U.S. Permanent Committee for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise

The U.S. Permanent Committee for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise is a committee within the Library of Congress, established by Congress in 1955 after the late Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. bequeathed a portion of his estate to the United States in 1935. The Congress used the gift to create a garden on the grounds of the U.S. Supreme Court and to establish the Committee to document and disseminate the history of the Court. The Committee is composed of five members - the Librarian of Congress and four additional members appointed by the President to serve eight-year terms.[1] As of October 2020, the Commission has published ten volumes detailing the history of the Supreme Court.[2]

History

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, died on March 6, 1935, his will contained the following residuary clause,

“All of the rest, residue and remainder of my property of whatsoever nature, wheresoever situate, of which I may die seized and possessed, or in which I may have an interest at the time of my death, I give, devise, and bequeath to the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.”[3]

The value of the bequest was roughly $263,000 at the time of Holmes's death and it was President Franklin Roosevelt who recommended the gift be used to document and promote the law. In 1938 a committee of three Congressmen, three Senators, and three Supreme Court members recommended four options for the gift. The options were: (1) establish a collection of legal literature in the Library of Congress, (2) turning Holmes residence into a permanent memorial, (3) publishing Holmes writings, or (4) creating a memorial park in Washington dedicated to Holmes. Congress approved the third and fourth recommendations in 1940, however, World War II pre-empted execution of the plans. The matter was finalized in 1955 with Public Law 84-246 which established the Permanent Committee for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise to publish an official history of the Supreme Court. The Committee has four members appointed by the President as recommended by the Association of American Law Schools, the American Philosophical Society, the American Historical Association, and the Association of American Universities, with the Librarian of Congress serving as ex officio chairperson.[4] The series has not been published in volume order, the first published were, Volume 1: Antecedents and beginnings to 1801 and Volume 6: Reconstruction and reunion, 1864-88 in 1971. The most recent publication was Volume 12: The birth of the modern Constitution in 2006 and the volume covering the Earl Warren court was expected in 2017 but has yet to be published.[1]

Bibliography

History of the Supreme Court of the United States series:

  • White, G. Edward, and Gerald Gunther (1988). Volumes 3 - 4: The Marshall Court and cultural change, 1815-35. New York: Macmillan. https://lccn.loc.gov/95199926
  • Fairman, Charles (1971). Volume 6: Reconstruction and reunion, 1864-88, Part 1. New York: Macmillan. [Later expanded and combined with Volume 7 in 1987]
  • Wiecek, William M. (2006). Volume 12: The birth of the modern Constitution, the United States Supreme Court, 1941-1953. New York: Cambridge University Press. https://lccn.loc.gov/2004028548

References
  1. "Constitutional Scholar Maeva Marcus to Edit Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise Supreme Court History Series". Library of Congress. Library of Congress. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  2. "History of the Supreme Court of the United States series (catalog record)". Library of Congress catalog. Library of Congress. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  3. "Annual Report of the Permanent Committee for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise, 1956-57". HathiTrust. Government Printing Office. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  4. Christie, George C. (May 1972). "First Two Volumes of Holmes Devise History of the United States Supreme Court Are Published". American Bar Association Journal. 58: 494–497. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
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