Sacks, Albert M.

English

Duke Law Scholarship Repository

DAVID F. CAVERSALBERT M. SACKS*I had the great fortune to consult with David Cavers in 1946 on my firstsubstantial written work on law-a draft law review note on choice of law innationwide defamation and invasion of privacy, prepared during my secondyear of law school. Some forty years later I was able to encourage andmodestly assist him in the publication of his last book. It was only natural thatin 1946, in response to my draft, his face lit up and the questions came in asteady insistent stream. I must add that in annotating his own essays for the1985 book, The Choice of Law, his questions were just as frequent and insistent.In the intervening years, I came to know David Cavers well, both as a friendand colleague and by his works.David Cavers became a master of his chosen field, the conflict of laws, andhe played a key role in transforming that field. These accomplishments arenotable in themselves. But his activities and his influence went far beyond hisprincipal area of academic study. His range of interests seems to have had nolimits. At Duke, he established a wholly novel type of law review, Law andContemporary Problems, whose value is shown by its having continued to thisday. At Harvard, he sought to broaden and humanize first-year instruction byintroducing a program by which Teaching Fellows taught students in smallgroups. We are still struggling to realize that dream. At the same time, heplayed a major part in launching a massive Program on International LegalStudies, which became a model for schools across the country.As Associate Dean, he had responsibility for strengthening research andscholarship, and he sought to persuade the faculty that programmatic andinstitutionally sponsored research projects would be valuable vehicles. Here,he was blocked by cautious, perhaps overly cautious, colleagues. It wascharacteristic of David Cavers that he then devised a research leave programintended to encourage research by individual professors, and this programhas become a major feature of scholarly work at the school. Shortlythereafter, he proposed that law school education be organized in a year-round trimester program lasting two calendar years. In a carefully writtenarticle, he described just how the plan would affect students, faculty,administration, student organizations, and so on.He took emeritus status at age sixty-six and promptly embarked on a full-time schedule of work at many law schools and with organizations such as theAmerican Bar Foundation, the American Association of Law Schools, and theCopyright © 1988 by Law and Contemporary Problems* Professor of Law. Harvard Law School. This speech was presented at the CambridgeMemorial Service for Cavers in April of 1988.LAW AND CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMSAmerican Bar Association. I could cite many more examples of his fertilemind, which again and again has challenged the traditional and the obviousand has broken through to mark out new paths in the law and in legaleducation.Many reformers can tell you what they think is wrong with the establishedorder and can point in the general direction of the promised land, and theircontribution stops there. In Cavers' assault on traditional conflicts doctrine,he found himself in this situation for about ten to fifteen years, following hisseminal and iconoclastic piece in 1933. He recognized that his ideas wereuseful but incomplete and unsatisfactory. In delivering the Cooley Lecturesat Michigan in 1964, he began to develop affirmative ideas described by himas "principles of preference," which brought some measure of the coherencehe had long sought. Here he reflected a tension that existed all of his life. Onthe one hand, he had a sense of craft that required elements of order:Language should be used to clarify what we think, to express our thoughtssparingly, and to highlight what is important in what we write and say; at adeeper level, we should seek to move others by the force of our affirmativeideas. But on the other hand, David Cavers was never truly satisfied with whathe or others had accomplished. He was anxious to revise what he had recentlywritten in conflicts. And when his colleagues or the school administrationfinally caught up with one of his recent innovative ideas, he was by then busilyengaged in formulating proposals for additional changes in legal thought.One recalls his quiet and calm manner, his gentle treatment of others, anda tone of voice so low that at times you strained to hear and understand him.But along with these qualities were the probing mind, the penetratingquestions, and the search for greater understanding and new ideas. Duringrecent years, he dealt with the difficulties of illness with quiet dignity and adetermination to continue his work for as long as he could.Ultimately, one's most enduring impact is on other people. Through hisscholarship and his activities, and by the example he has set, that impact is acause for celebration.[Vol. 51: No. 3

David F. Cavers

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David F. Cavers

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