Learned Hand

Lore & Background

Billings Learned Hand was born in Albany, New York, to a prominent legal family. His father, Samuel Hand, was a leading appellate lawyer who argued cases before the New York Court of Appeals in 'greater number and importance than those argued by any other lawyer in New York during the same period.' Samuel died from cancer when Learned was 14. Hand studied philosophy at Harvard College under William James, Josiah Royce, and George Santayana, graduating with highest honors. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1896. After an undistinguished early legal career in Albany and New York City, he was appointed as a federal district judge in Manhattan in 1909 at age 37. Between 1909 and 1914, influenced by Herbert Croly's social theories, Hand supported New Nationalism. He ran unsuccessfully as the Progressive Party's candidate for chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals in 1913, after which he withdrew from active politics. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge elevated Hand to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which he led as senior circuit judge (later chief judge) from 1939 until his semi-retirement in 1951. Hand rose to fame outside the legal profession in 1944 during World War II after a short address in Central Park appealing for tolerance. A collection of his papers and addresses, The Spirit of Liberty (1952), sold well. He was viewed as a liberal defender of civil liberties during a period of hysterical fear of subversion, though he later criticized the civil-rights activism of the Warren Court. Hand struggled with self-doubt and anxiety throughout his life, describing himself as 'very undecided, always have been—a very insecure person, very fearful; morbidly fearful.' He was an agnostic in later life, despite early religious convictions. He maintained a lifelong friendship with his cousin and fellow judge Augustus Noble Hand, two years his senior, with whom he camped and hiked as a boy in Elizabethtown, New York.

Reader's Guide

Learned Hand's significance lies in his enduring influence on American legal thought and practice. As a federal appellate judge on the Second Circuit, he led what scholars have recognized as one of the finest appeals courts in American history. His decisions in patents, torts, admiralty law, and antitrust law set lasting standards for craftsmanship and clarity. Hand is also remembered as a pioneer of modern approaches to statutory interpretation. On constitutional matters, he was both a political progressive and an advocate of judicial restraint, arguing that the United States Constitution does not empower courts to overrule the legislation of elected bodies except in extreme circumstances. He advocated the 'combination of toleration and imagination that to me is the epitome of all good government.' As of 2004, Hand had been quoted more often by legal scholars and by the Supreme Court of the United States than any other lower-court judge. His 1944 Central Park address and the subsequent publication of The Spirit of Liberty cemented his reputation as a defender of civil liberties. Despite frequent lobbying for his promotion to the Supreme Court, circumstances and his political past prevented his appointment.

Did You Know?

• Hand's mother's family traditionally used surnames as given names; he was named for a maternal uncle and a grandfather, both named Billings Peck Learned.
• As a boy in Elizabethtown, New York, Hand learned songs from Civil War veterans; in his 70s, he recorded several of them for the Library of Congress.
• Hand was elected president of The Harvard Advocate, a student literary magazine, and appeared as a blond-wigged chorus girl in the 1892 Hasty Pudding Club musical.
• His favorite law professor was James Bradley Thayer, who emphasized judicial restraint and became a major influence on Hand's jurisprudence.
• Hand ceased using the name 'Billings' in 1899, calling it 'pompous,' and took on the nickname 'B.'