Francis E. Lucey, SJ Papers
Collection
Identifier: GTM-780701
Class notes and other materials relating to Francis E. Lucey, S.J.'s career as a professor in, and Regent of, the Georgetown University Law School from 1928 to 1961. Includes personal correspondence from 1929 to 1969 and other documents, including photographs. Note: Click on "External Documents" below for a link to the inventory for the collection.
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Francis Edmund Lucey, one of four children, was born in Malden, Mass. in 1892. He graduated from Boston College High School in 1909 and entered the Jesuit order the same year. He studied at Woodstock College and was ordained in 1923. He taught biology at Loyola High School in New York City as well as being the ice hockey coach and jazz band leader. After that he taught many subjects including modern languages, psychology and, philosophy. His Georgetown career began in 1928. He taught philosophy, religion, and psychology to the undergraduates and the history of social thought and abnormal psychology to graduate students. Regent of the Law School for 30 years, he initiated the requirement for all law school applicants to have bachelor degrees and so Georgetown University became the 5th school in the country to include that in its admission policy. He was supervisor for a time of all Jesuit colleges and universities in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and District of Columbia. In 1934-35 he was President of the Jesuit Philosophical Association of the Eastern States. For 10 years he was chancellor of Pi Ganma Mu Honor Society for the Middle Atlantic States, and he was also the Vice President of the Academy of World Economics. His article entitled "Jurisprudence and the Future Social Order" started a controversy in 1941 about the philosophy of Oliver Wendell Holmes, whose basic beliefs he found to be materialistic and agnostic. Another article on Holmes was written in "Holmes--Liberal--Humanitarian-Believer in Democracy?" in 1951. Fr. Lucey also wrote "Liability Without Fault and the Natural Law", "Natural Law and American Legal Realism", "Compulsory Military Training", "The Catholic Lawyer in Marriage Cases", History of Georgetown University Law School, an article on Cannon Law in the New Catholic Encyclopedia and "Materials in Civil Procedure." He became Regent Emeritus of the Law Center in 1961. He had been admitted to the bars of 4 courts including the Supreme Court. At one time he lectured in Germany at the University of Frankfurt. This university awarded him an honorary doctorate of law, and he was the first Jesuit in modern times to receive an honorary degree from a German university. Georgetown University and Mt. St. Mary's College also awarded him honorary degrees.
17.25 Linear Feet (12 boxes)
English
From the effects of Rev. Francis E. Lucey, S.J., 1970.
Part of the Georgetown University Manuscripts Repository