Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-04-30

had watched his father try cases. He
had seen the business Of the law office,
and had heard lawyer discourse learnedly
Of Coke, Littleton and Marshall, and the
richness Of these early lawyers thoughts,
as he read them in his fathers library, in
terested him His interest increased with
reading and it soon became clear to him
that law was to be his vocation, and bot
any his avoCation, for to the law his
interest in botanical studies had to give
way though II had been keen and fruit
full 1t was thus that he chose to study
law, and he entered the Harvard Law
school in the fall OF 1889. His stay at
Harvard was brief. lie remained only one
year, when he returned to Neb 'aska to
go into the office of the firm of Pound
s. Burr at Lincoln, from which firm he
had received flattering offer. He was
soon admitted to the practice of law. In
1892 he was made member of the firm
Of Pound & Burr where he remained until
1885, when he went into an independent
practice.
In the practice Of law he was eminently
successful. He continued in a very general
practice until in 1901, when he was elected
by the supreme court of Nebraska as a
member Of the supreme court commission,
which was organized to aid the supreme
court in taking care Of the great amount OF
litigation which had been piing up. Ne
braskans who are familiar with court
affairs know that at that time the su-
preme court of the state was about five
years behind with its work. The members
of that commission were elected by the
court, because of their merit, as real law
In he
ness Judge Pound remained a member
of the supreme court commission until
1898 when he resigned.
with Judge Pounds resignation from the
supreme court, his career as a professor
of law proper began. Oils advancement in
his chosen field had thus far been rapid.
Just eleven years after admission to the
bar he had, as a commissioner, been called
TO the supreme bench of the state. In 1899
he had accepted an assistant professor
ship of Jurisprudence in the State Univer-
sity Law school The duties of this office
together with his judicial functions, he
continued to perform with signal ability
until 1903, when he was elected professor
of law and dean of the college of law in the
University of Nebraska Here he proved
himself a great teacher and a strong ad
uunlSlIdlOl. Inc present elllClenl or
ganization of the college of law at Ne
braska is due largely to him. Moreover
while doing the work of two men as
teacher and dean, DIR. Pound found time fol
original research. His papers on the
common law, and the need of sociological
Jurisprudence, and procedural reform, soor
attracted to him the attention to the lead
ing legal men of the common law world
and the lawyers of the continent well
1t was his ideas as to the reformed pro
Cedure which attracted the most favorable
attention from the writers and teachers
who are progressive in legal methods.
a reference TO a list of DR.. Pounds
writings on legal subjects show that a:
a lawyer his Investigations have been ever
more thorough and exhaustive than his
experiments in the lower orders of plan
p life. During the time that he was writing
= for botanical publications, he was alsC
writing many articles on legal subjects
These will be found in the volumes of thu
Central Law Journal from 1896 to 1900 H
was at the same time, one of the editor
2 of Flora Of Nebraska and of the reports
t of the Botanical Survey of Nebraska. II
- 1898 he and c. S. Lobngler prepared tn
e article on Insurance for the Encyclopedia
3 of Pleading and Practice In 1903 his bool
on THE Evolution of Legal Education
6 appeared In that same year an essay oil
y The Decadence Of Equity" appeared il