Prof. Ernest Weinrib, the Cecil A. Wright Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law, has been elected an Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Science.
The American Academy of Arts & Sciences is one of the United State's oldest and most prestigious honorary societies and independent policy research centers. On April 28, 2008, it announced the election of a new class of members drawn from the sciences, the arts and humanities, business, public affairs, and the nonprofit sector. The 190 new Fellows and 22 new Foreign Honorary Members are leaders in their fields and include Nobel laureates and recipients of Pulitzer and Pritzker prizes, Academy and Grammy awards, and Kennedy Center Honors.
Prof. Weinrib is considered among the very best legal theorists in North American and one of the few recognizable leaders worldwide. His scholarship and teaching have concentrated in the area of legal philosophy in general and tort law in particular. For more than three decades, tort theory has been a fiercely contested field of legal scholarship. As a tort theorist, Weinrib is recognized as a central and at times controversial figure in these debates.
His research over the years culminated in broader, general expositions of private law. In 1995 his major work, The Idea of Private Law, published by Harvard University Press, was heralded by one reviewer as "the single most important work on the nature and basis of private law published in the last 50 years."
"The academy honours excellence by electing to membership remarkable men and women who have made pre-eminent contributions to their fields and to the world," said Emilio Bizzie, president of the academy. "We are pleased to welcome into the academy these new members to help advance our founders' goal of 'cherishing knowledge and shaping the future.'"
"For 228 years, the Academy has served the public good by convening leading thinkers and doers from diverse perspectives to examine and provide practical policy solutions to - the pressing issues of the day," added Chief Executive Officer and William T. Golden Chair Leslie Berlowitz.
An independent policy research center founded in 1780, the Academy undertakes studies of complex and emerging problems. Its diverse membership of scholars and practitioners from many disciplines and professions gives the Academy a unique capacity to conduct a wide range of interdisciplinary, long-term policy research. Current studies focus on science, technology and global security; social policy and American institutions; the humanities and culture; and education. The current membership includes some 200 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.
The new class will be inducted at a ceremony on October 11, at the Academy's headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
