A Guide to the Wilfred J. Ritz Papers 1955-1985 Ritz, Wilfred J., Papers of, 1955-1985 006

A Guide to the Wilfred J. Ritz Papers 1955-1985

A Collection in
Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Archives
Collection Number 006


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Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Archives, Washington and Lee University

Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Archives
Washington and Lee University
School of Law
Lexington, Virginia 24450-0303
USA
Phone: (540) 458-8969
Email: powell@wlu.edu
URL: http://law.wlu.edu/library/powell/

© 2001 By Washington and Lee University

Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Processed by: John N. Jacob, 1990

Repository
Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Archives, School of Law, Washington and Lee University
Collection number
006
Title
Wilfred J. Ritz Papers 1955-1985
Physical Characteristics
5 cu. ft.
Language
English

Administrative Information

Access

Access unrestricted.

Use Restrictions

Use unrestricted.

Preferred Citation

Wilfred J. Ritz Papers, 1955-1985, Ms 006, Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Archives, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA

Acquisition Information

Presented by Wilfred J. Ritz, 12/04/1990.›

Biographical/Historical Information

Wilfred Julius Ritz was born in Conklin, Michigan on March 15, 1915. He graduated from Sparta (Michigan) High School in 1933, and received an A.B. degree from Washington and Lee University in 1938. After working as Assistant Director of Research for the Virginia State Chamber of Commerce in Richmond (1938-1942), Ritz served in the European Theater during World War II (1942-1946) as a member of the U.S. Army Ninth Air Corps, rising to the rank of technical sergeant.

During another stint with the Virginia State Chamber of Commerce-this time (1946-1950) as Industrial Director-- Ritz attended the University of Richmond Law School, earning his L.L.B. degree in 1950. After receiving an L.L.M. from Harvard in 1951, he taught law at Wake Forest College (1952-1953) before moving to Washington and Lee School of Law in 1953. He was made a full professor in 1959.

Professor Ritz received an S.J.D. degree form Harvard University in 1961. He returned to teaching at Washington and Lee and remained there until his retirement in 1985 when he was named professor emeritus.

Ritz's areas of teaching specialization included: legal history and bibliography; conflicts; insurance; sentencing; and taxation. In 1970 he founded the Alderson Legal Assistance Program at Washington and Lee, which enabled students to provide legal advice and aid to inmates at the Federal Reformatory for Women in Alderson, West Virginia. He directed that program until 1985.

Professor Ritz won the Samuel Pool Weaver Constitutional Law Essay Competition in 1963. He published fifteen law review articles and the books: The Uniform Commercial Code and the Commercial Law of Virginia, 1956; Virginia Automobile Insurance, 1983; and American Judicial Proceedings First Printed Before 1801, 1984 (winner of the Joseph L. Andrews Bibliographical Award from the American Association of Law Libraries). When a stroke disabled Ritz in February 1986, two colleagues, Professors Wythe Holt and L. H. LaRue, took on the task of editing and completing his work on the First Judiciary Act. The result was "Rewriting the History of the Judiciary Act of 1789," which appeared in 1990 under Ritz's name.

Scope and Content Information

Two series make up the preponderance of these papers: subject files and writings. Two legal case files are also present.

The subject files include: biographical material, correspondence, memoranda, clippings, and research notes. Though several files contain items from as early as 1955, most of the material in this series is from the period 1980-1985.

The writings series begins with a copy of Virginia Automobile Liability Insurance and a host of reprints of law review articles written by Ritz. The projects represented in the drafts and typescripts are enumerated in the container list.

ARRANGEMENT

The collection is arranged chronologically.

Contents List

Subject Files
  • Carton 1
    Andrews Award 1985
  • Carton 1
    My Biography 1958-1985
  • Carton 1
    Dean Memos
  • Carton 1
    Publication and Grants
  • Carton 1
    Declaration of Independence
  • Carton 1
    Copyright (Photocopies)
  • Carton 1
    Leave and Travel
  • Carton 1
    Secretarial Services
  • Carton 1
    Retirement Letters
  • Carton 1
    Scholarly Correspondence
  • Carton 1
    Law School Libraries
  • Carton 1
    John Hazelton
  • Carton 1
    Library of Congress
  • Carton 1
    Publication - Judiciary Act of 1789
  • Carton 1
    American Society for Legal History
  • Carton 1
    Michie
  • Carton 1
    Rothman
  • Carton 1
    NEH Constitution Fellowship
  • Carton 1
    Hopkinson Article
  • Carton 1
    Faculty Colloquium - Sec. 34 and Erie 1980
  • Carton 1
    Prisoners (legal clinic) 1980
  • Carton 2
    Lewis Law Center 1980-1984
  • Carton 2
    Research pre-1970
  • Carton 2
    Bibliography (project) Reviews 1985
  • Carton 2
    Magna Carta, AALS 1963
Case Files
  • Carton 2
    Davis v. Manna 1983-1985
  • Carton 2
    Stella Shepard 1985
Writings
  • Carton 3
    Reprints of Articles 1956-1981
  • Carton 3
    Trial by Jury 1959
  • Carton 3
    Voter Qualification
    1963
  • Carton 3
    Number of Law Books in United States 1966-1967
  • Carton 3
    Virginia Court System Research Project 1969-1970
  • Carton 3
    Report On Legal Assistance to Federal Prisoners 1980
  • Carton 3
    Sentence Computation Article c. 1980
  • Carton 3
    Fines Article c. 1980
  • Carton 3
    Virginia Automobile Liability Insurance 1983
  • Carton 3
    Conflicts of Law Article 1984-1985
  • Carton 3
    Search for the Constitution 1984-1985
  • Carton 3
    Constitution Book Drafts and Research Materials 1985
  • Carton 4
    The Declaration of Independence Rediscovered - typscript and reseach materials 1985
  • Carton 5
    The Ordeal of Virginia: A Re-Examination of the Origins of a Colony in Virginia, 1578-1619 -typscripts n.d.
  • Carton 5
    The Expansion of Federal Court Jurisdiction In 1789-1798 By Use of Jurisdictional Fictions c. 1985
  • Carton 5
    American Judicial Proceedings First Printed Before 1801: An Analytical Bibliography 1984
  • Carton 5
    Bibliography of the Charles Edward Burks Collection 1984