Alpheus Thomas Mason (September 18, 1899 – October 31, 1989) was an American legal scholar and biographer. He wrote several biographies of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, including Louis Brandeis, Harlan F. Stone, and William Howard Taft.[1]
Alpheus Thomas Mason was born on September 18, 1899, in Snow Hill, Maryland.[2] He graduated from Dickinson College with an AB in 1920 and an AM and PhD from Princeton University in 1921 and 1923, respectively.[2] At Princeton, he grew close with Edward Samuel Corwin, who "became [his] mentor and also his benefactor and friend".[3]
Mason was on the Duke University faculty for two years after receiving his PhD.[2] In 1925, he came back to Princeton where he remained until his retirement in 1968.[2] At Princeton, he held the McCormick chair and was named the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence when he retired.[2] He continued teaching at other colleges and universities until 1980.[4]
He died on October 31, 1989, at his home in Princeton, New Jersey.[4]
Publications
[edit]- Organized Labor and the Law (1925)[5]
- Brandeis: Lawyer and Judge in the Modern State (1933)[6]
- Bureaucracy Convicts Itself: The Ballinger-Pinchot Controversy of 1910 (1941)[7]
- The Brandeis Way (1938)[8]
- Brandeis: A Free Man's Life (1946)[9]
- Security through Freedom: American Political Thought and Practice (1955)[10]
- Harlan Fiske Stone: Pillar of the Law (1956)[11]
- The Supreme Court from Taft to Warren (1958)[12]
- In Quest of Freedom: American Political Thought and Practice (1959)[13]
- The Supreme Court: Palladium of Freedom (1962)[14]
- The States Rights Debate: Antifederalism and the Constitution (1964, second edition 1972)[15]
- William Howard Taft: Chief Justice (1964)[16]
Citations
[edit]- ^ Spillenger 1993, p. 723.
- ^ a b c d e Gerhart, Eugene C. (1999). "Mason, Alpheus Thomas". American National Biography. Vol. 14. Oxford University Press. pp. 638–639. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1400386. ISBN 0-19-520635-5. OCLC 39182280.
- ^ Murphy 1997, p. 193.
- ^ a b Cook, Joan (November 1, 1989). "Alpheus Mason, an Ex-Professor and Author, 90". The New York Times. pp. D26. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 25, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
- ^ Spillenger 1993, p. 1925.
- ^ Weeks, Mangum (1934). Virginia Law Review. 20 (8): 925–929. doi:10.2307/1066075. ISSN 0042-6601. JSTOR 1066075.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - ^ Ickes, Harold L. (1941). Yale Law Journal. 50 (7): 1303–1307. doi:10.2307/792390. ISSN 0044-0094. JSTOR 792390.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - ^ Warp, George A. (1939). California Law Review. 27 (3): 367–368. doi:10.2307/3476076. ISSN 0008-1221. JSTOR 3476076.
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: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - ^ Swisher, Carl Brent (1947). The Journal of Politics. 9 (1): 108–111. doi:10.2307/2125862. ISSN 0022-3816. JSTOR 2125862.
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: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - ^ Jentes, William R. (1956). Michigan Law Review. 54 (7): 1039–1041. doi:10.2307/1285405. ISSN 0026-2234. JSTOR 1285405.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - ^ Westwood, Howard C. (1957). Virginia Law Review. 43 (2): 297–303. doi:10.2307/1069824. ISSN 0042-6601. JSTOR 1069824.
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: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - ^ Bickel, Alexander M. (1959). Journal of Legal Education. 12 (2): 287–291. ISSN 0022-2208. JSTOR 42891350.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - ^ Pratt, Julius W. (1960). Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 327: 142–143. doi:10.1177/000271626032700121. ISSN 0002-7162. JSTOR 1033978. S2CID 143754777.
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: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - ^ Gerhart, Eugene C. (1963). American Bar Association Journal. 49 (6): 580–581. ISSN 0002-7596. JSTOR 25722412.
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: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - ^ Murphy, William P. (1965). Stanford Law Review. 17 (5): 996–1002. doi:10.2307/1227003. ISSN 0038-9765. JSTOR 1227003.
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: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - ^ Sutherland, Arthur E. (1965). Harvard Law Review. 79 (1): 222–226. doi:10.2307/1338862. ISSN 0017-811X. JSTOR 1338862.
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: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
Works cited
[edit]- Murphy, Walter F. (1997). "Alpheus Thomas Mason". In Marks, Patricia H. (ed.). Luminaries: Princeton Faculty Remembered. Princeton University Press. pp. 190–197. doi:10.1515/9781400864393.190. ISBN 978-1-4008-6439-3.
- Spillenger, Clyde (1993). "Lifting the Veil: The Judicial Biographies of Alpheus T. Mason". Reviews in American History. 21 (4): 723–734. doi:10.2307/2703420. ISSN 0048-7511. JSTOR 2703420.
Further reading
[edit]- Howard Jr., J. Woodford (1991). "Alpheus T. Mason and the Art of Judicial Biography". Constitutional Commentary. 8: 41–50. ISSN 0742-7115.