The Volokh Conspiracy - The Hart-Fuller Debate and Student-Edited Law Reviews:

Troubles with student-edited law reviews are a favorite topic in the blawgosphere; one common complaint is that student editors often butcher articles during the editorial process. Given that frequent complaint, I was amused to read a passage in the recent biography of H.L.A. Hart about Hart's classic exchange with Lon Fuller in the Harvard Law Review in 1958, an exchange often known simply as "the Hart-Fuller debate." The exchange consisted of two articles: Hart's initial essay, H.L.A. Hart, Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals, 71 Harv. L. Rev. 593 (1958), and Fuller's response, Lon L. Fuller, Positivism and Fidelity to Law - A Reply to Professor Hart, 71 Harv. L. Rev. 630 (1958).

It turns out that the exchange was held up for a bit when the eager editors of the Harvard Law Review so heavily edited Hart's piece that he considered pulling it. He ended up asking Fuller (who was a Harvard professor) to intervene on his behalf. The Law Review editors restored the piece back to Hart's original, and the exchange went on to become a classic.

Here is Hart's letter to Fuller, asking Fuller for help with the editors:

  Meanwhile a spot of trouble! The L. Rev. boys had mutilated my article by making major excisions of what they think is irrelevant or fanciful. They have made a ghastly mess of it and of the references to Bentham and I have written to say thet must not publish it under my name with these cuts which often destroy the precise nuance. I took great care and much time over what they have coolly cut out.
  Could you induce them to be sensible? Such an interference with an author's draft is unthinkable here and I am astonished that so gross and insensitive thing should be possible at Harvard.
  I have told them that if they will undertake to restore the listed cuts I will get down to the unwelcome task of patching it up all over again. But meanwhile I will not return the proof.
  So sorry but it is important to me to get precisely what I said printed. * * * Yours ever, Herbert Hart

Fuller responded:

Dear Herbert,
After receiving your letter I went over to the Review and found the President busily engaged in restoring your article to its original form. I am sorry for what they did, although I have to confess that this sort of thing comes close to being standard practice with articles written by American authors. Being near at hand I could save my baby from mayhem. Had I dreamed they would take such liberties with your text, I would have stood over them.

So, authors, if you get back an article and the editors have overedited your piece, don't be upset: just think to yourself, "Hey, cool, I'm being treated just like H.L.A. Hart!" And editors, if an author gets upset with your edits and insists on having everything restored to the original, don't get depressed: just think to yourself, "Hey, this is just like the Hart-Fuller debate!"

	[Orin Kerr, August 13, 2006 at 8:25pm] Trackbacks The Hart-Fuller Debate and Student-Edited Law Reviews: Troubles with student-edited law reviews are a favorite topic in the blawgosphere; one common complaint is that student editors often butcher articles during the editorial process. Given that frequent complaint, I was amused to read a passage in the recent biography of H.L.A. Hart about Hart's classic exchange with Lon Fuller in the Harvard Law Review in 1958, an exchange often known simply as "the Hart-Fuller debate." The exchange consisted of two articles: Hart's initial essay, H.L.A. Hart, Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals, 71 Harv. L. Rev. 593 (1958), and Fuller's response, Lon L. Fuller, Positivism and Fidelity to Law - A Reply to Professor Hart, 71 Harv. L. Rev. 630 (1958). It turns out that the exchange was held up for a bit when the eager editors of the Harvard Law Review so heavily edited Hart's piece that he considered pulling it. He ended up asking Fuller (who was a Harvard professor) to intervene on his behalf. The Law Review editors restored the piece back to Hart's original, and the exchange went on to become a classic. Here is Hart's letter to Fuller, asking Fuller for help with the editors: Meanwhile a spot of trouble! The L. Rev. boys had mutilated my article by making major excisions of what they think is irrelevant or fanciful. They have made a ghastly mess of it and of the references to Bentham and I have written to say thet must not publish it under my name with these cuts which often destroy the precise nuance. I took great care and much time over what they have coolly cut out. Could you induce them to be sensible? Such an interference with an author's draft is unthinkable here and I am astonished that so gross and insensitive thing should be possible at Harvard. I have told them that if they will undertake to restore the listed cuts I will get down to the unwelcome task of patching it up all over again. But meanwhile I will not return the proof. So sorry but it is important to me to get precisely what I said printed. * * * Yours ever, Herbert Hart Fuller responded: Dear Herbert, After receiving your letter I went over to the Review and found the President busily engaged in restoring your article to its original form. I am sorry for what they did, although I have to confess that this sort of thing comes close to being standard practice with articles written by American authors. Being near at hand I could save my baby from mayhem. Had I dreamed they would take such liberties with your text, I would have stood over them. So, authors, if you get back an article and the editors have overedited your piece, don't be upset: just think to yourself, "Hey, cool, I'm being treated just like H.L.A. Hart!" And editors, if an author gets upset with your edits and insists on having everything restored to the original, don't get depressed: just think to yourself, "Hey, this is just like the Hart-Fuller debate!"