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

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this may explain the severity and the nar- row-mindedness of our revered forefathers. In fact, however, there was, -in those primi- tive days, but little need of lawyers. Lest, perchance, some Arts should say, Happy people, happy day!', let us next recall that in a few years, when great questions of lib- erty, government, legislation, and justice arose, then the lawyer also appeared. Of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, twenty-five were lawyers. Of the fifty-five members of the Constitutional Con- vention, thirty were lawyers. Although in those days the favorite method of studying Law was in the office of a lawyer, yet very soon after the close of the Revolution, or in 1784, the first la.w school in the United States was opened at Litchneld, Conn. Har- vard was the first university to open a law school, and hers was the second school, dat- ing from 1817. Yale followed in 1824. To- day there are eighty-six law schools in the country, most of them well conducted ably instructed. The day of law study in an office has not wholly passed, for many of the best lawyers of the country never saw the inside of a school of law. None will denv. however, that the time has come when he who would study the Law as a science, should connect himself with some good school. In conclusion, let me say, as I have fre- quently stated in 'the class-room. that -the study of the Law is not a mere trade-craft, but a liberal science, and worthy of one's noblest efforts. Emory VVashburn said, thir- ty years ago, and it is just as true to-day: f'There is no school so well calculated to educate a young man in all respects as a good law school. In that is embraced a good library, good instructors, and a body of in- genuous young men who have come together with high purposes, generous motives, and old enough to know what is due from one gentleman to another. They should be in- depend-ent enough to rebuke rudeness or coarseness in any of their number, and to imprint lessons of propriety on the minds and memories of the most reckless among them. . I wish the Class of 1900 a heart-felt 4'God- speed you as it leaves us. Remember that loud mo-uthings and exhibitions of anger never make a. lawyer. Never forget what belongs to a gentleman, and never deny your claim to be one. A final word of encouragement: The next few years are years of tests of endurance, but to the young lawyer who both works and waits, the reward will come. In the first fourteen years after being called to the bar, Blackstone had only two cases, both of them unimportant. Horace Binney waited ten years for a. fee. Webster's receipts were so small for several years after he was admitted that he seriously considered the abandon- ment of his profession. Rufus Choate, his biographer tells us, also during his iirst two or three years, was several times upon the point of turning to other pursuits. With pa- tience, zeal, and fidelity these periods of dis- couragement, however, can be bridged, and the young lawyer can, if he but will, enter in time into the promis-ed land. ' Wm. L. Burdick. 2 l 2 H, 'f 7'-e,,S . , A la... 1-1?- f,H- X . 1' ay if 1 ,-1: it 'Ji ' , V , Y-:nh I ii f f far l k. X .f',.M5X .Y . - 4 N J 0 , L73...

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the battle of Cannae, the war of Mithridates, the peridy of the Carthaginians, about Sulla and Marius, and Mucius. Say something, I pra.y you, about my three goats. It is a long step from Rome to England, but most students of the English Common Law fail to appreciate the debt that the Com- mon Law owes to the Roman Law. In fact, it was due to the antagonism and the regret- ful rivalry between the two systems that modern English law schools, if they can be called law schools, arose. The universities of England, being under 'the control of the ecclesiastics, offered cour- ses in the Canon-and Civil Law, but refused to teach the Common Law of England, which as a. scientific system was discredited and even despised by the clergy. In this state of affairs, Blackstone tells us, that upon the fixing of the courts of common pleas at YVest- minster, by King John, the lawyers gathered in that vicinity, and having purchased the old town houses or the inns fnot public tav- ernsl of Earls Gray and Lincoln, also the assembly halls of the Knights Templar, the four great inns or halls of the law courts were instituted-namely, Gray's Inn, Lin- coln's Inn, the Middle Temple, and the Inner Temple. Blackstone is doubtless mistaken in the time of the origin of the English law courts, and with Lord Mansfield we may more safely say that the exact time of the institution of them is uncertain. YVe do know, however, that Fortescue, who died a few years before Columbus discovered Amer- ica, tells-us that in his day over two thou- sand students were studying Law in the various Inns of Court. The names of the greatest of English jurists have been connect- ed with these halls, where for centuries young Englishmen have resorted to read La.w with their preceptors and to listen to readers of the Law, appointed by the governing com- mittees or the benches as they are still called. Coke, Holt, Hale, Blackstone, Hard- wicke were at different periods entered here. There is no doubt that in the early days the Inns were great schools, requiring rigid ap- plication and close study. In later days, however, even in Blackstone's time, they had become mere travesties upon legal study, were farces of la.w schools. Finally, one could be called to the bar if he 'fhad kept twelve terms at the Inns. A termis attend- 77 ' ance was proven by the number of dinners one had eaten there, ive dinners at least be- ing the minimum attendance at a term, It followed, therefore, that if one could prove that he had eaten sixty dinners at the Inns, he was, peer sc, entitled to 'fadmission to the bar? No examinations of any kind, it seems, were required. At the present time, however, all is changed for the betterg In the vicinity of the new Palace of Justice, upon 'the Strand, in London, the old Inns still have their quar- ters. Examinations are now rigid, and to- day one cannot be called to the bar before he has passed successful examinations in Jurisprudence, Civil Law, International Law, and English Law. They are not law schools as we understand the term, with: regular classes, but the benchers appoint lecturers or readers whose exposition of the Law matriculants may hear, and, if they wish, ap- ply in due time for examination. The old Inns used to give titles or degrees, known as Nbarristerv and 'fsergeantf' To-day the title of sergeant is no longer given, and a ba.rrister's ambition is to be enrolled a Q. C. fQueen's Co-unsell, which may be attained after a stated term of service at the bar. The English barrister is more like the Ro- man patromcs than our lawyer. An attor- ney in England, is one of a distinct class of lawyers. The 'fattorneyv prepares the papers, the pleadings, the case. No barris- ter is permitted, in general, to appear with- out the intervention of the 'fattorneyff Our Bachelor of Laws is an American institution. In the universities of Germany there are four faculties or schools: one of Theology, one of Medicine, one of Philosophy fincluding'Languages, Mathematics. Sciencej, and one of Law. The degree there given is the doctorate, which can be obtained only by one having a preliminary education equal to that of a college course. It will be remem- bered that in this country, Harvard, at thc present time, and Columbia, beginning in 1903, require a college education as the standard of admission. ' But say, I pray you, something about my three goats. It is time now to speak of our own schools. It is interesting to note that for a hundred years after the Pilgrims settled at Plymouth 'there was not a lawyer in all New England. Possibly, ' -72-

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LAW. AN APOSTROPHE. What would be if Thou wert not, O Law? A W 'Tis Thee that holds in unity these Worlds, Wi F6 l K That sweep so silently through the unbounded 'xv W realm I1 Of space, 'tis Thee that holds the sun, f fin The moon, the stars innumerable in Y The vaulted dome of the heavens blue, 'tis Thee 'V f If That keeps in tune the Universesfl-Ieaven ' Itself from falling into naught. Thou art 4 , ,, ef' xflif l i 'fl Q' 'ft ,ffl I 4.3 , 134 1 'N The inscrutable Law of Him who reigns lt 1- 5-XAGQ4 ' supreme, The sublimest work of all. By'Thee Worlds lose The tint of Now and are of the Yesterdaysg By Thee they rise from things minute, and throb With all the impulse of to-day--Ah! Even Grow bright with prophecy of the Future, now, Veiled with the cloud of Time. Thrones cease to be, And Empires come and go at the beckoning of Thy hand, infallible must be He who gave Thee that strong iron-grasp. We seek To iind Thee inthe gilded works of Time, And fancy that we hear Thy measured tread And low, coming from up the ages past And gone. Yet, Thou art here, and everywhere. The multitudes that throng this little sphere Must heed the teachings of Thy precepts, grand And true, if they would have sweet peace and joy, Reign here below, or hope to reach that realm Beyond the skies, mysterious and sublime. Still, Man can hope to pierce but' the smallest nook Of Thy dominions, dark and vast--Thou art As insurmountable as the pale stars That tint the evening sky with their silvery glow. We strive to reach Thy summits, like some , Mountain capped' with Heaven's own blueg and 'Tis but a hope,,a phantom chased in childish glee. Lorne E. Gariley.