John Fabian Witt


John Fabian Witt is Allen H. Duffy Class of 1960 Professor of Law at Yale Law School, and the author of Lincoln’s Code: The Laws of War in American History, which won the 2013 Bancroft Prize in history of the Americas.

Biography

Witt received bachelor's degree, his law degree, and his Ph.D, which was awarded the John Addison Porter Prize, all from Yale. Before returning to teach at Yale, he was the George Welwood Murray Professor of Legal History at Columbia University. In 2007, he criticized the historical basis of John Yoo's theories. In April 2017, Witt was named the head of Davenport College, one of Yale's 14 residential colleges.