Maynard Pirsig
Maynard Pirsig | |
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Minnesota Supreme Court | |
Personal details | |
Born | January 9, 1902 |
Died | February 7, 1997 | (aged 95)
Spouse |
Harriet Sjobeck (m. 1925) |
Education | University of Minnesota (Bachelor) University of Minnesota Law School (LLB) |
Maynard E. Pirsig, LLD, (/ˈpɜːrsɪɡ/; January 9, 1902 - February 7, 1997) was a distinguished American legal scholar, and a revered professor who challenged his students to improve the legal system - teaching for sixty four years. He was director of the Minnesota Legal Aid Society, dean of the University of Minnesota Law School, a Minnesota Supreme Court justice, and an advisor for the Indonesian, Puerto Rican, and El Salvadoran legal systems. He defined legal ethics in the 1974 Encyclopedia Britannica. His law books were widely used in schools across the country, and his book Judicial Administration was the first of its kind in the US. He was mentored by Everett Fraser, Roscoe Pound, and Felix Frankfurter.
Pirsig wrote in his book, Cases and Materials on Legal Ethics, 1949, "The lawyer's duty is of a double character. He owes to his client the duty of fidelity, but he also owes the duty of good faith and honorable dealing to judicial tribunals before whom he practices his profession. He is an officer of the court--a minister in the temple of justice."
Pirsig was born on a farm near Elmore, Minnesota, speaking only German during his childhood. He went on to study law at the University of Minnesota Law School and Harvard, married Harriet Sjobeck, spent one year clerking for a barrister in London, and soon became a leading reformer in American law. He championed civil rights, the Equal Rights Amendment, abolishment of the death penalty ("an imperfect system should not be lethal"), Planned Parenthood, a separate juvenile court system, rehabilitation programs for prison inmates, and fair access to the law regardless of income.
"Pirsig was an unpretentious man concerned about the welfare of others", Robert A. Stein.
Maynard and Harriet's son, Robert M. Pirsig, wrote Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Lila.
Teaching career
The University of Minnesota Law School awarded Pirsig a scholarship to study at Harvard Law School in 1932. There, Dean Roscoe Pound, and later to be U.S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, sent Pirsig to Middle Temple Inn in London for a year to study. During this time Pirsig gathered material to write Judicial Administration, 1946, which gave birth to a new subject in the field of law.[1] "...students thus equipped with a challenging attitude, a reformer's zeal for ideal solutions, and a full arsenal of possibilities for innovations would continue to confront the judicial system with challenges to ever more humane conduct that alone will guarantee it's continuing legitimacy," Charles W. Wolfram,.[2] "Here are a thousand pages on the purpose and problems of our profession which will repay thoughtful study by any student, teacher, or practitioner of the law."[3]
In the mid 1980s, drawing from his early experience in London, Pirsig helped to develop and teach Comparative Judicial Administration for William Mitchell College of Law's "Summer in London" program, with Professor Robert E. Oliphant, Professor Eric S. Janus, and Professor Michael Zander, at Regent's University, London.
University of Minnesota Law School 1929-1970
Pirsig joined the university's Law School faculty 1929. And soon, under the guidance by Dean Everett Fraser, Pirsig traveled to Harvard 1930, and Middle Temple in London, 1931 to research a book which would be published in 1946, Cases and Materials on Judicial Administration, which he taught throughout his career. A course that strove to encompass all subjects - from justice and precedence, to trial techniques and the organization of the courts - pertinent to developing well rounded lawyers.[4] He also taught courses on pleading, ethics and criminal law.
When he was Dean of the Law School, 1948 - 1955, Pirsig recruited ten new faculty members. Most were, or became, pillars in the world of legal scholarship, including Charles Alan Wright, Michael I. Sovern, David Louisell, Jesse Dukeminier, and librarian Leon Liddell. Pirsig managed an expansion of the school, including the library. He developed a training program at the law school, for professionals in delinquency control which trained police and judges on how to utilize the American Juvenile Justice System - a system Maynard had been instrumental in introducing to the state.[5] He managed a difficult period of post-war transition and growth at UMLS, "But, traditions of excellence were maintained and the foundation was laid for more productive future years."[6] Pirsig resigned his position as Dean in 1955, and returned to teaching full-time.[7]
Professor Pirsig retired from the University of Minnesota Law School due to its mandatory retirement age, then 68.[7]
• Recipient of the University of Minnesota Outstanding Achievement Award, 1985.[8]
• Mondale Hall houses the Maynard E. Pirsig Lecture Hall, which includes an oil painting of Maynard.
• Maynard Pirsig Moot Court: click here
• Pirsig's Will contained a gift to UMLS to teach his Judicial Administration course again, which they did.
Mitchell Hamline School of Law 1970-1993
After his mandatory retirement from UMLS, Mitchell Hamline School of Law immediately hired Pirsig to their faculty. Then 68, Pirsig requested that he not be tenured, so he could be easily released from his position if required—he taught until age 91. Here, he taught Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Professional Responsibility, and Comparative Judicial Administration.
Pirsig helped to develop and teach Comparative Judicial Administration for William Mitchell College of Law's (now Mitchell Hamline School of Law) "Summer in London" program, with Professor Robert E. Oliphant and Professor Eric S. Janus of William Mitchell. Maynard taught the course in London and Saint Paul, from 1988 - 1991.[7] The course was taught in London, at Regent's University, together with, Michael Zander.
Maynard Pirsig and Randall Tietjen co-authored, Court Procedure and the Separation of Powers in Minnesota, 15 WM. MITCHELL L. REv. 141. 1989.
Mitchell Hamline bestowed an honorary L.L.D. doctorate degree upon Pirsig, 1981.
Pirsig made a donation for the construction of the Warren E. Burger Law Library,[9] housing the Maynard E. Pirsig Study Hall, where sits a vitrine displaying Maynard's legal and personal memorabilia—including his 1946 U of M lectures recorded onto SoundScriber vinyl discs.
Minnesota Supreme Court
At the age of 40, Pirsig served as an interim justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court. He was appointed by Governor Harold Stassen. Pirsig served for only a few months, but wrote more than a dozen opinions, several of which later became important legal precedents.[5]
A summary of opinions written by Maynard E. Pirsig can be seen at this link: click here.
Selected achievements
- Executive director of the Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid Society. 1926 - 1931
- Secretary of the Minnesota Judicial Council, which studied the organization and procedures of the courts. 1937 - 1952.
- Chairman of the Minnesota State Bar Association committee to study the American Law Institute's Youth Conservation Act[7] 1943
- Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Minnesota Division of Employment and Security, 1945 - 1956, responsible for the development and administration of Minnesota's employment security program.[7]
- Member of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Law.[4] His 30-year tenure as a member of the conference included service in many capacities, such as chairman of committees for uniform acts in arbitration, expunging criminal records, juvenile court, and rules of criminal procedure.[7] 1947 - 1977.
- Member of the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 1951 - 1957.[7]
- Chairman, Juvenile Court Committee. 1953 - 1958
- Member, U.S. Department of Labor's Industry Committee for Puerto Rico. Beginning in 1955, later chairman for four years.
- Reporter for the special legislative advisory committee created to prepare a revision of the Minnesota Criminal Code. 1957.
- Member, U.S Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, 1960 - 1970.
- Reviewed and Advised on the Indonesian judicial system for their government, during a three-month visit with James F. Hogg, 1968.
- Consultant to the Minnesota Supreme Court's Committee on Rules of Criminal Procedure. 1971 - 1990.
- Defined Legal Ethics, ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA. 1974
- Member, Minnesota Supreme Court's Commission on Juvenile Courts. 1976
- Lectured on judicial administration to the Supreme Court of El Salvador. 1991
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a0/Minnesota_Criminal_Code_meeting_1957.jpg/220px-Minnesota_Criminal_Code_meeting_1957.jpg)
Publications
Maynard E. Pirsig was a prolific writer. Many of his publications were about how to improve the judicial system. A list of his publications can be seen at this link: click here
Awards and honors
- Herbert Lincoln Harley Award from the American Judicature Society, for outstanding contributions to the improvement of the administration of justice, 1973.
- Honorary doctorate degree (LLD) from William Mitchell College of Law, 1981
- Outstanding Achievement Award, University of Minnesota Law School, 1985. At the time, the only father and son (Robert M. Pirsig, awarded 1975) conferred with individual awards.
- William Mitchell College of Law establishes the Pirsig Distinguished Lecturer Series, 1987
- Whitney North Seymour Award
- The University of Minnesota Law School Moot Court title, "Maynard Pirsig Moot Court."
Events of Interest
While Dean of UMLS, Pirsig publicly urged the university to expel fraternities and sororities that had racial "bias clauses" in their charters or constitutions, 1957.[7]
Pirsig helped draft a bill to revise the Minnesota State Criminal Code. Although some officials believed that it was too lenient and hampered law enforcement, it was passed in 1965.[5]
Education
Pirsig earned a bachelor's degree in 1923 from the University of Minnesota, and an LL.B degree in 1925 from the University of Minnesota Law School. He attended graduate courses in law at Harvard University from 1931–1932, studying under Roscoe Pound and Felix Frankfurter.[7] During 1932–1933, on a UMLS scholarship implemented by Pound and Frankfurter, as preparation for developing a course in judicial administration, Pirsig spent one year in England with his wife Harriet and son Robert, studying at Middle Temple Hall.[7]
Personal life
Pirsig was born in 1902 in Kossuth County, Iowa, to Gustav and Amelia Pirsig. He was raised on his parents' farm, speaking only German until he began attending school. Following a courtship of several years, he married Harriet Sjobeck in 1925.[7] They raised three children, Robert, Jean and Wanda.[10]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/Pirsig_Home_1932_-_1995.jpg/220px-Pirsig_Home_1932_-_1995.jpg)
Sources
- ^ Wright, Charles Alan (1997). "Maynard E. Pirsig". William Mitchell Law Review.
- ^ Wolfram, Charles W. (1970). "Maynard E. Pirsig: Idealism in the Service of Judicial Administration". Cornell Law Library.
- ^ Gardener, George (February 17, 1958). "Excerpt from Harvard Law Review, circa 1946 review of Maynard Pirsig's text book, "Cases and Materials on Judicial Administration," 1946". Google.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b Thompson, Jessica (2007). "Minnesota's Legal Hall of Fame". Minnesota Law and Politics.
- ^ a b c Chanen, David (1997). "oldest law school teacher in U.S., dies" (PDF). Minnesota Star Tribune.
- ^ Stein, Robert A. (1980). In Pursuit of Excellence. Minnesota: Mason Publishing. p. 127.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Tietjen, Randall (1997). "Maynard Pirsig: A Chronology". William Mitchell Law Review. 23 (4).
- ^ "Outstanding Achievement Award Recipients". University of Minnesota.
- ^ Hogg, James F. (1997). "Maynard Pirsig". William Mitchell Law Review. 23 (4).
- ^ "Robert M. Pirsig". It Happened in History. American Society of Authors and Writers. Retrieved 2008-02-25.