Call Number:

DG.010

Repository:

Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Extent:

3.25 linear ft. (3.25 linear feet.)

Preferred Citation:

Cite as: [Identification of item], in the Julen Cornell Papers (DG 010), Swarthmore College Peace Collection.

Date:

1940-1947 (inclusive)

Creator:

Cornell, Julien D., 1910-, Albert, Alfred, 1908-, Angell, Ernest, 1889-1973, Baldwin, Roger N. (Roger Nash), 1884-1981, DeSilver, Harrison, Fangmeier, Robert, Forster, Clifford, French, Paul Comly, 1903-1960, Hill, Lewis K., Kaufman, Abraham, Lazarus, Leonard, MacAdam, Ruth E., Muste, Abraham John, 1885-1967, Osborne, Winslow H., Phillips, Randolph Godfrey, Reeves, George B., Schwimmer, Rosika, 1877-1948, Thomas, Evan W. (Evan Welling), 1890-1974, and Butcher, Agnes Young, 1921-2005

Abstract:

Julien Cornell (1910-1994) practiced law in New York City, with a special interest in civil liberties. During World War II, he handled many cases for conscientious objectors, as well as advising many other COs about their various problems with the legal system. He was considered an expert on legal issues regarding conscientious objection and Civilian Public Service, and was consulted by many lawyers throughout the country for his opinions.

Julien Cornell (1910-1994) was a member of the Religious Society of Friends, and a 1930 graduate of Swarthmore College. He practiced law in New York City, with a special interest in civil liberties. During World War II, he handled many cases for conscientious objectors, as well as advising many other COs about their various problems with the legal system. He served as Counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union's National Committee on Conscientious Objection (NCCO), and chaired the Lawyers Committee of the Metropolitan Board for Conscientious Objectors. He was the author of The Conscientious Objector and the Law (1943) and a supplement entitled Conscience and the State (1945). He was considered an expert on legal issues regarding conscientious objection and Civilian Public Service, and was consulted by many lawyers throughout the country for his opinions.

It is probable that this collection was arranged by Cornell before he donated his papers to the Peace Collection; for the most part, his arrangement has been adhered to. This collection includes files about many cases handled by Cornell during WWII. He divided them between "Cases Handled" and "Habeas Corpus Cases Handled," though there are some Habeas Corpus cases which were not separated by Cornell out of the "Cases Handled" section for some reason. Habeas Corpus cases were civil suits instituted by the appellant after all avenues had been tried via the court system of appeals. The cases handled by Cornell were for COs released from military prisons because they were illegally inducted despite their refusal to take the oath of induction [see p. 70-71 of Conscience and the State by Julien Cornell]. It should be noted that the General Correspondence files include many letters to/from conscientious objectors and others concerned with them, and some of these refer to COs who have individual folders further on in the collection.

Notes following the names in the "Cases Handled" files were written by Cornell.

Correspondents include Ernest Angell, Roger Baldwin, A.J. Muste, Rosika Schwimmer, Agnes Young, and many others.

In 1968, Cornell donated 10 bound volumes of court records showing the legal treatment of conscientious objectors (1940-1948). Included in some of the volumes are newsclippings about the COs or their cases. Of particular note is volume five which includes reviews of Cornell's books, as well as 1943 correspondence about The Conscientious Objector and the Law from Evan Thomas, A.J. Muste, Clarence Pickett, Julius Eichel, Allen Barr, Roger Barr, Oswald Garrison Villard, John Steinbugler, Judge Edward F. Waite, Eugene Sherpick, John Nevin Sayre, Theodore Neumann and Harrop Freeman. These bound volumes are in the SCPC's book collection [called Legal Papers of Julien Cornell].