Casner, A. James (Andrew James), 1907-1990

Law professor. LL.B., U. of Ill., 1929; S.J.D., Columbia U., 1941. Col. in U.S. Air Force, 1942-1945; Faculty of Harvard Law Sschool, 1938-1977 (retired). Publications: Estate Planning (1961, suppl. 1976).

Andrew James Casner was born in Chicago in 1907. He received an LL.B. degree from the University of Illinois in 1929, and an A.B., also from the University of Illinois, a year later in 1930. He received a J.S.D. degree from Columbia University in 1941, and an LL.D. from Harvard University in 1969.

During the Second World War, Casner served as a colonel in the USAAF (1942-1945), and received the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star.

Casner was an instructor of law at the University of Illinois from 1929-1930, a Professor of law at the University of Maryland from 1930-1935, Professor of Law at the University of Illinois from 1936-1938. He joined the Harvard faculty as a Professor of Law until 1938, and held the Austin Wakeman Scott emeritus professorship from 1961. In addition, Casner served as Harvard's Associate Dean and Acting Dean.

A member of the bar in Illinois (1929), Maryland (1934), and Massachusetts (1940), Casner was an associate of the Boston firm of Ropes, Gray, Best, Coolidge & Rugg from 1945-1958. He was also a member of the American Law Institute, for which he served as adviser on numerous projects from 1930.

In addition to numerous articles in law journals, Casner was the author of Estate Planning, published in 1953 (5th edition 1985), and its annual supplements, as well as Cases and Texts on Property (coauthored with W.B. Leach), published in 1959 (3rd edition 1982) and its supplements. He was editor-in-chief of American Law of Property (1951) and its supplement, chairman of the law editorial board of Little Brown & Co., and a reporter for Restatement of Property.

Casner died on August 31, 1990, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.