Apr 12, 2018 - Sale 2473

Sale 2473 - Lot 116

Price Realized: $ 1,375
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(LAW.) Goldstein, Arnold M. Notebook kept as a Harvard Law student in Felix Frankfurter's Public Utilities class. 174, [4] manuscript pages in red and black, plus 5 additional sheets clipped in and numerous other notes neatly tipped in. 4to, contemporary 1/2 calf Harvard Coöp notebook, minor wear, bit of tape on backstrip. [Cambridge, MA], [1934 or 1935]
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Felix Frankfurter (1882-1965) was an influential professor of administrative law at Harvard Law School from 1914 to 1939 before serving for 23 years on the Supreme Court. These detailed lecture notes were taken by a student in his Public Utilities course, which mainly discussed the powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission. The notes are undated, but include citations to decisions made as late as March 1934 (page 4) and were compiled by a member of the Class of 1935. By this point, Frankfurter was already a trusted adviser to President Roosevelt, and was gaining national attention for sending a steady supply of progressive young legal minds to Washington. These notes, well organized and in a tidy legible hand, offer fresh insight into Frankfurter's thoughts on government powers during an important period in his career. For example, here is a summary of Frankfurter's thoughts on a recent New Deal construction project in Los Angeles: "Jan. 1932, plans presented for Union Station. Construction work is going ahead under State RR commission's order. There is cooperation between State and ICC. . . . Was a great litigation. All civic organizations were interested; prop[erty] values were affected; all residents of Los Angeles were concerned; scenic interests were at stake; nature of RR's holding of prop[erty] was involved' (pp. 146-7). The note-taker, Arnold M. Goldstein (1910-2007), went on to practice property law in New York for 60 years.