Biographic Notes for Percy Ellwood Corbett
Born 20 December 1892, Tyne Valley, Prince Edward Island, 5th of 8 children of the Rev. Thomas Corbett (1848 – 1926), Presbyterian Minister, and Agnes Harriet Crowe (1857 – 1906) from Truro, Nova Scotia. His mother died when Percy was 13.
Schooled in Blackville, New Brunswick; Rockburn, Quebec; Huntington Academy, Quebec (from the age of 14)
Higher Education at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec,Canada (BA, 1913; MA, 1915) and Balliol College and All Souls, Oxford (BA Jurisprudence, 1921; MA, 1925)
War service WW 1 (1916 – 1918) as an officer of the 13thHighlanders of Montreal, 27thBattalion Canadian Army – Military Cross won for work as a scout, venturing out into No Man’s Land between allied and enemy trenches on The Western Front. He wrote about memories and nightmares of Mont. St Eloi, Vimy Ridge, and Arras, but rarely spoke of his war experience. Became an advocate for world peace. Twice wounded, most seriously in 1918 while rescuing a fallen comrade from No Man’s Land.
Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, studying from 1919 to 21, returning 1922
Fellow All Souls College, Oxford 1920 to 27
Married Margaret Irene Morison (born November 1892, died 1980; also a student at McGill (BA 1913) and who was teaching in Paris when they met again in Percy’s time at Oxford). Wedding in Canada in 1921 before returning to Oxford.
Legal Officer in International Labour Office, The League of Nations, Geneva
Returned to McGill University Faculty of Law in 1924, served as Dean of the Faculty of Law from 1928 to 1936, and briefly as acting principal of the University (see A.J. Hobbins account of McGill leadership changes at http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca/webclient/StreamGate?folder_id=0&dvs=1487489410968~258&usePid1=true&usePid2=true)
1938 – Honorary Doctorate, Melbourne University, Australia http://about.unimelb.edu.au/tradition-of-excellence/notable-staff-and-alumni/honorary-degrees
1943 – Corbett moved to Yale University as Chair, Department of Political Science, and professor of government and jurisprudence, taking out American citizenship in 1947 or 48 (– sources disagree).
1951 to 58 Corbett joined the Centre of International Studies at Princeton. He also lectured at The Hague, 1954; California, 1956; New Delhi, 1958-59.
1958 Became emeritus professor, Yale. The rest of his career was spent at University of Virginia, and at Lehigh, Pennsylvania.
Corbett visited Canada regularly and for the last years of his life following Margaret’s death lived just over the border, near his daughter Helen Little who remained in Quebec. He never returned to live in Canada after citizenship of USA.
Percy Corbett was “influential throughout Canada in improving legal education, redefining the university’s role in the postwar world and in developing the science of international law in Canada. An activist, he joined others in attacking the injustices of the national as well as the international political and economic systems of the day.
…”His pioneering contributions were formally recognized in 1972 when the Canadian Council on International Law presented him with its John E. Read Medal. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/percy-ellwood-corbett/
Wrote 9 books: The Roman Law of Marriage(1930); Canada and World Politics, co-authored with H. A. Smith; The Settlement of Canadian-American Disputes(1937);Law and Society in the Relations of States(1951); The Individual and World Society,co-authored with Richard W van Waginin (1953); Morals, Law and Power in International Relationsco-authored with Francis H Lindley (1956); Law in Diplomacy(1959); The Growth of World Law(1978); Theory and Reality in World Politics, co-authored with Carey B. Joynt (1978)
Died at Derby Line, Vermont, 24 October 1983
See also, “Mentor and Protégé: Percy Ellwood Corbett’s Relationship with John Peters Humphrey” A.J. Hobbins http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca/webclient/StreamGate?folder_id=0&dvs=1487489410968~258&usePid1=true&usePid2=true
Tributes to Percy Corbett:
Kathy Fisher – poem “After First Meeting Percy Corbett”. An early version is at
John Peters Humphrey – “Thank You Percy Corbett”
Corbett Family - view from Australia 