Edmund M. Morgan '02, Royall Professor of Law, will leave Harvard at the end of the present academic year for a position as professor of Law at the Vanderbilt University Law School, Ray Forester, Dean of the Vanderbilt Law School, announced yesterday.

Morgan, who has held his position at the Law School since 1938, stated yesterday that he was to be retired at the end of the academic year under the University's compulsory retirement policy, but he "didn't want to stop teaching."

"Being born too soon is one offense you simply can't help," Morgan said. "Although I regret leaving Harvard, this will be sort of an adventure," he added. Morgan is now 71 and the compulsory retirement age of 66 had been waived for five years in his favor.

Morgan has written several legal works and has served twice as acting dean of the Law School.