Page 16 - May June 2022 CBA Report

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THE REPORT | May/June 2022 | CincyBar.org
The late Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
THE PROFESSOR, THE JUSTICE, AND THE TEXTBOOK
Three Degrees of (Legal) Cincinnati
In January 2022, a textbook published in 1953 on jurispru- dence was placed for auction at Bonhams. The unassuming maroon book appears like any other you may find in a law library or on a student’s bookshelf. And while textbooks can be notoriously pricey, they don’t usually sell for $44,062.50, as this one did. What makes this book so special and how does it connect the Cincinnati legal community to the highest court in the land and an American icon?
For nearly 40 years, Edwin “Terry” W. Patterson III served as the General Counsel for the Cincinnati Bar Association, before his retirement in May 2021. A career in law was a bit of a Patterson family legacy. 69 years ago, another Edwin W. Patterson, his grandfather, was the first Cardozo Professor of Jurisprudence at
By Chelsea Jordan
Columbia University Law School in New York City. While there, the elder Patterson wrote the book Jurisprudence: Men and Ideas of the Law for one of his classes.
Just a few years later, during the 1958-1959 school year, a law student named Ruth Bader Ginsburg enrolled in that very class.
According to the Bonhams auction listing, Justice Ginsburg’s copy of the book is “heavily underscored and annotated by [her] throughout, no doubt as she prepared for classwork and exams.” Justice Ginsburg originally began her legal education at Harvard Law School before transferring to Columbia after her husband accepted a job in New York City. While it is unknown if she was taught personally by Professor Patterson, his book remained in her collection until her death in 2020.
Terry Patterson’s copy of his grandfather’s book.
Professor Edwin W. Patterson, photo provided by grandson Terry Patterson.