National University - Docket Yearbook (Washington, DC)

Page 18 text:

cl nee Much has been said and written in recent years about the increasing complexities of life and the growing need for specializafion in its more involved activities. Especi- ally has this been urged with respect of the law, the volume of which it is said has become so enlarged by legislation concerning new economic ideas and in- ventions that different fields of law have become as fa r apart as independent sciences. But is this true? Is it not rather true that the fundamental principles of law have never been encroached upon and remain substantially the same now as they always have been, immutable and en- during? Is it not true that it is only the facts and condi- tions calling for the application of the old principles that have changed and that the difficulty of the courts and the lawyers is not in mastering new principles, but in ap- plying the old ones to new situations? A Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in speaking of the late John G. Johnson, of Philadelphia, one of the most distinguished members of the bar of that Court, wrote: I have many times noted the thoroughness with which able lawyers have mastered special subjects, as the result of much study and long experience. But Mr. Johnson was ap parently never to be taken at a disadvantage, and seemed to be at home in almost every phase of any legal situation in which he could be placed. This was not, of course, the result of any magic. It came from the really profound knowledge which he had of the fundamental principles of the law. Hayden Johnson

Page 20 text:

THE DOCKET -l l idtotlcai — 7lcetck The history of National University presents an enviable record of achievement, dating from I 869, when the school was first chartered, to the present time. Five Presidents of The United States have served as Chancellors Ex-Offi- cio of National University during its existence; namely, Presidents Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur and Cleveland. Among the more than seven thousand graduates of Na- tional will be found many who have done honor to them- selves, their school and their country in many and various capacities. The Alumni of National is represented in nu- merous state and federal courts, in congress, in the cabi- net and in other high offices. The high regard which the local bar has for National graduates is manifested by the fact that the last four, including the present, presidents of the District of Columbia Bar Association have been alumni of National University. The practical and efficient methods of teaching the law begun by W. B. Wedgewood, Arthur MacArthur, Eugene Carusi, Richard H. Alvey, and their eight asso- ciates is still prevailing at National and the hopes of George Washington are being fulfilled. National Univer- sity is one of the oldest law schools in the United States and enjoys an unusually high standing among the legal profession.