Peter Tiersma
A Tribute
Peter M. Tiersma
Peter M. Tiersma was one of the nation's leading scholars of law and language. With a Ph.D. in linguistics and a J.D. from U.C. Berkeley, he authored numerous prominent books and articles exploring the relationship between words, linguistic media, meaning, and the workings of the law.
Peter joined the Loyola Law School faculty in 1990 and held the Hon. William M. Byrne, Jr. Chair from 2009 until his passing in 2014. He was a beloved teacher, winning the Best Professor of the Year Award several times. He was a member of many illustrious organizations, including the Oxford University Press editorial board for the law and language series, and advisory panels for both Black’s Law Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary. He also served on the California Judicial Council Advisory Committee on Criminal Jury Instructions, where he helped rewrite California’s jury instructions to make them more understandable and effective for jurors. He clerked for Justice Stanley Mosk of the California Supreme Court.
Remembrances
"This is an incredibly tough loss. I was lucky to get to know Peter in two capacities: as his colleague and as his student. We worked most closely together on promoting the Loyola's study abroad programs, and I would occasionally borrow his voice-over talents for narration work. And I was fortunate enough to get to know another side of Peter as his student in his Trusts & Wills class in fall 2011. He spoke often about his family, and he used a lot of his life experience to help explain concepts in class. He always managed to keep the class laughing and engaged – even making light of how awful he felt some of those evenings – with his trademark deadpan humor. He will be sorely missed."
"It is an honor to write a personal memory about my friend, Peter Tiersma. I always enjoyed speaking with Peter about our common interests - being raised in the San Joaquin Valley, our love of wine and driving sports cars. I admired Peter's strength during his health battles and encouraged him to purchase his sports car. Rest in peace my friend."
"For many years Peter and I made wine together. We would take walks along the bluff overlooking Elwood Beach, or go wine tasting in the Santa Ynez Valley. Every visit would include an examination of his most recently acquired document. He would introduce this moment very matter-of-factly: “Come. I have something you might be interested in.” And I would be interested in the new piece – because Peter had been interested. His collection unsurprisingly includes objects commonly found in lawyerly reception rooms: deeds and indentures, writs and titles. But it also comprises revolutionary decrees, notes for farm implements, death notices. There is the horrifying; a bill of sale for a slave, a piece of Nazi hatred. Peter would spend hours parsing the Latin or the Italian or the Law English (the toughest challenge was often decoding the archaic script) and then he would fix the document into a context: legal, historical and cultural. Peter would breathe life into ancient conquests, dismal theological controversies and the displays of power and wealth. And then our conversations would spin out."
"Peter was a kind and gentle man. We were neighbors in Los Angeles. We would often meet at the pool and chat about life. When he became sick, I saw him and he told me that he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Knowing its an aggressive cancer, I was scared. But I knew that he would had beaten cancer before. He was such an optimist in face of the diagnosis I felt that if anyone could be this, Peter can. We stayed in touch throughout the treatment--I championed him and prayed that he would get through it. When I sent him an email today, I was deeply sadened to get the auto-response that he had passed. Although he is gone, his spirit lives on and all the people he touched along the way can not be erased. He will always be remembered. May I meet you on the other side and you'll be waiting at the hot tub so that we can pick up the conversation where we left off about life, law and whatever you want to talk about, my friend. Peace till we meet again-"
"Professor Tiersma was a gifted teacher, a great mind, and a very kind person. I will never forget my last last 3-L class was his Remedies course. Afterwards, he stopped to congratulate a group of us who celebrated with a glass of wine. And he taught us how to properly pronounce "gewurztraminer"- which we were drinking."
"Professor Tiersma was one of the few teachers/professors I've had, at any level, whose passion for teaching came through on a regular basis. I'll never forget the Trusts & Wills class he was unable to make during my third year. Rather than take the night off, he actually recorded a video of his full lecture and sent that to be played in his absence. The law school was a better place because of him, and will not be the same without him."
"I haven't ever met Peter, but I feel as if I have. Last year I ventured into a new area, exploring just what went wrong in cases such as that of Trayvon Martin. Peter's wise counsel and wonderful scholarship opened up new scholarly doors for me, making me smarter and, hopefully, better. His comments were absolutely essential to get me properly focused on a variety of issues on which I was ignorant. I feel his loss personally."
"If we had a Hall of Fame for members of the Advisory Committee on Criminal Jury Instructions, Peter would have been a charter member. His work was incredibly valuable in the formation of an entire new set of standard jury instructions. Peter brought a clarity of thought and reason to the Committee that will be sorely missed. Even while sick over the past few years, Peter managed to make it to San Francisco for our meetings and share his thoughtful insights. What a great guy--and what a loss for everyone."
"I am writing on behalf of the Fryske Akademy (Frisian Academy) in Ljouwert/Leeuwarden, where we all very much regret that Peter Tiersma is no more with us. In 1952 Peter was born in the Frisian village of Toppenhuzen and as a young boy he emigrated with his family to the USA. As a native speaker of Frisian he got his first university education in linguistics and since then he has done a lot for the study and maintenance of this minority language in the Netherlands. When he came to Europe with a Fulbright Scholarship in 1978 he did linguistic fieldwork in the village of Grou. There he studied particular phonological aspects of his mother tongue, the topic of his thesis. I had the privilege to meet him and to study together some of these problems. Later he wrote the book Frisian Reference Grammar (Fryske Akademy, 1985), which is still the best introduction to the Frisian language in the English speaking world. During his whole academic life he maintained strong ties with his native country and with his colleagues at the Fryske Akademy. In a certain sense his later work on Language and Law can be related to the legal aspects of minority languages. In Friesland we very much appreciated his broad interdisciplinary vision and his friendly approach to and interest in the work of the Fryske Akademy. His support was also stimulating for the editorial board and the editor of the Frysk-Ingelsk wurdboek (Frisian-English dictionary, 2000) and personally I enjoyed his co-operation and friendship when we published together on phonetic aspects of Frisian. It was a pleasure to meet him and Thea in the Netherlands and to experience their great hospitality during our stay in California. Peter can be considered as a symbol of all Frisians who emigrated to America for various reasons, which are expressed in one of our Frisian songs, the Lânferhuzerssang: Amearika, do lân fan dream en winsken…do hast my brea en wolfeart jûn (Emigrant’s song: America, you land of dream and wishes… you have given me bread and prosperity). Not only did Peter have a brilliant career in his new country, he also generously shared his wisdom and friendship with his old country. We are grateful for this and shall keep him in our memory."
"I met Peter and his lovely wife Thea many years ago in the summer of 1999 after being introduced by a mutual friend Tim McFadden. I was a fearless your Irish lad fresh our of law school in England over in California to get my own taste of LA Law at Heller Erhman. Peter and Thea hosted me in their home on the way to SF, Peter showed me the local sites on his kayak, and I even got to join in the 4th July celebrations in the town square, experiences that live with me to this day. Peter was a fighter and a glass half full type of guy. I am very saddened to hear of his passing, but know that he did good whilst he was with us."
"As a man of great dignity and a scholar of great erudition, Peter used to intimidate me. Oh, not with anything he ever did or said but just by virtue of his bearing. One evening, after a long conference day at a venue I'll never be able to remember, a number of graduate students were hanging out on the floor of a hotel room talking linguistics and whatever else the stream of consciousness was carrying along. In--or, rather, up--walked Peter, who plunked down at the door threshold, leaned back against the jamb, and proceeded to co-hang out with us. That told me something. It was a microcosm of the good man Peter was. Whatever I have to offer as a scholar of language and law is due, in no smart part, to him. Phil Gaines, Montana State University, USA"