Malcolm McDermott was already an experienced lawyer and legal educator when he joined the Duke Law faculty in 1930. He had been a practicing attorney for over fifteen years and served as Dean of the College of Law at the University of Tennessee for a decade. At Duke Law McDermott was the Director of the Department of Legislative Research and Drafting from 1931 to 1936. He was a member of both the North Carolina Commission for Revision of Laws Relating to Estates and the North Carolina Commission for Revision of Insurance Laws. McDermott was also a member and vice chairman of the North Carolina General Statutes Commission. In 1951 and 1952 he was a legal consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense.
McDermott played a role in the addition of a word to the English language. In 1932 he collaborated with a Polish legal scholar, Raphael Lemkin, to translate the Polish criminal code into English. When World War II broke out McDermott secured a position for Lemkin with Duke University. Lemkin went on to coin the term “genocide” before the end of the war.
McDermott completed his A.B. at Princeton in 1910 and an LL.B. at Harvard in 1913. He started a general practice which he continued after becoming Dean of the College of Law at the University of Tennessee in 1920. McDermott assumed emeritus status in 1954 and died in 1967.
Sources:
Duke University, School of Law, Bulletin of Duke University School of Law [serial]
The Man Who Criminalized Genocide [perma.cc/K3QN-Z4BD], Duke Magazine, (November 14, 2013)
- Sales
- Legislation
- Legislative Research
- Municipal Corporations
- Municipal Corporations Seminar
- Criminal Law
- Legislation Seminar
- Wills and Administration of Estates
- Criminal Law and Its Administration
- Evidence
- Contracts
- Damages
- Insurance
Books
- Legislation in North Carolina () (reprint)
- Legislation in North Carolina ()
Articles & Essays
- The Proof of Paternity and the Progress of Science, 1 Howard Law Journal 40-62 ()
- Law and the Liberal Mind, 21 Tennessee Law Review 178-187 ()
- Insuring the Frontiers of Freedom, 6 Insurance Counsel Journal 72-76 ()
- The Polish Penal Code of 1932, and the Law of Minor Offenses, Translation () (with Raphael Lemkin)
- To What Extent Should Decisions of Administrative Bodies be Reviewable by Courts?, 25 American Bar Association Journal 453-460 ()
- Book Review, 48 Harvard Law Review 1053-1054 () (reviewing Murray Seasongood, Cases on Municipal Corporations (1934))
- Report on Inferior Courts Throughout the Union (accompanied by a statute relating to justice of the peace in North Carolina), )
- Paying the Piper, 7 State Government 270-271 ()
- Report on Constitutional Means Whereby Congress may Control the Production and Distribution of Machine Guns, )
- Report on Cost of Legislation in the Forth-eight States, )
- Report on Interpretation of the North Carolina Game Laws, )
- Report on Motor Vehicle Taxation in the States of the Union, with Special Reference to North Carolina, )
- Report on Procedure Adopted in Tax Foreclosure Proceedings in the Several States (accompanied by a model statute), )
- Report on Right of an Appeal by the State in Criminal Cases Under the Laws of the Forty-eight States, )
- Compilation of Criminal Statistics: Showing the Disposition of all Criminal Cases Tried in the Supreme Courts of North Carolina During the Past Year ()
- Contract Providing for the Publication of a Quarterly by the Duke University Press ()
- Report on Cost of Furnishing Free Textbooks in the Public School of North Carolina, )
- Report on Land Values and the Status of Real estate in North Carolina, )
- Report on Rights of Minority Political Parties with Respect to their Appearing on the Printed Ballots, under the North Carolina Election Laws, )
- Report on Taxing Outdoor Advertising, )
- Report on Uniform State Laws Adopted in North Carolina, )
- An Agricultural Army, 31 South Altantic Quarterly 176-186 ()
- Book Review, 37 Commerce Law Journal 360 () (reviewing Lawrence Vold, Handbook of the Law of Sales (1931))
- Digest of the North Carolina Statutes Relating to the Aiding of Voters in the Marking of Ballots ()
- Report on Bills of Rights of the Constitutions of the Several States, )
- Report on Consolidation of Local Units of Government (accompanied by statute providing for the consolidation of Durham County and city governments), )
- Report on Local Government, )
- Report on Proposed Federal Statute Designed to Restrict Short Selling on the Stock Exchange, )
- Report on Public School Education, )
- Report on Public Welfare, )
- Report on Public Welfare Provisions of the Constitutions of the Several States, )
- Report on Results and Need for Statute Licensing Motor Vehicle Operators in North Carolina, )
- Report on Statess Assent by Enactment to the Federal Governments Acquisition of Lands in North Carolina, )
- Report on taxation(with the University of North Carolina School of Law), ) (with Carolina)
- Study of the Sales Tax, with Special Reference to its Adoption in North Carolina ()
- Bulletin on Receiverships for Counties in North Carolina ()
- Bulletin on Right of Holders of Repudiated State Bonds ()
- Inference from an Inference, 9 Tennessee Law Review 87-92 ()
