University of Michigan Law School - Quad Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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as they are now. The ofhce was not so 'much a machine. The lawyer daily conversed with and quizzed the young law Student in his ofhce. Frequently there were large numbers reading law in the game ofhce, and an advocate of experience frequently had time to lecture in a conversational but impressive way to the young men reading with him. A most important historic example of this practice is found in the life of Seth P. Staple, who iS held SOfI1CWh3'E responsible for the organization of the Y-H16 Law SChOO1- H9 W3S a very prominent lawyer of New Haven from I8oo to 1824, and was a graduate of the 'Class of 1797 at Yale. His scholarly mind and his successes at the bar attracted young men to him, and his office was nlled with students reading law under his direction. He lectured to them and conversed with them about the subjects they were reading. He was after a time compelled to employ an assistant instructor. For many years his office was the primitive law school of New Haven. This example is a fair type in legal education during the colonial and revolutionary period and for many years thereafter. The six men appointed by President Washington, to form the first Supreme Court of the United States, were graduates of a law office, none had attended an American law school, two had studied at the Temple. The lawyers who appeared before them had acquired their knowledge with no better advantages. True itisi that there are few men to-day who can equal those who interpreted and applied .the Constitution of our country in its early history. It is not strange that many men still think that study in a law office is the best method of acquiring a legal education. An impres- sion firmly fixed is not easily displaced. But conditions have changed. The active lawyer is too busy to be troubled by students in his ofhce, and an idle lawyer is not worth associating with. The press of litigation leaves no time to ask or answer questions regarding fundamental principles. How many able practitioners at the bar can do now what Mr. Staples did in New Haven in r8ooiP At the- present time a student in a law office is nothing more than a lawyer's clerk. His clerical work is appreciated and sometimes paid for. There rs, however, no one there willing to im-part instruction. 0CC3Si0H3HY SUSSCSUOHS are given, but there is the inquiring mind along scientific lines, np one to point out the elements of the science of jurisprudence, no one 150 C311 aftgntiou to the radical distinction between a principle and 3 Case no hand to lead

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It has not been demonstrated, however, that the early teachers at this institution lectured in vain. Perhaps we owe much to them and to others, who followed their method in other institutions of the country, including our own, for our reputation abroad. It is certain that changes must be made, but, as we have indicated, it is not certain that every new idea is a good one. It is not our purpose, however, to discuss methods in legal education. Fjflz. In I823 james Kent, at the age of sixty, was compelled to retire from his judicial duties, by reason of a constitutional pro- vision of the State-of New York. His age disqualified him. He was too ,old to serve his State, but Columbia College saw its oppor- nity, and on his retirement from his judicial duties, invited him to deliver to its students a course of lectures on jurisprudence. i This invitation was accepted. He was full of vigor and had met with all the experiences at the bar and enjoyed and suffered all the judicial life that his State would allow. He undertook a new work, as he wrote in his letter of acceptance, simply because idleness might 'feast a premature shade over the happiness of declining years. What irony! For four years he lectured to those who desired to hear him, and as a result we have Kent7s Commenta- ries . This book is the wade mwzwz of every American student of law. Columbia College built better than she knew when she extended this invitation to Chancellor Kent. From his work she received an impetus that she still feels. She owes much to the man who first gave momentum to scientific legal education in the metropolis of this country. Attention has been called to what may be said to be the five pioneer efforts in legal education in America. We notice that none of them antedate the revolution. What were the advantages of the law student in colonial times? The answer is easy. He had a law preceptor. The law office was his school room. Here the lawyers of the revolution received their instruction in law. In that day such a thing was possible. There was not much litigation, and there were few towns able to support a- lawyer. As a rule, courts had no permanent habitation. Courts and lawyers traveled over the country doing justice. In practice there was very little special- izing. - Every lawyer was engaged in general litigation and was expected to know it all. Gut of court and in the office there was plenty of time. Cases were not so numerous and varied in character

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The nren engaged in educational work and the more prominent nienibers of the bench and the bar during the revolutionary period foresaw the coming change and felt that some more suitable provi- sion should be made for the teaching of the law as a science. As a result the schools of law to which We have referred were under- taken. These schools and those which soon followed them have had an experience of nearly one hundred yearsf During this time they have met with no little antagonism from every direction. It is only within the past fifteen years that the bench and the bar have been united in the idea that study in a -law school is any improvement upon colonial methods of instruction. Perhaps it is not, but certain it is that there is no such thing as scientific legal education in the law office of to-day. There is no disagreement in the legal profession on this subject. ' In Q JEROME C. KNOWLTON.