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IN MEMORIAM
WILLIAM ORR HUIE
William Orr Huie, Sylvan Lang Professor
of Law Emeritus at The University of Texas, died on October 14, 1999,
in Little Rock, Arkansas. Professor Huie’s association with the
law school as student, assistant dean, and professor spanned almost
six and one-half decades. During his career he may well have taught
more Texas lawyers than anyone else in the history of the state.
Professor Huie was born on September
15, 1911, in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. He attended Henderson State Teachers
College in Arkadelphia, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1932.
Shortly after graduation he enrolled at The University of Texas School
of Law, where he compiled an impressive record. His many distinctions
included chancellors, Order of the Coif, and editor-in-chief of the
Texas Law Review. He received his LLB with highest honors in
1935.
After graduation, William Huie began
practice with the Austin law firm of Greenwood, Moody & Robertson.
A year later he returned to law school at UT Austin as an assistant
professor. Although virtually all of his subsequent professional career
was dedicated to teaching, administrative work, and research at The
University of Texas School of Law, there was a series of interruptions
in his association with the law school during the next decade. In 1939
he became a research fellow at Harvard Law School, where he commenced
work toward a doctorate (SJD). In 1940 he returned to his teaching position
at Texas and to complete his doctorate. However, his plans were soon
cut short by his country’s need for his services. He served briefly
as senior attorney for the Office of Price Administration, and then
was drafted by the navy. As a legal officer, he was assigned to Chase
Field near Beeville, where his duties ranged from advising cadets on
personal legal matters to lecturing on the military justice system.
In 1946, with the conclusion of World
War II, William Huie returned to the law school as a full professor
and assistant dean. His administrative skills were sorely needed. Returning
veterans flocked to the law school. At that time, it was located in
Pearce Hall, a small, old building near the center of campus which was
barely adequate for the 700 students who had been enrolled during the
war years. With the influx of veterans, enrollment skyrocketed to more
than 1,200 students. Overcrowding was critical and resources were strained.
The library lacked the space and the books to handle all of the new
students. Classrooms were packed, and class sizes were enormous. Moreover,
many of the veterans were well past college age and married with children.
They were eager to get on with their lives, and they were often impatient
with the Socratic method and with courses that focused on policy and
jurisprudence rather than on how to file a petition at the courthouse.
William Huie was the perfect man to deal with the day-to-day crises
of this period. He was able to impose order upon a potentially chaotic
learning environment; and his calm, deliberate approach often defused
problems before they became critical.
Nonetheless, Professor Huie far preferred
teaching to administrative work, and after three years as assistant
dean he returned to full-time teaching. He also returned to his doctorate,
and was finally able to devote a long, uninterrupted period to his research.
In 1953, he received his SJD from Harvard Law School. Visiting positions
at the University of California at Berkeley and the UCLA Law School
followed. In 1961-62, he was back at Harvard Law School as a visiting
professor.
The invitation to visit was prompted
by Professor Huie’s signal of publishing two books on different
subjects in the preceding year. One was Texas Marital Property Rights.
No one was better grounded in the history, complexities, and problems
of the Texas community property system. He was probably the only scholar
who could see order in a system that appeared to be a chaotic mixture
of state constitutional provisions, uncodified legislation, and confusing
and contradictory case law. His book made the system comprehensible
and, indeed, went a step further. The Texas community property system
was one that purported to be fair to married women. As Professor Huie’s
book and other writings made clear, it had not done a very good job
of it. He quietly insisted that the law be changed, and he participated
in drafting Texas’ Marital Property Rights Act, which in 1968 finally
brought fundamental elements of fairness and equal treatment into the
system.
Professor Huie’s second book, Cases
on Oil and Gas Law, was equally noteworthy. It says something about
the depth of the scholarship and the quality of thought that went into
the book that, four decades after its publication, many practicing oil
and gas lawyers and academicians refer to it on a regular basis. Its
insights and detailed research remain relevant in an area noteworthy
for the speed with which concepts and theories change. Professor Huie
prepared the only teaching materials available for the courses on Texas
land titles and Texas water law. Of course, Professor Huie’s scholarship
was not limited to his books. He was instrumental in urging reforms,
and helped draft the Texas Probate Code as well as the Marital Property
Rights Act. He authored many articles, including an article that appeared
in the Harvard Law Review the year after his visiting professorship.
It is still as trenchant in its criticism of certain doctrinal inequities
as it was when he wrote it.
To two of the members of the memorial
resolution committee, Professor Huie’s visiting professorship at
Harvard is especially important for personal reasons. Upon his return
to the law school in 1962, he was appointed chair of the faculty appointments
committee. In that capacity, he offered teaching positions at the law
school to two of his former Harvard students. We shall always be in
his debt for giving us the opportunity to be a part of this institution
for the past 37 years.
Professor Huie’s return to the
law school did not, of course, mean retirement. He continued to write
and to teach. Dazzling, rapid-fire wit in the classroom was, admittedly,
not his strong point. Rather, his strong points were his insistence
on careful, accurate analysis from both himself and his students, his
gentle humor when dealing with a student who was off base, and his unwavering
devotion to teaching and the academic life. His deliberate and articulate
speech was much appreciated by his students. One was heard to say, "I
was able to write nearly everything Professor Huie said in my notebook,
and it was all pure gold!"
In 1965, Professor Huie was appointed
the Sylvan Lang Professor of Law. He held this position until his retirement
in 1982. Neither his work nor his honors ended at that time, however.
He continued teaching part-time as professor emeritus for an additional
fourteen years. In 1987, the annual Law Week was dedicated to
him in honor of his 50 years of service at the law school. The following
year, the William O. Huie Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Law was
established by the Board of Regents. Another signal honor was bestowed
in 1998, two years after his full retirement from all teaching service.
In recognition of his work in helping draft the Texas Marital Property
Rights Act, the Women and the Law Section of the State Bar of Texas
adopted a resolution honoring him as "one of those very special
people who forever changed and improved the lives of married women in
Texas."
Professor Huie had a rich and full family
life. He was married in 1935 to Hugh Mae Wolff of Mineral Springs, Arkansas.
They had two sons, William Orr Huie, Jr., and Robert Wolff Huie. After
the death of Hugh Mae, Professor Huie married Grace Eyres Bishop in
1972. Grace preceded Professor Huie in death by three years.
Professor Huie continued to be active
in his church and at his favorite sport for several years after his
retirement. He was a member of the University United Methodist Church
in Austin, and served on the administrative board and the board of trustees.
He played tennis well into his early eighties. One of his favorite pictures
appeared in the February 6, 1992, sport section of the Austin American
Statesman. The picture showed him, at age 80, in a tennis match
with one of his favorite former students, Judge Bea Ann Smith of the
Austin Court of Appeals.
Professor Huie’s academic work
and teaching were truly extraordinary. Above all, however, everyone
who knew William O. Huie admired him as a gentleman of unquestioned
integrity, of sound judgment, and with a genuine concern for others.
<signed>
Larry R. Faulkner,
President
The University of Texas at Austin
<signed>
John R. Durbin, Secretary
The General Faculty
This memorial resolution was prepared by a special
committee consisting of Professors Ernest E. Smith (chair), Corwin
Johnson, and Stanley M. Johanson.
Distributed to the Dean of the School
of Law, the Executive Vice President and Provost, and the President
on January 4, 2001. Copies are available on request from the Office
of the General Faculty, FAC 22, F9500. This resolution is posted
under "Memorials" at: http://www.utexas.edu/faculty/council/.
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