David J. Langum, Sr.

An eminent legal historian and prolific scholar, David authored eight books and dozens of academic articles and book reviews. He taught legal history, property law, evidence, and real estate law at the Cumberland School of Law of Samford University as a professor of law from 1985 to 2005 and served as a research professor there from 2005 until his death.

Born on October 24, 1940, David was raised in Elgin, Illinois and graduated from Dartmouth in 1962 and Stanford Law School in 1965. He received a Doctor of Juridical Science degree from the University of Michigan in 1986.

After law school, David clerked with a judge of the California Court of Appeal and was associated with a major San Francisco law firm for two years before serving as a partner in a San Jose law firm from 1968 until 1978. He was a professor of law at the Detroit College of Law from 1978 to 1983 and was dean of the Nevada School of Law in Reno from 1983 to 1984.

David’s first book, Law and Community on the Mexican-California Frontier: Anglo-American Expatriates and the Clash of Legal Traditions, 1821-1846 (University of Oklahoma Press, 1987) received the prestigious J. Willard Hurst Prize. His two other major books were Crossing Over the Line: Legislating Morality and the Mann Act (University of Chicago Press, 1994) and a biography of the activist lawyer William M. Kunstler, published by New York University Press in 1999. He co-authored a history of Cumberland, From Maverick to Mainstream, published by the University of Georgia in 1999, which is one of the few serious academic histories of a law school. His other books include a co-authored biography of California pioneer Thomas O. Larkin, published by the University of Oklahoma Press in 1990; a biography of the 19th century California entrepreneur Mary Bennett Love, published by Texas Tech University Press in 2014; and a biography of his ancestor Antonio de Mattos, a Portuguese Presbyterian minister. Several of these books received prizes from historical associations. His final book was a memoir, The Joy of Scholarship, in 2020.

A harsh critic of governmental abuse of power, David served as president of the Alabama chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from 2000 to 2002 and as one of its directors from 1999 to 2009. His revulsion over misuse of power also motivated him to write his book about the Mann Act and his biography of Kunstler. David relished confrontations with errant or abusive authorities of any kind, and he once spent a day successfully challenging a traffic ticket in a small Alabama town. David also was instrumental in helping to integrate special needs children into Alabama public schools.

David strongly believed that too many academics write only for other scholars and fail to reach a broader audience. This inspired him in 2001 to establish the Langum Foundation, which confers the annual David J. Langum Prize in American Legal History or Biography to a book that has outstanding scholarship and is accessible to general readers. The Langum Foundation also awards a bi-annual prize for publications or films about persons who make significant contributions to their local communities, and the Foundation from 2002 until 2024 awarded an annual prize for American historical fiction.

For many years until his death, David was a resident of Port Townsend, Washington, where he lived when he was not in Birmingham or pursuing his lifelong passion for travel.

David was a member of many organizations, including the American Society for Legal History, on whose board of directors he served for several years; the Friends of the Birmingham Public Library, of which he was president from 2001-2006; the Boston Atheneum; the University Club of Chicago; the Norwegian American Historical Association; and the Anglican Church of the Holy Comforter in Montevallo, Alabama.

David is survived by his wife Grace Eskridge Langum; four children, Professor Virginia Langum of Umeå, Sweden, David of Olympia, Washington, Audrey of Columbia, Illinois, and Apollo of St. Louis, Missouri; and stepchildren, Patricia, Gene, Roberta, Dina, Dean and Willie Pucine. He was preceded in death by a son, John Langum, and by his parents, Dr. John K. Langum and Virginia de Mattos.

Friends and family are invited to a visitation on Wednesday, April 8, from 1 p.m. at Church of the Holy Comforter in Montevallo, followed by a service at 2 p.m. There will be a reception after the service. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to a charity of your choice.