law émigré max rheinstein (1899–1977) withRheinstein’s universalist perspectives. He was very disappointed the translation never materialized.31 Rheinstein had learnt from Rabel to take an open-minded and realistic view of the law, reflected in its role in society. As a student, Rheinstein had attended Weber’s lectures, and Weber’s lines of thought followed him throughout his life. At the University of Chicago he and Edward Shils, the professor of sociology, had translated Weber’s posthumous workRecht und Wirtschaft. Their translation, Law in Economy and Society, in which they connected the German and American traditions of sociology, was key in establishing of the field of legal sociology, or law and society, in the heyday of legal realism in theUS in the 1960s. The same sociological perspectives were visible in Rheinstein’s own publications.32 Rheinstein’s focus in this period was family law, marriage, divorce, and their legal consequences. His involvement in family law started with a failed codification project in the state of Illinois. The state congress adopted a modernized family law; after a judicial review, however, the Supreme Court of Illinois found the law unconstitutional. The American Bar Association, with its headquarters in Chicago, had picked up on the legal issues and convened a group of theorists and practising jurists with Max Rheinstein in the chair. In December 1952 the commission held a successful symposium in Chicago, and from there a research plan for comparative law was developed. Legal conditions in seven countries were to be compared, Sweden included. The project ran for some 20 years, with several symposia with participants from the Scandinavian countries, legal scholars as well as sociologists. Their findings were published in 1972 in a substantial volume with the title Marriage, Stability and Divorce.33 31 UChicago, SCRC, Max Rheinstein Papers, MRto Dekan Paul M. Hebert, 28 Oct. 1950. 32 See the interview with Lawrence M. Friedman in this volume, PAGE, for his scholarly relations with Rheinstein. 33 Max Rheinstein, Marriage, Stability and Divorce (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972). 265
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=