Leon Green

Leon Green (March 31, 1888 – June 15, 1979) was an American legal realist and long-tenured dean of Northwestern University School of Law (1929–1947). He also served as professor at Yale Law School (1926–1929) and the University of Texas School of Law (1915–1918, 1920–1926, and 1947–1977).

Born in Oakland, Louisiana, Green earned an A.B. from Ouachita College in 1908 and LL.B from the University of Texas in 1915.

At Northwestern, Green presided over changes in curriculum to provide students effective training in the changing field of law. He also determined that the best way to raise the law school's stature was to raise the quality of students. Thus, he fought University pressure to raise revenues by admitting unqualified students, and he led a campaign to provide decent housing as a means to attract top students.

A leading expert in the field of Tort law, Green authored the groundbreaking treatise, The Rationale of Proximate Cause (1927).

Three of Green's students received appointments to the United States Supreme Court: John Paul Stevens and Arthur Goldberg from Northwestern University, and Thomas Campbell Clark from the University of Texas.

Green also served as dean of the University of North Carolina School of Law (1926–1927).

Leon Green said of the relevance of court decisions in time: "The decision of a court is no more 'the law,' than the light from yesterday's lamp is electricity."

Dean Green died in Austin, Texas, on June 15, 1979.

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