Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-17
SOCIAL LAWS STUDY
PLAN OF INSTITUTE
Johns Hopkins Pounds Re-
search Department Looking
to Scientific Advancement.
BY OSCAR LEIDING.
Associated Press Science Editor

BY the Associated Press.
BALTIMORE, July 1.-THE first
attack by faculty organized for the
purpose on problems of law created by
modern life Is being made in the Insti-
tute for the Study of Law at Johns
Hopkins University. Studies will be
undertaken Of the changes in the law
Of Blackstone made by the transforma-
ton of society depending mainly on
agriculture to the present highly organ
lied state with its problems of trans
portation and rapid communication and
those resulting from scientific discoveries.
In a statement just issued. the Insti-
tute for the Study of Law said:
1T Is evident that the approach to
the great and almost uncharted area
Of legal research must be made with
care and foresight. The members Of
the faculty are fully conscious of this.
Accordingly they have expressly limited
the scope of their initial program to
proposals which have the three essen
tial requisites Of promising intrinsically
valuable results; of being capable Of &C
complishment at the present, and as Of
being of such character as will facili-
tate the future expansion which Is de-
Sirable and necessary"
Members Of Faculty.
Members of the faculty of the insti-
tute are:
DR.. walter Wheeler Cook. formerly
professor of law at Yale University; DR..
Leon Carroll Marshall, formerly direc-
tor of economics and business at the
University of Chicago: DR.. Herman OIL
plant, formerly professor of law at Co
lumbia University, and DIR. HesSel Ed
ward Yntema, formerly professor of
anVO Vs0fi i've INIT OF
University.
Formally established In June, 1928,
the institute now plans as far-reach-
ing and important a program OF re-
search in human affairs as the medical
school. back in 1893, had before 1t in
solving human ailments.
Remedies Sought.
Society. including the broad area of
law, government, political science, phil
osophy and ethics has long been ac-
cused of being bound down by mystic
veneration for past practices, but this
is one Of the first scientific and ex-
perimental attempts to supplement crit
icism with constructive research and
remedies.
THE purpose of the institute" DR.
F. j. Goodnow, president emeritus of
the university, explains. lis the study
Of law as 1t Is and as it ought to be-
the study Of law In its whole social
setting
The backwardness Of society has
conspired," says a faculty statement on
the immediate program, Ito create a
unique opportunity not only to engage
in constructive social engineering at
a time when science and invention have
ushered in a complex civilization es-
sentially different from the one in
which our legal system developed, but
also to engage in fundamental research
in social organization. the common SUBJ
iect matter Of all the social sciences"
To allow society. which Is pictured
as a Rip Van Wrinkle awakening after
a century and bound down by tradi-
ton and prejudice to age-old methods,
to cope with the on-rhsh of science the
whole human scene viii be laid out on
the laboratory tables.
Train Personnel.
In addition TO q scientific analysis Of
the basic functions of law and its de-
f1ciencies, the immediate program in
cludes the training Of high-grade per-
sonnet to form community Of schol-
ars" and adoption of strictly objective
scientific method and technique.
ANY final Judgment concerning the
most promising areas of study, from
the point of view of the human effects
of law" the faculty believes, may well
await further investigation, but even at
the present confidence may be placed
in the current, widespread, persistent
and informed opinion that research is
needed in such matters as the cost and
delay Of litigation. the defects in legis-
lative policies and practices, the de-
fective recruiting and discipline Of the
bar, the cultural lag of social institu-
tons, including law, and the 'preven-
ton of disease in our social relation
ships"
A permanent building in which the
research activities of the institute will
be carried on Is to be erected at Home
wood this year. No degrees will be Of
fered, since the institute will be pri-
marily a research and not a teaching
institution. It Is expected to attain a
unique place in the American educa-
ton system because 1t will not duplicate
the work Of existing institutions.