Professor Guido Calabresi to Receive American Philosophical Society Award

Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law Guido Calabresi ’58 LLB will receive the 2025 Henry M. Phillips Prize from the American Philosophical Society (APS) during the Society’s April 24 meeting.

In an announcement from APS, the committee emphasized Calabresi’s “singular combination of rigorous scholarship, influential jurisprudence, and long-standing commitment to legal education.”

The prize committee was chaired by Senior Research Scholar in Law Linda Greenhouse ’78 MSL, and included Jane C. Ginsburg, Goodwin Liu ’98, Martha Minow ’79, Sterling Professor of Law Robert C. Post ’77, and Geoffrey R. Stone.

“Judge Calabresi […] is a foundational scholar in the field of law and economics,” the prize committee said in a statement. “The committee selected him in recognition of work that has reshaped how scholars and courts consider questions of liability, policy, and the role of law in democratic societies.” 

A co-founder of the field of law and economics and a legendary professor to generations of Yale Law School students, Calabresi ranks among the most influential legal scholars of his time with a career that spans scholarship, teaching, and judicial service. His Yale Law School teaching career began in 1959, and he served as the School’s dean for nine years from 1985 to 1994. A distinguished jurist, Calabresi was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in 1994 by former President Bill Clinton ’73 and currently serves as a senior judge. 

He received his B.S. degree, summa cum laude, from Yale College in 1953, a B.A. degree with First Class Honors from Magdalen College, Oxford University, in 1955, an LL.B. degree, magna cum laude, in 1958 from Yale Law School, and an M.A. in politics, philosophy, and economics from Oxford University in 1959. 

A Rhodes Scholar and member of Phi Beta Kappa and the Order of the Coif, Calabresi clerked for Justice Hugo Black of the U.S. Supreme Court following graduation. He has been awarded more than 50 honorary degrees from universities in the United States and abroad and is the author of more than 100 articles on law and related subjects. His influential books include “The Costs of Accidents,” “Tragic Choices,” and “A Common Law for the Age of Statutes.” He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1997.

The Henry M. Phillips Prize was first established in 1888, initially to recognize the best essay on the science and philosophy of jurisprudence. It later evolved to recognize the most important publication in the field within a five year period before transitioning to the current award, which celebrates outstanding lifetime contributions to the field of jurisprudence and the important publications that illustrate those accomplishments.

Previous prize recipients from the Law School faculty include Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law Owen M. Fiss in 2020 and Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science Bruce Ackerman ’67 LLB in 2002.