Pound, Roscoe (1870-1964), was an American educator and authority on law. He introduced to the United States a view of the nature and purpose of law which came to be known as “sociological jurisprudence.” This view treats law as a system of social engineering.
Pound wrote widely on legal history, legal philosophy, and law reform. He became one of the best-known figures in American legal education. His books include The Spirit of the Common Law (1921), Law and Morals (1924), The Formative Era of American Law (1938), and Social Control Through Law (1942). Pound was born on Oct. 27, 1870, in Lincoln, Nebraska, and graduated from Harvard Law School. He became a professor of law at Harvard in 1910, and served as dean of the Harvard Law School from 1916 to 1936. He died on July 1, 1964.
