« A new "hot topics" program at AALS | Main | Good result for the wrong reason »

Friday, December 12, 2008

R.I.P.: William Stevens, Law and Baseball Author

I'm surprised the other law blogs I read haven't publicized this yet, but the New York Times today prominently features an obituary of William Stevens, who as a law student at Penn authored the famous "Aside" on The Common Law Origins of the Infield Fly Rule.  As the Times describes it, the note engendered years of discussion, sparked a substantial degree of law and baseball scholarship (although I must add that, like some others, I have never understood the intellectual fascination with baseball), and certainly -- for good and sometimes ill -- enlivened the writing of student notes and legal scholarship in general.  To be so publicly remembered for a student note is a rare thing indeed; more importantly, Stevens seems to have had a life well lived inside and outside of the law.  My condolences to his family.  His article can (hopefully) be found here.

Posted by Paul Horwitz on December 12, 2008 at 12:54 PM | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c6a7953ef010536573b0f970b

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference R.I.P.: William Stevens, Law and Baseball Author:

Comments

Will was a personal friend; a kind man and a true gentleman. His "Aside" can be found on the U. Penn Law Review site, where it has been posted in his memory.
R.I.P. Will

Posted by: Ralph Bierschwale | Dec 15, 2008 8:17:30 PM

Sorry about that, Max. The cite, if it helps, is 123 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1474.

Posted by: paul Horwitz | Dec 13, 2008 9:55:37 PM

Unfortunately, the Stevens Aside cannot be found there. Do you have a copy? Can you email it or tell me where to get it? Many thanks.

Max

Posted by: max | Dec 13, 2008 4:25:10 PM

The comments to this entry are closed.