Robert Braucher Robert Braucher ( February 23 , 1916 – August 26 , 1981 ) was an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from January 18 , 1971 , until his death . Early years . Braucher was born in New York City in 1916 . He was graduated from Haverford College with high honors in 1936 and from Harvard Law School in 1939 , " magna cum laude " and salutatorian of his class . He served as editor of the Harvard Law Review , was a finalist in the Ames moot court competition , and winner of the Beale Prize for the best paper on the conflict of laws . From 1939 to 1941 he practiced law in New York City . He entered the United States Army Air Forces during World War II and , while in service , received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal . Teaching career . Towards the end of his military service in 1945 , Braucher was approached to teach at Columbia University Law School , but Harvard professor Erwin Griswold arranged a better offer from the Harvard Law School . Braucher began teaching at Harvard in January 1946 , and was a professor at Harvard Law School from 1949 to 1971 , specializing in contracts and business law . While at Harvard , he took a leave of absence and served as Fulbright lecturer at Chuo and Tokyo Universities in 1959 . He taught as a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota Law School during the academic year 1968 - 1969 . He was active in the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws , serving as Commissioner from Massachusetts from 1954 to 1971 , and as vice president of the Conference from 1967 to 1970 . He was also active in sections of the American Bar Association . He was chairman of the National Commission on Consumer Finance from 1969 to 1971 and of the National Institute for Consumer Justice . He led the team that wrote a Model Anti - Discrimination Act , and he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of the Equal Rights Amendment . Judicial career . In 1971 , he was appointed Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court by Governor Francis W . Sargent and served in that capacity until the time of his death . While serving on the court , he continued to teach part - time at Harvard Law School and at Boston University Law School . Justice Braucher ' s first opinion , published on March 5 , 1971 , concerned an action in contract involving the applicability of the Uniform Commercial Code and the rights of a judgment creditor . His final opinion , published on August 7 , 1981 , concerned the consequences of a wrongful dishonor of checks , also under the Uniform Commercial Code . Noted decisions include " Corning Glass Works v . Ann & Hope , Inc . of Danvers " , overruling " General Elec . Co . v . Kimball Jewelers , Inc . " , and holding that the nonsigner provision of the Fair Trade Law was an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to private parties ; and " Green v . Commissioner of Corps . & Taxation " , rejecting the concept that a woman ' s domicil is always that of her husband ; " Hendrickson v . Sears " , holding that the statute of limitations did not commence to run in favor of an attorney until the client discovered , or reasonably should have discovered , the attorney ' s error ; " Hershkoff v . Board of Registrars of Voters of Worcester " , concerning the domicil of students for voting purposes ; " Carpenter v . Suffolk Franklin Sav . Bank " , a purported class action concerning mortgagors ' asserted rights to savings banks ' earnings on real estate tax payments ; and " Secretary of the Commonwealth v . City Clerk of Lowell " , holding that , absent fraud , people may select and change their names freely . Stating that " judge - made rules of law are to be tailored to justice rather than to abstract logic " , he once urged in dissent that rules concerning the admission of hearsay evidence should be greatly simplified so as to admit hearsay " unless the trial judge in his or her sound discretion thinks it fair to exclude it " . In his dissent in " Commonwealth v . Manning " , referring to " a legal tradition , established by men " and in effect urging a " rape shield " rule as part of the common law , he wrote forcefully against the use of reputation evidence to impeach the testimony of female victims of sex crime s . Sources . Material on this page has been adapted from Robert Braucher , Memorial , 387 Mass . 1223 ( 1982 ) , a special sitting of the Supreme Judicial Court held at Boston on September 21 , 1982 . Because this information has been printed as a court proceeding in an official Reporter of Decisions , it is in the public domain .