University of Kansas School of Law - Shingle Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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JUDGMENT FOR PLAINTIFF. A youth and a maid strayed by the seag A brilliant and young attorney was he, A maid worthy of wooing was she, And in these words he filed his plea: Oh fair judge, my pelzlion hear, And grant, oh gentle court, my prayer,- My slaiemeni I will verqy, And the best evzkienee supply. '4My sm? is but on justice based, My heart is cruelly ddaeed- In fact is broken quite, unless You gran! relief to my a'z's!ress. 4'Wherefore said for! so great Demands, as damage, as I state In this my humble, closing prayer, This hand I hold, so small and fair. The maiden, blushing, hungiher head. What matter if no word she said? What could she do but grant the plea, When no one answered it, you see? The moral is as plain as it is truezz In caurlzezgf make the judge a parbf, too. Grace Barnelt -70-

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UNCLE JIM. A GREETIN G. Brother in a most true brotherhood, thy hand: I, too, am from Kansas, God's favored land. And from K. U.'s halls, with your LL.B.? Shake again! You 're more than brother to me- We have both studied under Uncle Jiinfl What! You of the nineties swore by his name? Why, back in the eighties 'twas just the same, I'm glad his place is not filled by anotherg Some may be teachers-but he was a brother To the boys who called him Uncle Iimf' I remember how--I expect you 've seen him do it- When one of his boys was in trouble, and he knew it He 'd pull him out, though he was in the wrong, But the lecture that followed was no lullaby song, That fellow 'd get from Uncle Jim. But-yes, I know-his frowns would end with a grin, ,And some Profs. even dubbed his familiarity a sin. You 've got' his picture? Let me see it again. Many never made lawyers, but he kept us men, And as such we 'll never forget Uncle Jim. R. E. -691

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Law Students-Ancient and Modern. In attempting to compass with a compara- tively few lines the field of legal education, one undertakes an impossible task. Let me rather, therefore, try to present a few facts concerning lawyers and their studies, which may prove of interest, although void of log- ical connection. In the early days of ancient Rome there was no distinct professional class of lawyers. In the year 450 B. C., the Decemvirs, in re- sponse to the popular demand for the codi- lication of the laws, prepared those immortal statutes known as the Laws of the Twelve Tables. After the Twelve Tables, the Col- lege of Pontifices was the repository of law learning, and the control of the calendar gave the college the control of the calendar of the courts. The earliest record I find of a Roman law- yer is that of Tiberius Coruncanius, who was the first plebeian powt-ifeav mawifrnus, in 281 B. C. He was the first to put out his Ushin- gle, or to declare himself a professional lawyer. His act must have had many fol- lowers, because in 203 B. C., seventy-eight years later, the Lex Uinciu. prohibited legal advisers from receiving any compensation for their services. This principle pervaded the Roman law for centuries. Services were gratuitous. Clients frequently- made large presents to their legal friends, but nothing could be' exacted. Indeed, I believe it is the law in England, to-day, that even there, and in these times, a barrister's services are, in principle, gratis, and that no action can be maintained for legal assistance. Before Cicerofs time, however fCicero was born 106 B. CJ, there was a distinct and recognized profession of the law. There were three classes of lawyers-namely: ' 1. The J urisconsults fJu1'isconsultij. 2. The Advocates fzlclfznoccztij. 3. The Orators or Patrons fOratores, Patlronij. The great authorities in the Law were the Jurisconsults. In this class was Cicero, and Servius Sulpicius Rufus, who was con- sul 50 B. C. Of Rufus it was said, by Cicero, that he was the greatest Roman lawyer of his day. The Jurisconsults gave opinions K1-esponsaj upon legal questions. They did not appear in court. The Advocates, something like the En- glish attorneys and counsellors, were friends at court, accompanying one into court, giv- ing advice and directions. These men, how- ever, did not speak in behalf of clients. The third class, the Orators or Patrons, was the conspicuous class. T'hese were the public speakers and the pleaders. At differ- ent times the same man might be in a differ- ent class. Cicero often appeared in court, but then as an Orator, not as a Jurisconsult. Time, however, does not suiiice to enter into details. In imperial times there' was little practice of the Law as such. The sov- ereign was the Law, and only a limited num- ber of Advocati was permitted to attend each place of justice, thus making 'fthe Law one of the earliest of monopolies. In 534 A. D. the great jurist Tribonian, under order of the Emperor J ustinian, com- piled the Code o-f the Roman Law, which is the basis to-day.of the magnificent system of the Civil or Roman Law. This spread with Roman influence over a great part of Europe, and the codes of the continental European nations, to-day, are the success- ors of the Code of Rome. In J ustinian's time there were three great schools of law, one at Rome, another at Constantinople, a third at Berytus, modern Beyrout. YV e think we have advanced because we have changed our two-years course to three. T'hese Roman schools required five years. Such little glimpses as are afforded us of the procedure in Roman law courts show that human nature was the same then as now. In those days there were rant- ing fellows who sawed the air, and who supposed they were objects of admira- tion to gods and men as they substituted rubbish and bombast for legal argument. The Roman poet Martial tells us of a poor client who entreated his lawyer, a long- winded speaker, to say something about the real issue, a simple matter of the ownership of three goats. The suffering client exclaimsz ffYou, with full lungs, and with pounding of the bar with your fists, make a noise about -51-