In light of recent world events, world attention is again partially focused on the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East. At this time, it is worth mentioning the role that an important Houstonian of an earlier era, a South Texas College of Law founder and our first dean, had to play in the history of the Middle East.

South Texas' first dean was Joseph Chappell Hutcheson, Jr., who served as dean from 1923-1931, and who was also one of the school's co-founders along with Judge Sam Streetman (the school's second dean, 1931-1934), and E. E. Townes (the school's third dean from 1934-1960). Hutcheson was a graduate of the University of Texas in 1900, where he received an LL.B., and was then an attorney with his father in the Houston law firm of Hutcheson and Hutcheson. Hutcheson, Jr. later served as chief legal advisor to the City of Houston from 1913-1917, and was Mayor of Houston from 1917-1918, until President Woodrow Wilson appointed him Federal Judge for the Southern District of Texas in 1918. At that time there was only one judge for the entire Southern District, with only the one seat existing from the court's creation in 1902 until 1938.

Hutcheson served on the federal district court until 1931, when he was named a federal appeals judge for the 5th Circuit. Hutcheson served as chief judge of the 5th Circuit from 1948-1959. He stepped down as chief judge in 1959 due to his age, but remained on the court until 1964.

Hutcheson also served on the State Bar of Texas Committee on Cooperation with the American Law Institute, 1941-1949, and the State Bar Committee on Latin American Law as Vice-Chairman from 1956-1957, and also served on the Council of the American Law Institute. Hutcheson was also instrumental in the creation of the Houston Legal Aid Society by the Houston Bar Association, which set up the first legal clinic in the state with a full-time director. Hutcheson was also an advisor to the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement (Wickersham Commission) concerning Prohibition. Hutcheson died in 1973.1

The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry

Following the Allied victory in World War II, on November 13, 1945, British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin announced the formation of an Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry concerning Jewish problems in Palestine and Europe.2 World War II and the Nazi persecution and execution of the Jews, and the large amount of Jewish displaced persons in Europe after the war, had pushed the need for a Jewish homeland to the forefront of the political stage in Europe, Britain and the United States.3

On December 10, 1945, Joseph C. Hutcheson Jr. was named the American Co-Chairman of the committee. Hutcheson shared the chairmanship with Sir John E. Singleton, a Judge of the King's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice in London, England. The principal task of the committee was to examine political, economic and social conditions in Palestine "as they bear upon the problem of Jewish immigration and settlement therein and the well-being of the peoples now living therein."4

Public hearings were held in January of 1946 in Washington, D.C. and London. During February, hearings were conducted in Central Europe and Cairo, and, in March 1946, in Jerusalem and other cities of the Middle East. At the end of March the committee retired to Lausanne, Switzerland, and from there issued their report to the United States Government and His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom on April 20, 1946.

The committee gave ten recommendations, including: (1) that it was only hopeful about Palestine as a place of settlement for Jews wishing or impelled to leave Europe, partially due to lingering anti-Semitism in Europe; (2) they recommended 100,000 Jews be immediately allowed to immigrate to Israel to relieve the suffering in Europe; (3) that Palestine not be allowed to be dominated by either Arabs or Jews; (4) that the British control of Palestine continue until an envisioned future United Nations trusteeship could take over, due to the present state of violence between Arab and Jew; (6) and that the UN should allow further Jewish immigration to Palestine in the future.5

The British government did not act upon the recommendations, and referred the whole Palestine problem to the UN in 1947. On November 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the UN approved a plan for the partition of Palestine into two areas, one for Arabs, and one for Jews, with an international district for Jerusalem.

Great Britain was unwilling to enact the policy after Arabs voiced strong opposition to the plan. It is important to note that although the ratio of Arabs to Jews in Palestine at the time was two to one, the UN-approved partition of land allotted 55 percent to the Jews. Civil War then broke out in Palestine over the issue. When Israel declared statehood on May 14, 1948, the same day British control over the region was ended, the surrounding Arab countries attacked Israel.6 War would then become almost a constant fixture of the region, to include the war of 1948, as well as wars in 1956, 1967, and 1973. Peace in the region has never been that peaceful either.7

Peace in the Middle East has proven so far to be an elusive goal. However, it is worthwhile at this time to highlight an important Houstonian of an earlier era, our law school founder and former dean, and his work in attempting to help mediate peace in the Middle East. Evidence of Judge Hutcheson's famous judicial temperament can be found in the recommendations of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, and 55 years later, also the wisdom contained within them.8

1 The above information is from "Memorial: Joseph C. Hutcheson Jr.," 36 TEX. B. J. 254 (1973); "Hutcheson, Joseph Chappell, Jr." The Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/HH/fhu47.html [Accessed 29 November 2001]; "Southern District of Texas: History of the District." United States District and Bankruptcy Courts, Southern District of Texas. http://www.txs.uscourts.gov/history/history.htm [Accessed 30 November 2001]: and Eric L. Fredrickson, A Commitment To Public Service: The History of the Houston Bar Association. Houston, Texas: Gulf Publishing Co., 1992.

2 "The United States and the Recognition of Israel: A Chronology." The Truman Presidential Museum & Library. http://www.trumanlibrary.org/israel/palestin.htm [Accessed 1 October 2001].

3 “Palestine, history of,” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. http://search.eb.com/bol/topic?artcl=108523&seq_nbr=3&page=n&isctn=3&pm=1 [Accessed 30 November 2001]; and “Israel” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. http://search.eb.com/bol/topic?eu=109507&sctn=8&pm=1 [Accessed 30 November 2001].

4 “In Chambers We Learn,” 9 TEX. B. J. 15 (1946).

5 “Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry,” The Avalon Project at the Yale Law School. http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/anglo/angtoc.htm [Accessed 30 November 2001].

6 “Palestine, history of,” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. http://search.eb.com/bol/topic?artcl=108523&seq_nbr=3&page=n&isctn=3&pm=1 [Accessed 30 November 2001].

7 John Norton Moore, editor, "A Brief Historical Overview of the Arab-Israeli Conflict," The Arab-Israeli Conflict, Readings and Documents, Abridged and Revised Edition. Sponsored by the American Society of International Law. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1977.

8 Joseph C. Hutcheson, Jr.'s work on the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry may be studied by viewing his manuscript collection at the University of Texas Tarlton Law Library Rare Books & Special Collections department, listed on the Internet at: http://www.law.utexas.edu/rare/archives-fedjudges.htm#Joseph C. Hutcheson Jr. papers.