Munroe Smith

Smith was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Horatio Southgate Smith and his wife, Susan Dwight Munroe.^[1] He received his A.B. from Amherst College in 1874 and his LL.B. from Columbia Law School in 1877.^[2] In 1879, Smith returned to Amherst to earn an A.M. degree.^[2] He received the degree of J.U.D. from the University of Göttingen in 1880.^[2]

In 1890, Smith married Emma Gertrude Huidekoper, daughter of General Henry S. Huidekoper.^[1] They had one daughter, Gertrude Munroe Smith, born in 1891.^[1] Smith's brother, Henry Maynard Smith (he changed his name to Henry Smith Munroe), was also a professor at Columbia, and served as Dean of the School of Mines from 1891 to 1915. Smith's great-granddaughter is Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay and candidate for Governor of California.

Smith filled several posts at Columbia University from 1880 onwards. He was a lecturer in Roman law and an instructor in history from 1880 to 1883.^[2] He was promoted to adjunct professor of history in 1883, and became a full professor of Roman law and comparative jurisprudence in 1891.^[2] Smith was one of the founders of the Political Science Quarterly, and served as its managing editor from 1886 to 1893 and again from 1904 to 1913.^[3]

He retired from teaching in 1924 and died of pneumonia at his home in Manhattan on April 13, 1926, at the age of 71.^[4][5]

His works include:

• Smith, Edmund Munroe (1883). The Law of Nationality. Chicago: Melbert B. Cary & Co.
• Smith, Edmund Munroe (1898). Bismarck and German Unity, a historical outline. Columbia University Press.
• Smith, Edmund Munroe (1915). Military Strategy Versus Diplomacy in Bismarck's Time and Afterwards. New York: Ginn & Company.
• Smith, Edmund Munroe (1916). American Diplomacy in the European War. New York: Ginn & Company.
• Smith, Edmund Munroe (1918). Militarism and Statecraft. New York and London: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

He wrote articles on Roman law and cognate subjects for the New International Encyclopedia.