Fournet, John B.

English

Louisiana State University: DigitalCommons @ LSU Law Center

Louisiana Law ReviewVolume 17 | Number 3Golden Anniversary Celebration of the Law SchoolApril 1957The Role of the Law School in the Preservation ofConstitutional GovernmentJohn B. FournetThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at LSU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted forinclusion in Louisiana Law Review by an authorized editor of LSU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact kreed25@lsu.edu.Repository CitationJohn B. Fournet, The Role of the Law School in the Preservation of Constitutional Government, 17 La. L. Rev. (1957)Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev/vol17/iss3/12The Role of the Law Schoolin thePreservation of Constitutional GovernmentChief Justice John B. FournetAllow me to say: Dr. Daggett, my esteemed and loyal friendof long standing, for your generous appraisal of my efforts inthe discharge of the duties of my office as a jurist, I thank youmost sincerely. To the University, to the Law Faculty for rec-ommending, to the members of the Board of Supervisors for ap-proving, and to President Middleton for conferring the honorarydegree of Doctor of Laws, I want you to know that you willalways have my undying gratitude. And to my colleagues on theSupreme Court, and other members of the judiciary, as well asto my fellow lawyers and my many friends who have come fromall sections of the state for this Golden Jubilee, and have bravedthe weather to be here tonight, let me say that you have not onlyhonored me by your presence, but have added luster to the oc-casion.I suppose that it should come as no surprise to me that I amagain the beneficiary of this great University's generosity. Thisis just part - for me, of course, the finest part - of an old story.It was here in 1917, on the ground floor of the Chemistry Build-ing on the old campus, that a small but inspired faculty firstrevealed to me the adventures in the law. It was here in 1938that I assisted in dedicating the splendid edifice in which thelaw is now being taught. It was in this very building in 1948that I was inducted into The Order of the Coif. And it is tothis place that I have confidently turned - again and again -for the gracious assistance that so greatly advanced the under-takings for which I am now honored.One does not live long before he begins to realize how shortis a lifetime - and how many added lifetimes he will need todeserve the kindness the world has shown him in the first. It isin this state of mind that I accept with humble gratitude thecoveted honor conferred upon me.[574]THE ROLE OF THE LAW SCHOOLBut the greater honor- and of greater collective responsi-bility - is the role of my benefactors. Theirs is the unsung butunparalleled honor of those great bestowers "who cannot affordriches" or power, but yet have the privilege of being the advanceguard on the frontiers of human knowledge, as well as the tre-mendous responsibility that rests in the hands of the dedicatedmen and women who educate our youth.The Law Faculty of this University, whose devotion to thetraditions of historical scholarship has sustained the vital link ofcontinuity with the juridical wisdom of the past, are entitled totheir full share of this honor, and it is difficult for me to foregopaying tribute to all of the outstanding men and women whohave guided the Law School throughout its phenomenal growthand history of achievement. But I must, for, like those who havepreceded me on today's program, I would like to place emphasisinstead on their responsibility and speak of the role of the lawschool in the preservation of constitutional government.From where I have been sitting for more than twenty yearswith my esteemed colleagues of the Louisiana Supreme Court, Ihave had a special view of the march of events as they passedin solemn review through the last two decades. The memory ofthe law is longer than that of men, and daily counsel at the barhave shown us the old world peering in amazement through oldanalogous decisions at the vital and unusual problems of the new.I have just lamented how short is a lifetime in terms ofgratitude. Now I would say that in terms of change we shouldrejoice, for, viewed from this perspective, how much longer isour lifetime than that of our forefathers. We have, within ourmemory, seen moral, economic, and scientific developments thatour forebears could never have foreseen. In such a world ofrapid and manifold evolution, changes become fashionable. Noinstitution, no principle, no habit of mind is entirely safe fromabandonment. Events both at home and abroad show that this isno less true of constitutional government.We may take pride that our form of government and ourliberties have, in the main, survived great depressions and twoworld wars. But danger lies in happily assuming the future holdsno greater crisis, or, indeed, that crisis is the only quarter fromwhich our system of government can be threatened. Let us brief-ly reflect how the keystone of that system has fared in this1957]LOUISIANA LAW REVIEWrecent world of shifting flux. I refer more specifically to theseparation of the executive, legislative, and judicial powers ofthe government into spheres of independent preeminence - thecore of the political philosophy upon which our Republic isfounded.It is simple to exaggerate the original vitality of an old faithand point with alarm to the supposed inroads that are currentlybeing cut into its corpus. We should remember, then, that evenMadison in the "Federalist Papers" was hard put to define thisseparation of powers. He first explained that of course theexecutive, legislative, and judicial departments could not be to-tally separate and distinct, falling at last to an examination ofthe desirable degree of separation and independence. Notwith-standing these difficulties, the concept of separation of powersdoes have content, and this meaning becomes clearer as we re-view developments that resemble all too closely a gradual erosionof this balance-wheel of our governmental machinery.In the recent national election - and wholly apart from themerits or the outcome - we saw the incumbent executive praisedand blamed for the legislative record of a Congress in the handsof the opposition. We heard the man on the street praise andblame the incumbent executive for a judicial decision of greatregional and national implications. It was even argued that thissame decision is an invasion of the legislative branch by thejudiciary.Time after time we have seen the judicial branch forsakenfor administrative tribunals having all of the characteristics ofcourts except the so-called inefficiency - that is, the safeguards- of the judicial process. These same administrative agenciesin 12 years issued more than 100,000 rules and regulations withthe force of law, while Congress, in 160 years of its existence,saw fit to enact only 66,000 statutes. And our times have addedto our history the phenomenon of political trial by committeeinvestigation.It may be said that even the great expansion of governmentalactivity is, in itself, evidence that the mechanism of checks andbalances designed to control this expansion threatens to collapse,for, of course, the separation of powers is no end in itself. Andif we speak of increased governmental activity in terms of humanliberties, we are ultimately speaking about the distance at which[Vol. XVIITHE ROLE OF THE LAW SCHOOLwe stand from the tyranny which the separation of powers wasdesigned to prevent.These are examples that merely scratch the surface. Others- like the uncharted implications of the treaty-making power -could be mentioned. But the point need not be labored.Although I view these wanderings of the executive, legisla-tive, and judicial branches from their theoretical positions ofproud isolation with no great alarm, these developments should,nevertheless, concern us, for they bespeak the restlessness andpower of men, and the refusal of life to be ruled from the grave.They must, even more particularly, concern the law schools. Thisis not merely because these changes complicate the teaching ofthe law. It is also because of the fact that among the men at theforefront of these and other changes yet to come are to be foundthe largest single occupational group that has been, and will con-tinue to be, the product of the law schools. Only recently a studyof the 71st to the 75th Congress disclosed that during this periodthe lawyers had a clear majority in both houses - 61 to 75 per-cent of the Senate and 56 to 65 percent of the House. Furtherillustration is unnecessary to demonstrate the key position of theAmerican lawyer as a leader in policy decisions vitally affectingevery aspect of our way of life.Lawyers, because of their training, their devotion to thecause of liberty and freedom, and their unswerving allegianceto the time-honored principles and ethics of their profession,have always stood out as the leaders of their generation. In fact,it was de Tocqueville who said "the government of democracyis favorable to the political power of lawyers." But it can be saidwith equal truth that "the government of democracy" is favor-able to the political influence of law schools. For it is in the lawschool that the lawyer of the future, in his formative years, de-velops the philosophy of law that will influence his conduct inthe public affairs that await him. It is more and more to thelaw schools that this nation will turn and say with Whitman"Produce great men!" - in the hope that the rest will follow.It has been said of the Supreme Court of the United States:"We are not final because we are infallible - we are infalliblebecause we are final." Similarly, it may be said that the lawschools are also, in a very real sense, final. They are final be-cause they are the last link between the unselfish and idealistic19571LOUISIANA LAW REVIEWtraditions of University life, and the hard - sometimes embitter-ing - realities of the world in which their wards will inevitablybe called upon for leadership. Theirs may be the casting votethat inclines a given youth from political expediency to truestatesmanship. For although youths come to law schools with theobject of learning law, they leave imbued with the philosophy ofits faculty. The law schools thus bear the peculiar responsibilityfor kindling in the great and moving current of youth the firesof vision and of courage for the tasks that lie ahead.This responsibility of the law schools is an exacting one. It isalso a glorious one. That they have succeeded in instilling intheir students that love and respect for humanity which formsthe foundation of our national greatness cannot be disputed.Their graduates have been fully conscious of the magnificientlegacy to which they stand in heirship. They have been worthybearers of the torch of liberty from generation to generation.In this relay to succeeding generations we must not, we will not,fail.There is a story about a young sailor on a Coast Guard shipheading to the scene of a shipwreck on a stormy night. Theyoung sailor approached the Captain saying, "Sir, the wind isrising, the storm is getting worse. Surely we will never makethe shipwreck. And even if we do, we'll never make it back."The Captain replied: "You may be right. We don't have to getback. But remember, we do have to go !"So must it be with the law schools. They must carry on withloyalty to the constitutional principles which constitute the bed-rock of the law in which they labor. As the late Dean Tullis - towhom we of the law are all so heavily indebted - reminded us,in the words used by Justinian more than fourteen centuriesago, theirs is the duty "to instruct [their students], with theguidance of God ... to the end that they may be made worthyministers of justice and of the Republic."Let an old teacher say, however, that it is not the provinceof the teacher to indoctrinate youth in prevailing political fash-ions. His task is to seek and to teach the truth - not propaganda-and the test of truth is not, as Holmes once suggested, "themajority vote of that nation that can lick all others." The courseof momentous events in our time leaves no doubt that might[Vol. XVII1957] THE ROLE OF THE LAW SCHOOL 579does not make right, that truth - not naked power - will pre-vail in the end.Thus the law school's fidelity to the underlying principles ofconstitutional government and to the ideals of human dignityand freedom does not require unreasoned resistance to changewhere change is dictated by the industrial, social, and economicmovements characteristic of the Twentieth Century. For wecannot lightly assume that the future holds less room for im-provement than the past. Our faith must be that the law schoolswill remain conscious of their place in our society as the seedbedsof tomorrow's leadership; and that, while training young menand young women in the practical aspects of the law, they willbe mindful that the part they play in adding other dimensionsto the stature of the lawyer is of transcendent importance.In this faith we may look as confidently to the future of ourRepublic as we look proudly to the traditions of its glorious past.

The Role of the Law School in the Preservation of Constitutional Government

https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2492&context=lalrev

The Role of the Law School in the Preservation of Constitutional Government

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Louisiana State University: DigitalCommons @ LSU Law Center