Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Luis Kutner Papers
Dates: 1930-1993
Collection number: 82015
Creator:
Kutner, Luis, 1908-
Extent:
304 manuscript boxes, 5 oversize boxes, 1 phonotape reel.
(96 linear feet)
Repository:
Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Abstract: Includes writings, correspondence, legal briefs, and printed matter, relating to international civil rights cases, world federation,
and attempts to secure international recognition of habeas corpus and due process of law by an American lawyer who was both
chairman of the Commission for International Due Process of Law and the World Habeas Corpus Commission. Sound use copy of
sound recording available.
Physical location: Hoover Institution Archives
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Collection is open for research.
The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to
copies of audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives
at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see
or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives.
[Identification of item], Luis Kutner papers, [Box number], Hoover Institution
Archives.
The Kutner papers were acquired in 1982; incremental materials in boxes 116 to 240 were added from 1983 to 1993. An increment
was added in 2011.
Incremental materials in boxes 116 to 240 were added from 1983 to 1993.
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find
the collection in Stanford University's online catalog Socrates at
http://library.stanford.edu/webcat . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in Socrates is larger than the number of boxes
listed in this finding aid.
| 1908 June 9 | Born, Chicago, Illinois |
| 1927 | J.D., University of Chicago |
| 1930 | Admitted to Bar, State of Illinois |
| 1944 | Author, The Admiral (biography of George Dewey) (with Laurin Healy) |
| 1948 | Author, Fights and Cascades, Moon Splashed, Red Wine and Shadows (poems) |
| 1953 | Author, Live in Twelve Minutes (novel) (with W. T. Brannon) |
| 1957 | Author, The International Court of Habeas Corpus and the United Nations Writ of Habeas Corpus |
| 1958 | Author, World Habeas Corpus: A Proposal for International Court of Habeas Corpus and the United Nations Writ of Habeas Corpus |
| 1961 | Co-founded Amnesty International (with Peter Benenson) |
| 1962 | Author, World Habeas Corpus |
| 1966 | Author, I, the Lawyer |
| 1967 | Wrote the first living will |
| 1970 | Author, Legal Aspects of Charitable Trusts and Foundations: A Guide for Philanthropoids, The Intelligent Women's Guide to Future Security (also published as How to Be a Wise Widow) |
| Editor, The Human Right to Individual Freedom: A Symposium on World Habeas to Corpus | |
| 1972 | U.S. congressional nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize |
| 1974 | Author, Due Process of Rebellion, How to Be a Wise Widow,and The Trialle of William Shakespeare (three-act play) |
| 1993 March 1 | Died, Chicago, Illinois |
Scope and Content of Collection
The Luis Kutner papers describe his activities as a lawyer, as chairman of the Commission for International Due Process of
Law, and as chairman of the World Habeas Corpus Commission. They consist of writings, correspondence, legal briefs, and printed
matter relating to international civil rights cases, world federation, and attempts to secure international recognition of
habeas corpus and due process of law.
The materials reflect Kutner's advocacy for the right to a fair trial based on due process of law, his crusade against unlawful
arrest and ill treatment of political prisoners, his propagation of the concepts of euthanasia and the living will to uphold
the right to die with dignity, and his commitment to saving the environment and protecting marine life.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Civil rights.
Due process of law.
Habeas corpus (international law)
International law.
International organization.
Law.
Commission for International Due Process of Law.
World Habeas Corpus Commission.
Lawyers--United States.
Phonotapes.