On November 6th, the Institute of European Studies (IES) at UC Berkeley, in partnership with the Austrian Consulate in San Francisco and Berkeley Law School, hosted Dr. Miriam Gassner for a lecture titled Transfer of Legal Thought through Migration?. The presentation examined the legacy of Austrian legal scholars who fled Europe during World War II (WWII), focusing on Helen Silving-Ryu, a prominent academic figure who shaped criminal law in the United States. The event attracted an audience of 14 individuals.
Gassner began her lecture by addressing the central question of her research: what happened to the lawyers and academics who immigrated to the Americas during WWII? She explored how a small cohort of Austrian-trained scholars, including Silving-Ryu, contributed to the United States’ (U.S.) legal landscape, navigating the challenges of adapting to a new language, culture, and legal system.
Among these scholars, Silving-Ryu emerged for her pioneering role in American legal academia. As the first woman to become a professor of criminal law in the U.S., she authored over 120 publications across multiple fields, including theology and education, with her work published in several languages. Born into an Orthodox Jewish family in Poland, Silving-Ryu pursued political science at the University of Vienna before emigrating to the U.S. in 1939. Her academic journey was marked by key relationships with figures such as Hans Kelsen and Lon Fuller, which exposed her to various schools of legal thought, including legal realism and natural law theory.
Throughout her career, Silving-Ryu championed a unique blend of legal realism and sociological jurisprudence. She was a critic of strict positivist legal frameworks, advocating for a minimum standard of natural law within legal systems. One notable example of her influence was her proposal to reform the U.S. practice of the "oath" in legal procedures, suggesting it be restricted to cases where absolutely necessary—an idea inspired by Austrian legal practices.
Gassner also highlighted her research methodology, which includes the analysis of archival sources and personal networks that, together, helped sustain the academic work of émigrés. This empirical approach seeks to capture the historical and social dynamics that influenced their contributions to American law.
The lecture concluded with a Q&A session, where Dr. Gassner addressed questions regarding the philosophical distinctions between formalist, positivist, realist, and naturalist legal approaches. She also discussed the contemporary relevance of Silving-Ryu’s modern legal thought.