Justice Jackson's 1946 Nuremberg Reflections at Buffalo: An Introduction

Buffalo Law Review, Vol. 60, p. 255, April 2012

SUNY Buffalo Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2012-047

28 Pages Posted: 26 Mar 2012 Last revised: 27 Jun 2012

See all articles by Tara J. Melish

Tara J. Melish

SUNY Buffalo Law School

Alfred S. Konefsky

SUNY Buffalo Law School

Date Written: March 27, 2012

Abstract

This Essay introduces the 2011 James McCormick Mitchell Lecture, “From Nuremberg to Buffalo: Justice Jackson’s Enduring Lessons of Morality and Law in a World at War,” a commemoration of Jackson’s 1946 centennial convocation speech at the University of Buffalo. It discusses Jackson’s speech, breaks down its thematic components, and situates the distinguished Mitchell Lecturers’ responses to it in context. Unlike Justice Jackson’s commanding and historic opening and closing statements as U.S. chief prosecutor at Nuremberg, Jackson’s 1946 speech, delivered just days after his return from Germany where he heard the Nuremberg Tribunal deliver its final judgment and verdicts, has largely been lost to historical memory. The Mitchell Lecture symposium — held on October 4, 2011, 65 years to the day from Jackson’s speech — was an attempt to restore that memory, providing an opportunity to assess Nuremberg through the eyes of Justice Jackson immediately after the event, while the images and experiences were still fresh in his consciousness. Long lost to history, the speech and its lessons deserve renewed attention today.

Keywords: Nuremberg, Justice Jackson, human rights, rule of law, law of war, international law, legal history, norm theory

Suggested Citation

Melish, Tara J. and Konefsky, Alfred S., Justice Jackson's 1946 Nuremberg Reflections at Buffalo: An Introduction (March 27, 2012). Buffalo Law Review, Vol. 60, p. 255, April 2012, SUNY Buffalo Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2012-047, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2029369

Tara J. Melish (Contact Author)

SUNY Buffalo Law School ( email )

School of Law
525 O'Brian Hall
Buffalo, NY 14260-1100
United States
(716) 645-2257 (Phone)

Alfred S. Konefsky

SUNY Buffalo Law School ( email )

528 O'Brian Hall
Buffalo, NY 14260-1100
United States

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