Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Bran deis' real contribution to American life was "the focusing of the great biblical classical and common law traditions on the problems of the 20th century," Paul A. Freund, Charles Stebbins Fairchild Professor of Law, stated last night in Sanders Theater.

Freund's lecture, "Mr. Justice Brandeis: A Centennial Memoir," marked a University observance of the 100th anniversary of Brandeis's birth. President Pusey introduced the speaker.

Freund, who served under Brandeis as a clerk, defined the Justice's ideas on the issue of responsibility and his application of these ideas to American law.

"Brandeis abhorred the philosophy of insurance which obscured the individual's responsibility in the 20th century," Freund continued. He refused to accept the idea that "great historical dooms" sweep man's attempts aside.

The speaker also described Brandeis's distaste for the idea that bigness is necessary for efficiency and cited his application of this concept to constitutional interpretations.

"He hoped that the law would work itself pure," concluded Freund, "to a simplicity that would not make us clever for another time but wise for always."