International Juridical Association Bulletin

INTERNATIONAL JURIDICAL ASSOCIATION BULLETIN. Widely considered the law journal of the Left, the International Juridical Association Bulletin (IJA) was published by the American section of the association. The parent International Juridical Association was founded in 1931 by German and French lawyers prepared to fight Hitler and defend civil liberties and labor rights. The American section stemmed from a meeting in Berlin between Carol King, a well-known attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in New York City, and Dr. Alfred Apfel, head of the association.

The American section attracted a wide range of activist attorneys, legal scholars, and prominent intellectuals whose political ideologies ranged from liberal to radical. These included Carol King (secretary), Nathan Greene (editor), Sol Cohn (treasurer), Osmond K. Fraenkel (representing the American Civil Liberties Union), Joseph Brodsky (representing the International Labor Defense), Roy Wilkins (representing the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), Professors Paul F. Brissenden, Jerome Frank, and Karl Llewelyn, and writers Sherwood Anderson and Floyd Dell.

While existing law journals focused on defending property rights, the IJA specialized in describing cases involving defense of human rights. It also offered an analysis of current economic and social trends and their effect on cases, a practice other legal publications avoided. Peak circulation of 1,450 was achieved in 1938, and copies were to be found in the offices of Supreme Court justices, Department of Justice officials, and many bar association and law school libraries. The dean of the Wisconsin Law School regarded the IJA as “the best publication” in its area of specialization. The other major work of the International Juridical Association was done in groups researching projects suggested by movements and lawyers too busy in practice to set aside time for the creative thinking and research needed to fashion new ideas to attack old and new problems. This work often found its way into court briefs, legislative committee testimony and reports, and campaign speeches.

The IJA devoted considerable space to major civil rights and labor cases, including the “Scottsboro Boys,” Angelo Herndon, and Harry Bridges. It also analyzed New Deal legislation such as the Wagner Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. Writers for the IJA included Abe Fortas (future U.S. Supreme Court Justice), Alger Hiss (future presidential assistant), Lee Pressman (general counsel, Congress of Industrial Organizations), Thomas Emerson (future Yale Law professor), and Shad Polier (American Jewish Congress). Many law students contributed while working under Professors Walter Gelhorn and Herbert Wechsler to meet the Columbia Law School’s student research requirement.

With the advent of World War II, the IJA was concerned that legal gains established in the 1930s were not only preserved but extended. The IJA also supported excess-profits taxes, as well as wage increases in munitions industries. Although finances and circulation remained strong, many staff members were drawn into war service in Washington agencies or into military service. As a result, the editorial board decided to cease publication in 1942 in order to merge forces with the National Lawyers Guild. The IJA editors felt the Guild association would allow their work to go on “to greater glory.” For the next two decades IJA-style articles, often written by Carol King, appeared regularly in the Lawyers Guild Review. The IJA, now available in facsimile edition, remains an outstanding source for research into the legal disputes of 1932–1942 that were of most interest to the Left.

Ginger, Ann Fagan. Introduction to and index of The International Juridical Association Bulletin (1932–1942). 3 vols. New York: Da Capo Press, 1982.

Ginger, Ann Fagan. Carol Weiss King: Human Rights Lawyer, 1895–1952. Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1993.

King, Carol. Papers. Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute, Berkeley, Calif.
International Juridical Association, Monthly Bulletin, Full Text: Vols. 1-11 (1932-1942) Publisher: [New York]: International Juridical Association, https://home.heinonline.org/titles/Law-Journal-Library/Monthly-Bulletin-International-Juridical-Association/?letter=M