Chicago Unbound

Scholarship

Hall taught a wide variety of subjects, but his legal expertise lay in Constitutional Law and Torts. He taught these subjects for nearly the entirety of his decades-long career in legal education. Within Torts, Hall developed a comprehensive theory of legal liability. In 1913, Hall put together a volume on Constitutional Law cases, which became a standard text in the field.

Hall’s sharp legal mind made him a sought-after member of a law school’s faculty. Harvard Law School offered Hall a position at the same time as the University of Chicago, but Hall ultimately found Chicago’s offer of a full professorship, a higher salary, and the opportunity to organize a new law school more appealing. Stanford was eager to keep Hall as well. When Hall left Stanford for Chicago, Stanford University President David Starr Jordan wrote to President Harper: “I think there is no more promising young man to be found on the list of professors in any institution in the country. His ultimate strength will lie in his power of investigation and his marked cleverness of intellect.” [University of Chicago. Office of the President. Harper, Judson and Burton Administrations. Records, Box 28, Folder 3, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.]