Augustus Noble Hand

Augustus Noble Hand (July 26, 1869 – October 28, 1954) was an American judge who served on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and later on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. His most notable rulings restricted the reach of obscenity statutes in the areas of literature and contraceptives. He was the older first cousin of famed judge Learned Hand, who himself served on both courts during most of Augustus Hand's tenure at each. Hand was born in Elizabethtown, New York. He received an A.B. from Harvard in 1890, and earned an L.L.B. at Harvard Law School in 1894. He then established a private practice in New York City, which he maintained until 1914, when he was nominated by...