing Law'' (1939), ''Law and Social Change in the USSR'' (1953), ''Settling Disputes in Soviet Society'' (1960), ''The Soviet System of Government'' (1957), ''Communists and Their Law'' (1969), ''Managing Change in the USSR'' (1983), and ''Recollections of a Pioneer Sovietologist'' (1983).One of his last published works was: Many of his volumes are still in wide use in comparative law courses.

Affiliations

International Academy of Comparative Law International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

(since 1975) * International Association of Legal Sciences * American Foreign Law Association *American Branch of the

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American Society of International Law The American Society of International Law (ASIL), founded in 1906, was chartered by the United States Congress in 1950 to foster the study of international law, and to promote the establishment and maintenance of international relations on the ba ...

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 ...

(since 1972) *

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, and ...

(since 1976)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hazard, John Newbold Law of Russia Law of the Soviet Union Columbia University faculty Legal history of Russia Harvard Law School alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy Members of the American Philosophical Society American legal scholars 1909 births 1995 deaths Yale University alumni University of Chicago Law School alumni