Collection Summary

Creator: Walter J. Wadlington
Title: The Papers of Professor Walter J. Waddlington
Accession: MSS 2014-05
Description: 2 archival boxes (1.5 linear ft.)
Location: SC - Basement
Photograph Collection: View 0 digitized photographs
Digitized Content: 0 objects
Use Restrictions: Some restrictions apply.

Collection Description & Arrangement

Professor Walter J. Wadlington papers were donated to the Law School Library June 30, 2014. These files (two archival boxes, .75 linear ft.) pertain to the organization of the Menzies Lectureships at the Law School during the years of 1983-1992. There are also some files related to The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grant and the Harrison Foundation Professorship in Law and Medicine.

Biographical & Historical Information

   The Menzies Lectures at the University of Virginia were established in 1983 by The Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Trust in honor of Sir Robert Menzies.  Sir Robert Menzies was a Scholar in Residence at the University of Virginia School of Law in 1966, in which role he presented a series of lectures on the growth of federal power in Australian government.  Those lectures were published in 1968 by the University of Virginia with the title Central Power in the Australian Commonwealth.

   In 1983, the Menzies Memorial Trust sponsored its first visiting fellow at UVA, Sir Zelman Cowen, Governor-General of Australia.  His visit sparked the idea of a “home-and-home” lecture series on law, politics, or history by distinguished Australian and American academics or public figures.  These new Menzies Lectures would be given by visiting fellows in alternating years at the University of Virginia and at the Australian National University.  [See: Memo from Richard A. Merrill to Dick Howard, 2/15/1984]. The original Australian committee to select lecturers included Sir Harry, Gibbs, Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, Dr. Gavin Griffity, Solicitor General of Australia, Sir Peter Finaly, Director of several large Australian public companies, and Professor Dennis Pearce of the Law School at Australian National University.  UVA Law Professor Walter J. Wadlington, as an expert in Australian law, served as the American committee’s chief correspondent with the Australian National University.  Also on the original American committee were former UVA president Edgar Shannon, UVA Law School Dean Richard A. Merrill, Judge John Butzner, Governor of Virginia Charles S. Robb, and UVA Law School professors Jeffrey O’Connell and Glen Robinson.  [See: 1983-1984 Menzies Lectureship].

   Australian Sir Robert Mason delivered the first Menzies Lecture at UVA in October 1985.  In 1986, Judge Collins J.  Seitz, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals from the Third Circuit and a 1940 graduate of UVA Law, was the first American visiting fellow to speak at the Australian National University as part of the Menzies Lectureship exchange.

Acquisition Information

Date Received 2015

Content List

Box 1

  • 1983, March 20-April 20; Sir Zelman Cowen, Governor-General of Australia, first Australian visiting fellow sponsored by the Menzies Memorial Trust – correspondence between Richard A. Merrill, Dean of the Law School and Prof. Wadlington; copies of correspondence between UVA Office of the Provost, The Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Trust, the Embassy of Australia and UVA President Frank L. Hereford related to Cowen’s visit.
  • 1983-1985; Menzies Lectureship – correspondence between Dennis Pearce, Walter Wadlington, Richard A. Merrill, Dr. David Partlett (Associate Dean of the Law School, Australian National University), Chuck Robb (Governor of Virginia), The Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Trust, UVA President Frank L. Hereford; Sir Anthony Frank Mason, K. B. E.; Judge Collins Seitz (USCA 3rd Cir.); memoranda re: Australia-Virginia Lecturer Series, list of candidates. Memoranda re: selection of Sir Robert Mason as the Australian lecturer and Judge Collins Seitz as the American lecturer. Text of Sir Robert Mason lecture: “The Role of a Constitutional Court in a Federation.” (2 folders)
  • 1986-1987; Menzies Lectureship – correspondence between  Dennis C. Pearce, Prof. Wadlington, Timothy J. Sullivan (Dean of Marshall-Wythe School of Law, College of William and Mary), Collins Seitz, Sir Harry Gibbs (Chief Justice, High Court of Australia) and Richard Merrill. Seitz text of lectures given in Australia: “Judicial Review and the American Constitution,”and “Contemporary Challenges in the American Courts.”
  • 1987; Menzies Lecturer: Sir Harry Gibbs, G. C.M.G., K. B. E  – correspondence between Timothy J. Sullivan, Sir Harry Gibbs, Richard A. Merrill, D. C. Pearce, Collins J. Seitz; text of Gibbs lecture: “Appointment and Removal of Judges (An Australian Perspective)”; schedule, program; The Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Trust Annual Report, 1987.
  • 1988; Menzies Lectureship: Richard A. Merrill–  Correspondence between  Prof. Wadlington, Timothy J. Sullivan, UVA president Robert O’Neil, Edgar F. Shannon, Jr., Dean David Hambly (Australian National University), Richard A. Merrill, UVA Law School Dean Thomas Jackson, Sir Ninian Stephen, AK, GCMG, GCVO, KBE; The Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Trust Annual Report, 1988.
  • 1989; Menzies Lectureship: Sir Ninian Stephen, Governor General of Australia – correspondence between  Prof. Wadlington, William F. Ray of New York, Geoffrey Lindell (professor of law, Australian National University), Timothy J. Sullivan, Richard A. Merrill, UVA Law School Dean Thomas Jackson; Sir Ninian Stephen, AK, GCMG, GCVO, KBE; extensive memoranda re visit; The Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Trust Annual Report, 1989.
  • 1990-1991; Correspondence  with Richard A. Merrill, Thomas H. Jackson, Geoffrey Lindell re: William B. Spong, Jr., President of Old Dominion University, Menzies lecturer in Australia; correspondence re 1991 Menzies lecturer Prof. Donald Westlake Grieg; The Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Trust Annual Report, 1991.

 

Box 2

  • 1992-1993; Correspondence between Geoffrey Lindell, Prof. Wadlington, Robert E. Scott, Robert M. O’Neil re: Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist lecture and other possible candidates; correspondence proposing Robert M. O’Neil and his acceptance to deliver the lecture.
  •  1992; Harrison Foundation Professorship in Law and Medicine – restricted file
  • 2001; The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grant   
  • 1988-1989; Zines, Leslie (Visiting Scholar) – correspondence
  • ca. 1992; Family Law Sample Examination

Associated People

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