Hans Arthur Linde (April 15, 1924 – August 31, 2020) was a German-born American legal scholar who served as a justice of the Oregon Supreme Court from 1977 to 1990.
Born in Berlin, Germany, Justice Linde relocated with his family to Denmark in 1933, and then immigrated to Portland, Oregon, in 1939. After serving in the United States Army during World War II, he received a B.A. from Reed College in 1947 and a J.D. at UC Berkeley School of Law in 1950. Linde served as law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas (1950–51), as attorney in the Office of the Legal Adviser to the United States Department of State (1951–53), and as legislative assistant to Oregon Sen. Richard L. Neuberger (1955–58). Linde was associate professor and professor of law at the University of Oregon School of Law in 1954 and 1959–76 and was a visiting professor at University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Los Angeles, Stanford University, New York University, and University of Texas at Austin, and a Fulbright lecturer in Freiburg and Hamburg, as well as at Willamette University College of Law in Salem. He served on the Oregon Supreme Court from 1977 to 1990.
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Life and career
Linde was born on April 15, 1924, in Berlin, Germany, to Bruno Cohn Linde, attorney and arbitrator, and Luise Linde (née Rosenheim). The Linde family was Jewish. Linde married Helen Tucker on August 13, 1945. They are the parents of Lisa (1955) and David Linde (1960).
Hans Linde attended school in Berlin, Germany and Copenhagen, Denmark until his family moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1939. He attended Lincoln High School in Portland, and earned a B.A. from Reed College in 1947, after army service in World War II, and a J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law in 1950. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Order of the Coif and served as the editor-in-chief of the California Law Review (1949–1950) (see Notes, 36 Cal. L. Rev. 628 (1948) & 37 Cal. L. Rev. 129 (1949)). He was admitted to practice law in Oregon in 1950.
Linde was a clerk for Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas (1950–51), during which time the Court handed down Dennis v. United States and Feiner v. New York.
He then worked as an attorney in the Office of the Legal Adviser to the Department of State and Adviser to the United States Delegation to the United Nations General Assembly (1951–53). Afterwards he was a Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Richard L. Neuberger (1955–58). Linde was associate professor and professor of law at the University of Oregon in 1954 and 1959–76, and has been a visiting professor in the law schools at U.C.L.A., Stanford, New York University, University of Texas, and a Fulbright lecturer in Freiburg and Hamburg, as well as at Willamette University. His publications include a coursebook in Legislative and Administrative Processes and more than 100 articles, lectures, and reviews.
Justice Linde served on the Oregon Supreme Court from 1977 to 1990. He was appointed by Governor Robert W. Straub to a term beginning January 3, 1977, and was elected in 1978 and re-elected in 1984. He retired from the court on January 31, 1990, and taught at Arizona State University Law School post-retirement.
He was a member of Oregon's Commission on Constitutional Revision in 1961–63, and also served on the Oregon Law Commission until 2009. He was an emeritus member of the Council of the American Law Institute and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. A compilation of his writings from 1947 to 1992 is set out in 70 Oregon Law Review xv-xix (1991).
In 2017, Justice Linde was named Legal Citizen of the Year by the Classroom Law Project.
Linde died in Portland, Oregon, on August 31, 2020, at the age of 96. See also Ronald Collins, Jennifer Friesen & Rex Armstrong, "No better champion of the law," The Register Guard (Sept. 28, 2020) (3 former Linde law clerks)
Selected Judicial Opinions
Brown v. Multnomah County Dist. Court, 280 Or. 95, 570 P.2d 52 (1977) (fair trial)
City of La Grande/Astoria v. Public Employees Retirement Board, 281 Or. 137, 576 P.2d 1204, aff'd on rehearing, 284 Or. 173, 586 P.2d 765 (1978) (home rule)
City of Portland v. Tidyman, 306 Or. 174, 759 P.2d 242 (1988) (zoning & free expression)
Anderson v. Fisher Broadcasting, 300 Or. 452, 712 .2d 803 (1986) (invasion of privacy & press freedom)
Cooper v. Eugene School Dist., No. 4J, 301 Or. 358, 723 P.2d 298 (1986) (rts. of public employees, religious freedom)
DeFazio v. WPPSS, 296 Or. 550, 679 P.2d 1316 (1984)
Fazzolari v. Portland School District No. 1J, 303 Or. 1, 734 P.2d 1326 (1987) (torts: negligence)
Hall v. May Department Store Co., 292 Or. 131, 637 P.2d 1255 (1982) (torts: intentional affliction of emotional distress)
Humphers v. First Interstate Bank, 298 Or. 706, 696 P.2d 527 (1985) (privacy)
Kabil Development Corporation v. Mignot, 279 Or. 151, 566 P.2d 505 (1977) (contracts)
Koos v. Roth, 293 Or. 670, 652 P.2d 1255 (1982) (torts: strict liability)
Lipscomb v. State, 305 Or. 472, 753 P.2d 939 (1988) (veto power & the referendum)
Marbet v. PGE, 277 Or. 447, 561 P.2d 154 (1977)