Edgar Bodenheimer

Edgar Bodenheimer (March 14, 1908 – May 30, 1991) was a German American author and professor of law in the United States.[1]

Edgar Bodenheimer
Born	(1908-03-14)March 14, 1908 Berlin, Prussia
Died	May 30, 1991(1991-05-30) (aged 83) Davis, California
Nationality	German American
Alma mater	University of Heidelberg
Occupation	Lawyer
Spouse(s)	Brigitte Levy ​ ( m. 1935; died 1981)

Biography

Bodenheimer was born in Berlin in 1908. He was educated in universities of Geneva, Munich, Heidelberg, and Berlin. After receiving his J.U.D. from the University of Heidelberg in 1933, he emigrated to the United States to escape from the Nazis. Without an American legal degree, he began working for the firm of Rosenberg, Goldmark & Colin.[2] He later got his LL.B. from the University of Washington in 1937.[3]

His career started in 1940 as an Attorney for the U.S. Department of Labor, where he worked for two years before taking on the Principal Attorney position at the Office of Alien Property Custodian in Washington D.C.

In 1945, Edgar served in the Allies' "Office of Chief of Counsel for prosecution of Axis Criminality", OCCPAC, at the Nuremberg Trials,[4] utilizing his degrees in both American and German law.

He joined the law faculty of the University of Utah in 1946, and became a professor at the Law School of University of California, Davis in 1966. Retiring in 1975, he continued writing and lecturing at UC Davis as Professor Emeritus until his death in 1991

Works by Edgar Bodenheimer have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese.[5]

Selected works

• Jurisprudence, McGraw-Hill 1940
• Jurisprudence: The Philosophy and Method of the Law, Harvard University Press 1962.
• Jurisprudence: The Philosophy and Method of the Law (revised edition), Harvard University Press 1974.
• Treatise on Justice, Philosophical Library 1967.
• Power, Law, And Society; A Study of the Will to Power and the Will to Law, Crane, Russak 1972.
• Philosophy of Responsibility, Fred Rothman 1980.

References

1. Durham, W. Cole, Jr. (1993). "Edgar Bodenheimer: Conservator of Civilized Legal Culture". In Lutter, Marcus (ed.). Der Einfluß deutscher Emigranten auf die Rechtsentwicklung in den USA und in Deutschland. Tübingen: Mohr. pp. 127–144. ISBN 3-16-146080-4.
2. Stiefel, Ernst C.; Mecklenburg, Frank (1991). Deutsche Juristen im amerikanischen Exil (1933–1950) (in German). Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. pp. 56–57. ISBN 3161456882.
3. Bruch, Carol; et al. "Edgar Bodenheimer 1908–1991". American Journal of Comparative Law. 39 (4): 657–659.
4. Bodenheimer, Edgar: Jurisprudence, flyleaf. Harvard University Press, 1970 (3rd printing).
5. Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, Volume 20, page 61-62.

External links

• Edgar Bodenheimer at Find a Grave