Background

Victor Morawetz was born on April 3, 1859, in Baltimore, Maryland, the only son of Leopold Francis Morawetz and Elise Meyer. His father, who had come to Baltimore from Austria in 1849, was a physician.

Education

Young Morawetz was an amazingly precocious boy. After attending private schools for several years, he was sent by his father to Europe before his fifteenth birthday and was there for three years, doing almost as he pleased. Most of the time he was studying at the Sorbonne, though he traveled and paused for a while for work at German and Swiss universities, also studying and practising on the violin. Speaking Spanish rather fluently - as well as French and German - he became acquainted with the Count de Bardi, a dynastic leader in the protracted Carlist rebellion in Spain, and served with him for several months as an aide-de-camp. It was characteristic of him that he arranged to write letters about the war for the Baltimore Gazette, which referred to him as "our special correspondent at the front. "

Returning from his Spanish adventure, Morawetz entered the law school of Harvard University, from which he received a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1879.

He was awarded honorary degrees by Columbia (1888) and Williams (1914).

Career

He was admitted to the bar in 1880 and set up an office in Chicago, but his extremely youthful appearance prevented his being entrusted with any business for several months. At length a consultation brought him a fee of ten dollars.

Having in mind a book which he wished to write, he persuaded his father to support him for a year and a half so that he might work on it. This volume, The Law of Private Corporations, appeared in 1882, when the author was twenty-three. It was generally declared to be the first important book on that subject, and it gave him considerable reputation.

Moving his office to New York, he met Andrew Carnegie, won a railroad case for him, and thus made a name as a railroad attorney.

In 1886 he became a partner in a large New York law firm, and in succeeding years he served as general counsel for, and in some cases as a director of, several large corporations.

The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad had just carried out a great expansion program when, with the panic of 1893, the $102, 000, 000 corporation found itself faced with an indebtedness of $230, 000, 000. Morawetz took over (1896) and reorganized the financial structure, while Edward P. Ripley as president rehabilitated the system; Morawetz remained as chairman of the board until 1909. He did similar work for the Union Pacific and Norfolk & Western railroads, and for many years, as counsel and director, he helped to guide the latter, revealing himself as a great financier as well as lawyer. He and Francis Lynde Stetson represented J. Pierpont Morgan in the organization of the United States Steel Corporation, and Morawetz drafted most of the mortgages and other documents which set up that corporation.

In 1908 he retired from active practice, though he maintained an office on Wall Street to the end of his life. In his Banking and Currency Problems in the United States (1909) he suggested a plan for regional banks in a federal reserve system, one of the earliest such proposals and one which stirred up much interest. His Elements of the Law of Contracts was published in 1927.

After retiring, Morawetz bought a plantation near Charleston, South Carolina, and restored its manor house, Fenwick Hall, as nearly as possible to its colonial condition. He was greatly beloved in Charleston, where he worked for charitable and civic causes; Morawetz contributed $75, 000 to build a wing of a hospital for Negroes. He retained his youthful vivacity to the last. He died on May 18, 1938, in Charleston of a heart attack and was buried in Baltimore.

Achievements

• Victor Morawetz has been listed as a reputable lawyer by Marquis Who's Who.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Income of the nation and dividends of the masses

    (Leopold Classic Library is delighted to publish this clas...)

  • The banking & currency problem in the United States

    (The banking & currency problem in the United States 135 p...)

  • The Banking & Currency Problem in the United States 1909

    (Originally published in 1909. This volume from the Cornel...)

  • A Treatise on the Law of Private Corporations (Volume 2)
  • An essay on the elements of a contract and a statement of principles governing its formation,
  • The power of Congress to enact incorporation laws and to regulate corporations

Membership

Victor Morawetz was one of the founders and a member of the council of the American Law Institute and was active in the work of the Academy of Political Science.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• A friend said of him, "He never had a day of old age. "

Connections

In 1911 Victor Morawetz married Violet Westcott, a daughter of the author Edward Noyes Westcott. She died in 1918, and in 1924 he married Mary Margaret "Marjorie" Nott, daughter of the jurist Charles Cooper Nott. There were no children by either marriage.

Father:

Leopold Francis Morawetz

Mother:

Elise Morawetz (Meyer)

Wife:

Mary Margaret "Marjorie" Morawetz (Nott)

Wife:

Violet Morawetz (Westcott)