We celebrate the life of John Howard Mansfield (1928-2014), the John H. Watson, Jr. Professor of Law, Emeritus, at the Harvard Law School and member of the KARAMAH faculty of our Law and Leadership Summer Program (LLSP).
Professor Mansfield was a distinguished scholar of the old school. He authored important works in the areas of comparative and constitutional law. At KARAMAH he lectured on Islamic family law in American courts. Professor Mansfield took special interest in Aleem v. Aleem, a case that was adjudicated in Maryland at the time. After Maryland’s highest court decided the case, Professor Mansfield gathered additional facts, and then wrote in 2008 the article “Marriage in Pakistan- Divorce in Maryland,” which is on the KARAMAH website. He followed this article with a sequel in 2009 which is also posted. After 2010, Professor Mansfield’s health made it difficult for him to continue teaching at LLSP. Yet Professor Mansfield and his wife Maria Luisa Fernandez, an Islamic art expert, never failed to inquire about the KARAMAH students.
On October 12th of this year, a memorial celebration took place at the Harvard Law School in honor of Professor John Howard Mansfield. We were there to share in the celebration, and his photograph with the KARAMAH students was on display. While there, we learned that Professor Mansfield’s library was donated to the National Law School of India University (Bangalore, India) while his Morris chair was donated to the Harvard Law School’s special collection, where it now resides at the Caspersen Room. Oliver Wendell Holmes used this chair in his home and following his death it found its way to Felix Frankfurter, for whom Professor Mansfield clerked, and ultimately to Professor Mansfield himself.
We at KARAMAH are grateful for having someone of the caliber of Professor Mansfield teach at our Law & Leadership Summer Program. He left behind a lot of enlightened and motivated young Muslim women, and a better understanding of Islamic law in American courts and First Amendment jurisprudence. We miss him deeply and pray that he rest in peace and that Mrs. Mansfield finds comfort in all the love and appreciation surrounding the memory of her husband.
For more on Professor Mansfield’s life and accomplishments, see here.
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