Memorial Minute

Edward Hirsch Levi
June 26, 1911 – March 7, 2000

In 1996, at the time Edward Levi took emeritus status as a member of Council, Kate Levi, in a letter to Charlie Wright, said that Edward had treasured his association with The American Law Institute "above all else." That was an uncharacteristically hyperbolic statement on the part of Kate, because, as everybody knows, he cannot possibly have treasured his association with us above his association with the University of Chicago.

However, Edward cared deeply about the ALI and its Council for the same reasons for which he cared so much about the university: He was concerned about the fragility of two institutions that to him incorporated so much of the wisdom of man’s knowledge (and some of the error of his ways).

While as experienced and aware as anybody, Edward was, as Hannah Arendt once commented in a letter to a friend, "rather old-fashioned" in his commitment to "the search for truth," in the case of the university, and, we might add, the search for justice in the case of law and legal institutions. He viewed this as a demanding and complex undertaking. I quote:

Law builds upon and, I should like to claim, is one of the liberal arts. It uses words of persuasion and changing definitions for practical ends. It has absorbed within itself a view of the nature of human beings, and of how their acts and the incidents which overtake them may be classified for favor or penalty, or for rights, permission or negation. Law, itself, is a mediating discipline, not only among the passions and needs of human beings, sometimes viewed severally and sometimes in groups or associations, but with respect to the craftsmanship which is useful, and to the relevance of what is perceived as current knowledge or opinion. As an instrument for practical action, law is responsive to the wisdom of its time, which may be wrong, but it carries forward, sometimes in opposition to this wisdom or passion, a memory of received values.

Those of us who knew him will, in these abstract formulations, recognize Edward’s style of legal reasoning with respect to specific issues that we dealt with here. "Useful craftsmanship" was of great importance to Edward and he abhorred intellectual slovenliness and superficiality. We experienced this abhorrence again in Council, though, in his later years, he expressed it mildly and through ironic questioning that often continued at the dinner table. To enjoy his sheer intellectual brilliance was one of the privileges that came with Council membership.

At The American Law Institute, as we celebrate his contributions to our work, it behooves us especially to take note that he carried his search for justice to the United States Department of Justice in one of its darkest hours and served our country with the greatest possible distinction. To quote what former President Gerald R. Ford said at the memorial service for Edward: "With each passing year, it becomes more and more self-evident — Ed Levi is the Attorney General against whom all others are measured." As long as that is the case, there is hope.

Edward had great intelligence, deep commitment, and considerable energy. He also had something else, something indefinable: the greatness that comes from what is perhaps best called, in his own words, "a magical sense of wholeness."

Gerhard Casper