"He felt...that no position in life was so exalted as one where duty demands the training of young men to love the law and to administer it in justice and equity...Such was Tarlton, the teacher, and the memory of his service will live in this department, stimulating and encouraging those who follow after to emulate his devotion to this duty."

-- Alcalde v.7, no. 48

 The Law Library has been an important part of the School of Law since the founding of the University of Texas in 1883. 

The foundation of the library's collection came from personal libraries of the Law School's first faculty members, Governor Oran Roberts and Texas Supreme Court Justice Robert Gould. 

These volumes, which have been a resource for law students from the early days of the University, are still treasured items in Tarlton Law Library's Rare Books Collection.

Tartlon's broader collection has since outgrown its home in five subsequent Law School buildings, but it was not until construction was completed on Townes Hall in 1954 that the Tarlton Law Library was dedicated and named in honor of Judge Benjamin Dudley Tarlton. 

Judge Tarlton was a beloved teacher so important in the early decades of the law school that there was little debate over what to name the new library facilities of Townes Hall;

"At a time before signature buildings were dependent upon major monetary contributions for designation, the law professors and administrators chose to name... the Tarlton Law Library." 

- Genevieve Tarlton Hearn, Judge Benjamin Dudley Tarlton centennial celebration.

Benjamin Dudley Tarlton graduated from Tulane Law School in 1872. He moved to Texas in 1875 and practiced law until he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1880. He served a second term in the House, and in 1888 he was approached by Governor Hogg and asked to serve as an Associate Justice on the Commission of Appeals.  

In 1888 he was appointed by Governor Hogg as the first Chief Justice of the Court of Civil Appeals for the Second District of Texas. As remembered by his colleagues in the 48th volume of the Alcalde, during his six year term he "handed down some decisions which will stand forever as sound Texas Law."

In 1904 Judge Tarlton accepted an appointment as a Professor of Law at the University of Texas law school and was a beloved member of the faculty until his death in 1919. 

Someone has said that the study of law is dry and uninteresting. That person evidently...never attended any of Judge Tarlton's lectures, or he could not truthfully have made such a statement. The writer has attended some 250 or more lectures given by the venerable judge, and regrets that he has no more of them ahead of him. 

                                                                                                                                                    -- Alcalde, v.7, no.49     

In 1919, Judge Tarlton was visiting Corpus Christi when an unnamed hurricane struck unexpectedly. An 11-to-16 foot storm surge swept many unprepared residents and visitors out to sea. In what a fellow professor referred to in the Alcalde memorial edition as, "A most dramatic example of his moral courage," Judge Tarlton, who was then 70 years old, repeatedly swam the length of the Corpus Christi bay multiple times, rescuing women and children from the storm. 

Unfortunately Judge Tarlton contracted pneumonia in the weeks afterward and did not recover.

Judge Tarlton was remembered with great affection by colleagues and students, and the Law Library is honored to celebrate its 70th year as the Tarlton Law Library. 

If you'd like to learn more about our  illustrious namesake, please stop by the 4th floor Reading Room to visit this exhibit in person, or check out this recent biography on B.D. Tarlton.