# Edwin Borchard

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**Edwin Montefiore Borchard** (October 17, 1884 – July 22, 1951) was an American international legal scholar, jurist, and [Sterling Professor](/source/Sterling_Professor) at the [Yale Law School](/source/Yale_Law_School).[1] He was a leading advocate of innocence reform and compensation for victims of [wrongful conviction](/source/Wrongful_conviction) as well as the use of [declaratory judgments](/source/Declaratory_judgment). His work in international law emphasized non-intervention and neutrality.

## Education

Borchard was born in 1884 in New York City to Michaelis Borchard, an import-export businessman, and Malwina Schachne.[2] He attended the College of the City of New York from 1898 to 1902. He graduated with an LL.B. from [New York Law School](/source/New_York_Law_School) in 1905, a B.A. from [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University) in 1908, and a PhD, from Columbia in 1913, writing a thesis entitled *The Diplomatic Protection of Citizens Abroad*.[3]

## Career

Borchard served as the Law Librarian in the [Law Library of Congress](/source/Law_Library_of_Congress) from 1911 to 1916.[2][3] After a year working as an attorney for the [National City Bank of New York](/source/National_City_Bank_of_New_York), he accepted a position at the [Yale Law School](/source/Yale_Law_School) in 1917, where he was eventually appointed Sterling Professor of International Law and remained until his death.[1] He highlighted cases of [wrongly convicted](/source/Wrongly_convicted) people in the US and advocated for their right to compensation in *Convicting the Innocent*. His work led to the passage of a federal law compensating victims of wrongful conviction in federal courts.[4] He later served as a representative of the [American Civil Liberties Union](/source/American_Civil_Liberties_Union) (ACLU) during the 1944 *[Korematsu v. United States](/source/Korematsu_v._United_States)* [Supreme Court](/source/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States) case.[4]

Borchard's scholarship and public advocacy was very influential in stimulating the adoption of the [declaratory judgment](/source/Declaratory_judgment) procedure in American courts in the 1920s and 1930s, a subject on which he also wrote a book, *Declaratory Judgments.*[5]

Borchard's other interests included music. He was first violinist in the [New Haven Symphony Orchestra](/source/New_Haven_Symphony_Orchestra) and president of the Orchestra Association.[5]

## Family

Borchard and his wife Corinne had two daughters, Carol Borchard Sopkin (married to [George Sopkin](/source/George_Sopkin), professor of music at the [University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee](/source/University_of_Wisconsin%E2%80%93Milwaukee) and cellist of the [Fine Arts Quartet](/source/Fine_Arts_Quartet)) and Alice Borchard Couch).

## Bibliography

### Dissertation

- Borchard, Edwin. (1915). *The Diplomatic Protection of Citizens Abroad, or The Law of International Claims*

### Books

- ——. (1923). *The Permanent Court of International Justice*
- ——. (1932). *Convicting the Innocent: Sixty-Five Actual Errors of Criminal Justice*
- ——; Lage, William Potter. (1937). *Neutrality for the United States*
- ——. (1941). *Declaratory Judgments*
- ——. (1946). *American Foreign Policy*
- ——; Wynne, William H. (1951). *State Insolvency and Foreign Bondholders*

### Papers

- ——. (1913). European Systems Of State Indemnity For Errors of Criminal Justice

### Reference works

- ——. (1912). *Guide to the Law and Legal Literature of Germany*. [U.S. Government Printing Office](/source/U.S._Government_Printing_Office)
- ——. (1913). *The Bibliography of International Law and Continental Law*. Government Printing Office
- ——. (1917). *Guide to the Law and Legal Literature of Argentina, Brazil and Chile*. Government Printing Office

## References

1. Briggs, Herbert W. (1951). ["In Memoriam: Edwin M. Borchard, 1884-1951"](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-journal-of-international-law/article/in-memoriam-edwin-m-borchard-18841951/EFA0E14A2F8EAFA696654E1ACDCD547F). *American Journal of International Law*. **45** (4): 708–709. [doi:10.2307/2194251](https://doi.org/10.2307/2194251). [ISSN 0002-9300](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0002-9300)

1. Mayer, Michael S. (February 2000). ["Borchard, Edwin Montefiore"](http://www.anb.org/articles/11/11-00081.html). *American National Biography Online*. Retrieved 17 March 2015.

1. ["Guide to the Edwin Montefiore Borchard Papers"](https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ms.0670). *Yale University Library*. [hdl:10079/fa/mssa.ms.0670](https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ms.0670). MS 670.

1. Zalman, Marvin (2013). "Edwin Borchard and the Limits of Innocence Reform". *Wrongful Convictions and Miscarriages of Justice: Causes and Remedies in North American and European Criminal Justice Systems*. Huff, C. Ronald & Killias, Martin (eds.). Routledge. pp. 329–356.

1. Clark, Charles E. (1951). ["Edwin Borchard"](http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4217&context=fss_papers). *Yale Law Journal*. **60**: 1071–72.

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