Frederick Franklin Schauer (January 15, 1946 – September 1, 2024) was an American legal scholar who served as David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law at the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 as part of his "academical village", and now ...

. He was also the Frank Stanton Professor of the

First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Kennedy School of Government The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

. He was well known for his work on

American constitutional law The constitutional law of the United States is the body of law governing the interpretation and implementation of the United States Constitution. The subject concerns the scope of power of the United States federal government compared to the indi ...

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognise ...

, and on legal reasoning, especially the nature and value of

legal formalism Legal formalism is both a descriptive theory of how judges decide cases and a Normative, normative theory of how judges should decide Legal case, cases. In its descriptive sense, formalists maintain that judges reach their decisions by applying u ...

Life

Schauer was born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

, on January 15, 1946, and graduated from

Teaneck High School Teaneck High School (known as The Castle on the Hill) is a four-year comprehensive public high school in Teaneck, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the ...

. In his 1982 book ''Free Speech: A Philosophical Enquiry,'' Schauer says that government attempts to restrict freedom of expression have resulted in a disproportionate number of government mistakes. He argued that when governments restrict expression, they are incentivized to censor criticism of themselves, which makes it harder for them to assess the cost and benefits of their subsequent actions. He died from renal disease in

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the county seat, seat of government of Albemarle County, Virginia, Albemarle County, which surrounds the ...

, on September 1, 2024, at the age of 78.

Education

*J.D.

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

1972 *M.B.A.

Tuck School of Business The Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College is the graduate business school of Dartmouth College, a private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. It was founded in 1900 as the first institution in th ...

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

1968 *A.B. Dartmouth College 1967

Publications

*''Analogy, Expertise, and Experience'', 249 U. Chi. L. Rev. 84 (2017). * ''The Force of Law'' (2015). * ''The Theory of Rules'', by

Karl Llewellyn Karl Nickerson Llewellyn (May 22, 1893 – February 13, 1962) was an American jurisprudential scholar associated with the school of legal realism. '' The Journal of Legal Studies'' has identified Llewellyn as one of the twenty most cited American ...

, edited and with an introduction by Schauer (2011). * ''Thinking Like a Lawyer: A New Introduction to Legal Reasoning'' (2009).
''The Supreme Court, 2005 Term — Foreword: The Court’s Agenda – And the Nation’s''
120 Harv. L. Rev. 4 (2006). * ''Profiles, Probabilities, and Stereotypes'' (2003). * ''Playing By the Rules: A Philosophical Examination of Rule-Based Decision-Making in Law and in Life'' (1991).Reviewed by * ''The Philosophy of Law: Classic and Contemporary Readings with Commentary'' (with

Walter Sinnott-Armstrong Walter Sinnott-Armstrong (born 1955) is an American philosopher specializing in ethics, epistemology, neuroethics, the philosophy of law, and the philosophy of cognitive science. He is the Chauncey Stillman Professor of Practical Ethics in the D ...

) (1996). * ''Supplements to Gunther, Constitutional Law'' (1983–1996). * ''Law and Language'' (editor) (1992). * ''The First Amendment: A Reader'' (with John H. Garvey) (1992). * ''Free Speech: A Philosophical Enquiry'' (1982). * ''The Law of Obscenity'' (1976).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schauer, Frederick 1946 births 2024 deaths American legal scholars Harvard University faculty University of Virginia School of Law faculty Harvard Law School alumni Teaneck High School alumni Tuck School of Business alumni Lawyers from Newark, New Jersey