Corwin, Edward Samuel

▪ American political scientist

born Jan 19, 1878, near Plymouth, Mich., U.S.

died April 29, 1963, Princeton, N.J.

      American political scientist and authority on U.S. political and constitutional law.

      Corwin earned an A.B. from the University of Michigan (1900) and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania (1905). He then joined the faculty of Princeton University, where he taught jurisprudence until 1946. He began his studies of constitutional law at Princeton and helped form the new department of politics. He subsequently wrote seminal studies of such legal doctrines as due process, vested rights, higher law, and judicial review. One of the first scholars to emphasize the historical context of constitutional development, he was also known as an influential critic of the U.S. Supreme Court.

      Many of Corwin's writings are considered to be classic works; they include The Doctrine of Judicial Review (1914), The Constitution and What It Means Today (1920), Twilight of the Supreme Court (1934, with Jack W. Peltason), Understanding the Constitution (1949), and The Presidency Today (1956, with Louis Koenig).

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