Yale University Law School - Yale Law Reporter Yearbook (New Haven, CT)

Page 76 text:

Tllli YALE Sl'llNGI.l'1. 71 Our opinion of Moot Courts was given before they had been reduced to their present effective form, and has consequently undergone considerable modification. Although a few have given this means of preparing law students for the application of the principles learned in the text books a moderate amount of praise, the view generally taken has been decidedly unfavorable, and many have used very emphatic words of disapproval. Of the minority who think them valuable, one says that theyv are of decided advantage, enabling a lawyer to wear off the rough edges before he commences actual warfare. fLieber's Code forbids the use of rough edges in warfare.j Several others think that the practice and confidence derived from participation in mock trials will prove very useful, others think that the advantages accrue only to those taking part, and consequently, on account of the size of the class, are small. As exam- ples of the opinion of that more numerous body whose opinionsof Moot Court are unfriendly, we give the following: Very good as far as they go, and plenty of them such as they are. Good to kill time. HN. G., Footless, Could be improved, More entertaining than instructive, Absurd, Rather tiresome, but no doubt beneficial to Levy, Agony for the listeners, etc. It is but just to state that we had not then been present at the magnificent display of Mr. Hawkes in the leading ease of Yjwm' 21. Cfnzffcs Q4 Napoleon Blast, 7287, on which memorable occasion, that gentleman, with so much humor and satire, applied the rules of Forensic Oratory with so much intelligence.

Page 75 text:

7O Tllli YALE SIIINGLIC. diflicult occasioned so many side remarks and sneers that it is very difficult to ascertain what is the opinion of the class on the subject. The introduction of honor courses has made Senior year so much harder than it has ever been previously, that most of those who answered the question instead of criticising the grammar used, vote it the more difficult. Nei- ther and Both are replies of the indifferent and non-committal. Corporations, Real Property, Pleading, Evidence and Contracts in the order named receive the greater part of the votes for the most difficult subject, while nearly every subject we had studied had proved difh- cult for one or another. By far the easiest subject to the largest number of the class was Bailments, Forensic Oratory coming second and Torts third. Mr. Bailey's course in Forensic Elocution receives a respectable vote, while other subjects, from International Law to Corpora- tions.are voted for with great freedom of opinion. The subject of Contracts is selected as the most valuable, receiving twenty more votes than Elemen- tary Law and Evidence. which are tied for second place. Real Property and Corporations follow next with half a dozen other subjects receiving one or two votes. Our class is guilty no apostasy from '93's belief that Robinson's Elementary Law is the best written text book we have used. The vote is large enough to be used in an advertising circular. Parsons on Contracts. with all its faults is secondg Cooley on Torts comes third, with the remaining votes scattered.

Page 77 text:

72 Tllli YAl.l'1 Sl'llNGl.I'I. Nine men have tried to increase their knowledge of the practice of law by going into offices. Many others have used their stores of learning of two years' accumulation by giving advice asked and unasked, or have managed to hang around oihccs in the summer time or whenever the opportunity was offered. ' Last year, after the first recitation our class would stream over to the City Court, almost as a whole, to view the novel scenes or hear the ingenious stories and explanations of old offenders, with once or twice the surprise of hearing a friend answering to a strange name on a charge of throwing a snow-ball or disturb- ing the peace. Only about twenty confess doing this, although we remember occasions when a roll- call of ,94 L. S. would have shown a more complete attendance there than at an average recitation. Sev- eral claim to have discontinued this practice, but a recent case aroused all the old interest in the pro- ceedings there. One says he attended it as an optional only, while another went only when able to prove an zzffbf. No one in the class has failed at sometime to attend some of the courts, and in our later days with our tastes better educated and more refined, we have taken great interest in the trial of civil cases in the Superior Court or in the arguments before the Supreme Court when it sits in New Haven, unless, indeed, Mr. Case was defending some one in the criminal side for murder or other felony. Five men own up frankly that they have been sub- jected to the humiliation of arrest, but their ingenu- ousness extends no farther--they do not relate any of the details which give .life and color to such experi-