100 Years of LSU Law, 1906-2006: A Centennial Gloss

THIS IS THE SHOWING forth of the Inquiry of Herodotus of Halicarnassos so that neither the deeds of men may be forgotten by lapse of time, nor the works great and marvellous, which have been produced some by Hellenes and some by Barbarians, may lose their renoun; and especially that the causes may be remembered for which these waged war with one another.

-Herodotus, The Histories*

PROLOGUE, PAULUS. Et primo quidem temporibus diui Heberti: The call of the Louisiana Law Review to pen a centennial gloss of Dean Paul M. Hebert's Law School touches me deeply. Dean Hebert hired me a fleeting generation ago. What dazzled me then, what dazzles me now, is Louisiana's civil law tradition-its Code, its scholars, the LSU Law faculty, our great library of books. Kate Wallach's sweet memory lingers.1 When I arrived, I was in Bologna with its great doctors-Yiannopoulos was Justinian himself; Litvinoff, an Argentine Bartolus; Pascal, Gaius Noster. Precious Joseph Dainow brought John Henry Wigmore's comparative spark to LSU Law.2 I have the "Dainow Code"-West's Civil Code of Louisiana, Second Edition, 1961-in the museum of my office today, next to Jacques-Louis David's portrait of Napoleon. My youthful exuberance persuaded Dean Hebert to allow me to teach the Louisiana Civil Law System course, always a riddle in the first year. I was anxious to make a top drawer Roman of myself. After a term or two, a visiting committee of Hebert, Pascal, and Dainow from the back bench turned thumbs down. Thereafter, I made myself a teacher, not of the Louisiana Civil Code, but of the United States Constitution.

Only because of the learning LSU Law School provides- universal learning Roscoe Pound recognized when the Old Law School was dedicated in 1938-do I see a link between the ways of François Gény in handling Napoleon's Code Civil and the ways of Harry Blackmun in handling the United States Constitution. That has been LSU Law's golden gift to me.

I owe much to Dean Hebert, to Bill Hawkland, to Chancellor Costonis. My colleagues, past and present, are a joy. A generation of law students has struggled to get to the bottom of the well with me in class. Their success is my great reward. Believe me, my emotions are deeply roused by the histories of LSU Law, 1906- 2006.

B.1, 1 DEAN KELLY; TULLIS; BEUTEL. I did not know Joseph Kelly, our first Dea...

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