Harvard Law School - Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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for what is already known, and research, by those suitably trained, in order to get at new, hidden, or unrecognized truth through investigation scientifically conducted and directed. There are two main types of work to be provided for. One is the writing of books on various topics or items of the law. Dane's gift provided for this, and the long succession of treatises which have come forth from the School since Story's time speaks for itself. The chief items are worth recounting: Story on Bailrnents 0832, nine editionsj, on the Constitution 0835, six editions and translation into Frenchj, on the Conflict of Laws 0834, eight editionsj, on Equity jurisprudence 0836, fifteen American and three English editionsj, on Equity Pleading 0838, ten editionsj, on Agency 0839, nine editionsj, on Partnership 0841, seven editionsj, on Bills ofExchange 0843, four editions and translated into Germany, on Promissory Notes 0845, seven editionsjg Greenleaf on Evidence 0842-53, seventeen editionsjg Parsons, on Contracts 0853-55, nine editionsj, on Partnership 0867, four editionsj, on Promissory Notes and Bills ofExchange 0868, two editionsjg Washburn, The American Law of Real Property 0860-62, six editionsj. The American Law of Easements and Servitudes 0863, three editionsjg Langdell, Brief Survey of Equity jurisdiction 0904, two editionsj, Gray, on Restraints on the Alienation ofProperty 0883, two editionsj, on The Rule Against Perpetuities f 1886, four editionsj, The Nature and Sources ofthe Law 0909, two editionsj' Thayer, Preliminary Treatise on Evidence 0898jg Ames, Lectures on Legal History fposthumous 1913j, Wyman, on Public Service Companies 09115, Beale, Law of Foreign Corporations 0904j Law of Innkeepers and Hotels 09065, Beale and Wyman, Railroad Rate Regulation 0906, two edi- tionsj, Brannan, The Negotiable Instruments Law 0908, four editionsjg Williston, on Sales0909, two editionsj, onContracts 0920-22, new edition appearingjg E. H. Warren, Corporate Advantages without Incorporation 0929jg Beale, on the Conflict of Laws 0935j, Griswold, on Spendthriji Trusts 09361 To these treatises a long line of case books may be added, since the latter certainly have had quite as real an influence upon the growth of the law as the classical text books of the time before Langdell. The endowment raised in 1926 will make it possible for teachers in the School to continue this notable tradition of text writing The other type of work is exemplified by the survey of criminal justice in Boston, of which three volumes have been published. The en- dowment of 1926 was expected to provide for such work also. 1 9 Q Isaac Parker's plan 0816, called for a school for the instruction of resident gradu- ates. It was a long time before this ideal of a purely graduate professional school could be realized. President Eliot puts the matter well in his report for 1875-76: The Faculty have greatly advanced the standard of the Law School since 1869-70, but it will still be some time before they reach the level upon which judge Story proposed to place the School in the year 1829-30-the first year in which he held the Dane Professorship. In the annual catalogue for that year, under the head of the Law School fp. 24j, the following announcement was made: 'Gentlemen who are graduates of a college will complete their educa- tion in three years: those who are not graduates will complete it in five years.' For five years this was the avowed policy of the School, but. in the catalogue for 1834-35, the sentence just quoted no longer appearedg and in its stead the following announcement was made fp. 29j: 'The degree of Bachelor of Laws is conferred by the University on students who have com- pleted the regular term of professional studies required by the laws or rules in the state to which they belong, eighteen months thereof having been passed in the Law School of this institution.' From this position the School gradually declined by a series of small descents, until, in 1869-70, all persons who had been eighteen months in the School were entitled to the degree of Bachelor of Laws without examination or inquiry of any sort into their attainments. The rapid rise of the School from this humiliating position during the past seven years gives strong assurance that, in due time, it will return substantially tojudge Story's original policy. 'l29l

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examination is not a mere measure of work. It is a measure of achievement. It rounds off the year's work with an exercise which fixes the results of that work as permanent acquisitions. Under Langdell, training for practice of the profession was the sole explicit aim of the Law School. In the present century it became increasingly apparent that the School was not doing its whole duty when it had sent forth well-trained men to take up the practice of the law. There was a growing consciousness that the lawyer had more to do than earn a livelihood by faithfully advising and representing his clients. Today he has a creative task before him, to be carried out in bar associations, in the legislature, and as a citizen, in maintaining the law as an effective instrument ofjustice, and to further its development. Nor is the task ofa national law school done when it has bred lawyers equal and disposed to that work. It has to organize and carry forward the research which must go before creative lawmaking. Under Ames a continually increasing number of graduates began to teach in other law schools. Also new movements in the law were calling for a development of the science of law beyond the possibilities of the analytical and historical jurisprudence ofthe nineteenth century. Ames, in particular, was impressed with the renewed insistence on the ethical element in law which was manifest at the beginning of the present century. There was need of providing for further training of those who had already chosen law teaching as their life work. There was coming to be need of providing a more specialized training for graduates in law who intended to go into teaching. These needs were the first to attract attention, and led to the organization of graduate instruction. A project for graduate courses leading to a graduate degree was first considered in 1906. After three years of discussion in the faculty, it was recommended to the Corporation in 1909, and the degree of S.j.D. fDoctor ofjuridical Science, or Doctor of the Science of Lawj was established, but the one year's course of study for it was not organized until 1911. From 1912 to 1923 candidates for the SJ.D. usually studied Roman Law and Comparative Law,juris- prudence, Administrative Law, International Law, History of English Law, or topics in the Con- flict of Laws. This work proved too heavy. Of thirty-three who sought the doctorate in the first five years, only eighteen ,including twelve teachers in other law schools, were successful. This led to the establishment of the degree of Master of Laws fLL.M.j in 1923, a year's course designed primarily for students who intended to practiseg while the doctor's course, reorganized primarily for teachers of law, became more flexible. An essential part of it was to be directed research, or an approved programme of intensive study in some subject which the candidate expected to teach. By 1928, the development of graduate seminars and the provision in the new endow- ment for research, led to a new plan. A seminar injurisprudence had grown up as a supplement to the lectures. Later a seminar in Roman Law grew up in the same way. Administrative Law was given as a seminar course after 1920. Since that time a number of other seminars have been added, primarily for graduates, but open to third-year students of high rank, with the consent of the Dean and the Instructor. Under the plan adopted in 1928, the requirements for the mas- ter's degree remained much as before, and that degree became prerequisite to candidacy for the doctorate, unless the applicant had taught for three years, or shown his fitness for research. For the doctorate a general oral examination, and two written examinations, all to be passed with distinguished excellence, were prescribed in addition to a thesis. Thus, after fourteen years of cautious development, graduate study in law was put upon a solid basis. In 1926 an endowment of 352,250,000 was raised for research. In the programme for carrying out the purpose ofthis endowment, distinction is made between mere search by students i281

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In 1895 admission was restricted to graduates of approved colleges and persons qualified to enter the senior class of Harvard College. When the new rule took effect, eighty per cent of the student body were already college graduates. After 1897, only college graduates were admitted except as special students not candidates for a degree. After 1899, non-graduates were no longer admitted. Up to 1924, graduates of approved law schools, not college grad- uates, were admitted if not candidates for a degree. This category was cut off, and today a de- gree from a recognized college is a prerequisite of admission in any capacity. Moreover, in 1927 the applicant for admission was required to show a meritorious college record, and in case of a graduate of a second-list college, to have ranked in the first quarter of his class. Today he must meet the standards set by the Committee on Admissions in view of the necessity of limiting numbers. In spite of this increasingly high requirement for admission, always ahead, not only of requirements for admission to the bar, but of prevailing law school admission requirements, the student body increased steadily. It numbered 154 in 1870, 200 in 1877, nearly 500 in 1897, over 850 in 1917, and 1534 in 1927. In 1936-37 the enrollment was about 1500. In September 1937 the new entrance requirements went into effect and the number admitted decreased by over 100. lln September 1941 there were about 1250 men in the School. An efect ofthe emergency was to reduce the School to 828 in the autumn of 1941, and to 572 by April 1942. The attendance for the years 1932-1942 is shown in the table below: 1932- 1933- 1934- 1935- 1936- 1937- 1938- 1939- 1940- Oct. April 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1941 1942 Graduates . .. . 42 31 34 41 39 40 26 36 25 15 12 Third year .... . 402 399 374 392 404 354 376 495 399 294 225 Second year . . . . 446 408 417 446 389 422 430 426 371 264 160 First year ...... . 581 588 593 563 629 543 562 506 431 242 164 22 24 18 6 10 9 Unclassified . . . 25 26 30 15 3 Special ...... 11 13 9 10 6 11 14 13 4 8 Totals ...... . 1507 1465 1457 1498 1389 1249 In the summer term beginning july 1942, 175 students were enrolled, in the term beginning in October 1942, 199 students and in the term beginning in january 1943, 168 students. These smaller numbers shrank to 72 hr the term beginning in june 1943. In terms of percentage the decrease in numbers at the Harvard Law School was greater than that at any other law school of recognized standing in the United States QI-Iarvard Ofiicial Register, 1942-1943. Report on the Law School, E. M. Morgan, Acting Deanl -Ed.l By that time the limit of the School's physical capacity had been reached. This, and the desire to maintain a due ration of teacher to students, has compelled the turning away of many well-qualified applicants in recent years. New regulations for admission have now reduced the number admitted each year to more workable proportions. Not only has the School throughout its history been national in its teaching of law, but its student body has been increasingly representative of the country as a whole. In 1824, 18 colleges were representedg in 1849, 41g in 1892, 54g in 1903, 111, in 1927, 203. The sectional distribution in 1926-27 was as follows: 361 students from New England, 425 from the Middle States, 162 from the South, 42 from the Southwest, 304 from the Middle Westg 106 from the Rocky Mountain region and Pacihc Coast. This proportion maintains itself. ' More important is the spirit of the student body: the unique enthusiasm for study. There is a long tradition behind it. Richard Henry Dana tells howjudge Story, after holding 'The total enrollment this year is 1134. For complete statistical material on the present enrollment see Book 4, infra. 1301