法律经济学先驱、联邦第七巡回上诉法院前法官波斯纳逝世，享年87岁
芝加哥大学法学院11月11日宣布，美国联邦第七巡回上诉法院前法官、芝加哥大学法学院高级讲师理查德·艾伦·波斯纳（Richard Allen Posner）已于11月10日逝世，享年87岁。波斯纳1969年加入芝加哥大学法学院，在第七巡回上诉法院任法官36年，被广泛认为是历史上最具影响力的法学学者之一，任职法官期间也被视为最高法院之外最有影响力的法官之一。
波斯纳1939年1月11日出生于纽约市，先后毕业于耶鲁大学与哈佛法学院，1962年以全班第一名的成绩从哈佛法学院毕业，并曾任《哈佛法律评论》主编。毕业后，他担任最高法院大法官 William J. Brennan Jr. 的法官助理，其后在联邦贸易委员会（FTC）与司法部副总检察长办公室任职，1968年起先后在斯坦福大学法学院与芝加哥大学法学院任教，1978年获任芝加哥大学 Lee and Brena Freeman 法学讲席教授。
在芝加哥大学，波斯纳成为法律经济学的开创者之一。1973年，他出版《法律的经济分析》，把经济理论系统地引入法律规则与制度研究，该书已再版至第九版，被视为这一领域的奠基之作。据《法律研究杂志》统计，他是20世纪被引用次数最多的法学学者。
1981年，波斯纳由里根总统任命为联邦第七巡回上诉法院法官，1993年至2000年任该院首席法官，2017年9月2日退休，36年法官生涯中共撰写约3,300份判决意见。作为法官，他是法律实用主义的坚定倡导者，庭审提问以犀利著称，判词力戒术语堆砌。
波斯纳一生写下数千份判决意见、数百篇学术论文与近40部著作，议题横跨反垄断、法理学、老龄化与情报改革等多个领域。退休后，他继续担任芝加哥大学法学院高级讲师，并创办了一家为自行应诉的当事人提供法律协助的公益中心。据法院文件记载，他于2018年被诊断患有阿尔茨海默病，此后逐渐淡出公众活动。
芝加哥大学法学院院长 Adam Chilton 在声明中说：「从未有过一位法学学者像 Dick Posner 这样多产、富有影响力，又永葆无尽的好奇心。他对我们的法律制度、法律经济学领域以及本院的影响，怎么评价都不过分。」法学院表示，未来几天将发布更完整的纪念文章。波斯纳之子埃里克·波斯纳同为芝加哥大学法学院教授，已向媒体证实父亲逝世的消息。
资料引用：美国联邦司法中心
Richard Posner, Law-and-Economics Pioneer and Former Seventh Circuit Judge, Dies at 87
The University of Chicago Law School announced on November 11 that Richard Allen Posner, a senior lecturer at the school and a former judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, died on November 10. He was 87. Posner joined the Law School faculty in 1969 and spent 36 years on the Seventh Circuit. He is widely considered the most influential legal scholar of all time and, during his time on the bench, was regarded as among the most powerful jurists outside the Supreme Court.
Born on January 11, 1939, in New York City, Posner graduated from Yale University and Harvard Law School, where he finished first in his class in 1962 and served as president of the Harvard Law Review. He clerked for Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr., worked at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and in the Office of the U.S. Solicitor General, and taught at Stanford Law School before joining the University of Chicago in 1969. In 1978 he was named the university's Lee and Brena Freeman Professor of Law.
At Chicago, Posner became a pioneer of law and economics. His 1973 book, The Economic Analysis of Law, now in its ninth edition, applied the tools of economic theory to legal rules and institutions and is regarded as the field's seminal work. The Journal of Legal Studies has identified him as the most-cited legal scholar of the 20th century.
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Posner joined the Seventh Circuit in 1981, served as the court's chief judge from 1993 to 2000, and retired on September 2, 2017, having written some 3,300 opinions. On the bench he was a staunch advocate of legal pragmatism, known as a tough and often unrelenting questioner who disdained jargon-filled opinions.
Posner authored thousands of court opinions, hundreds of academic articles and nearly 40 books, on subjects ranging from antitrust and jurisprudence to aging and intelligence reform. After retiring, he remained a senior lecturer at the Law School and founded a center that provides legal assistance to litigants who represent themselves. According to court documents, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2018 and later withdrew from public life.
"There has never been a legal scholar quite as prolific, influential, and endlessly curious as Dick Posner," Law School Dean Adam Chilton said in a statement. "He was a giant whose influence on our legal system, the field of law and economics, and on our law school cannot be overstated." The Law School said it will publish a longer tribute in the coming days. Posner's son Eric Posner, also a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, confirmed his father's death to the media.
Reference: Federal Judicial Center
来源：芝加哥大学法学院
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：理查德·波斯纳在哈佛大学发表演讲（资料照片）。chensiyuan 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。/ Image: Richard Posner speaking at Harvard University (file photo). Photo by chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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