Chicago Unbound

Scholarship

Edward H. Levi’s academic interests ranged from legal process to constitutional law to bankruptcy law. He authored the textbook An Introduction to Legal Reasoning (1949) and wrote widely on issues of legal process.

Outside the classroom, Levi put his scholarly knowledge to practical use. As an advisor to the Federation of Atomic Scientists he helped write the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, which gave control of the nation’s atomic energy program to a civilian commission of presidential appointees. Levi argued twice before the United States Supreme Court, both times concerning Illinois’s maze-like criminal procedure laws.

Levi taught courses in antitrust and commercial law as well as basic jurisprudence. He first taught Elements of Law in 1939 and continued to offer the course (which he refined over the years) until his retirement in 1984. In the 1950s and 1960s Levi taught Law of Competition and Monopoly with economist Aaron Director. The innovative interdisciplinary course was emblematic of Levi’s philosophy of legal education.

For more information on Levi, see the Edward H. Levi Papers, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.