Thomas M. Franck (1931-2009).

I.

Thomas M. Franck was born in 1931 in Berlin, Germany. His family left only in 1938, securing entry to Vancouver, Canada. He arrived speaking German, but rapidly acquired proficiency in English and completed his schooling there.

He graduated with a BA in 1952 and an LLB in 1953 from the University of British Columbia (which awarded him an honorary LLD in 1995). From there he went to Harvard Law School, receiving his LLM in 1954 and his SJD in 1959. He became assistant professor at the University of Nebraska College of Law in 1954-1956.

Upon the suggestion of Roland Brown, a prominent member of the British Labour Party whom he had met and who had become attorney general in Tanzania, Tom Franck went out to East Africa to see what role he could usefully play in the transition of these countries to independence. The short years at the University of East Africa Law School were very important, giving him easy access to the new generation of leaders in East Africa, and providing intellectual shape to his emerging ideas about the purpose of law. The goal of practical steps for the improvement of the human condition imbued his work over the years. It also inspired generations of students.

While at Dar es Salaam in 1963-1966, he became a counselor not only to the governments of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, but also to the government of Kenya. Most of this work related to th...

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