University of Nebraska College of Law - Yearbook (Lincoln, NE)

Page 48 text:

42 THE DIGEST study, or in other words, knowledge may be imputed to him which he does not in fact possess, provided it is in the mind of his agent, for knowledge in the agent is knowledge in the principal. Though agency is a proper subject for discussion in the class room, it seems to be improper for a student to exemplify the principle of it while he is reciting or during the time he is taking examinations, for these acts, according to the weight of authori- ties, cannot be done through the employment of an agency. But upon this question the opinions are by no means harmonious, and upon principle it is dirhcult to reconcile them. The better rule, however, and that which has been followed by our department, is the one stated above. Other subjects treated of during the Junior year and which came in for their full share of the time, were Sales, Bailments and Carriers, Partnership, Criminal Law, and Notes, Bills, and Checks, but as my space in this volume is limited, and my time for writing this article is borrowed, it must suffice to make mere mention of them here. Special lectures on such important sub- jects as Insurance, Police Powers, Water' Rights, Cases and how to ind them, were given by leading attorneys and judges of the state, during the year, and note books prepared and handed in for inspection and approval. The Juniors commenced to hold moot court trials among them- selves as early as before the Christmas holidays, and continued them during the year, having a case docketed about once in every two weeks, at times oftener. Usually some one of the seniors would sit as judge when the trial was had, and then it was that the Juniors envied him not a little in his exalted position. In this connection N. D. Burch, a junior, on the list of those who dropped out, deserves special mention for instituting, arranging and being more or less connected with nearly all these trials. I-le would bring an action against a fellow student on the slightest pretext, and prosecute to the full extent of the law. During the spring term each Junior, as a part of the regular course, had to prosecute or defend a case in justice moot court, based upon a statement of testimony furnished by Professor C. A. Robbins. These cases as a rule were well worked up and the Juniors took considerable pride in winning them.

Page 47 text:

AS WE WERE 41 we finally laid aside Mr. Justice Blackstone's commentaries, and at the request of the Dean, attempted to write a short treatise on- the common law of England ourselves, from memory, under sixty odd headings, and covering more or less the entire subject. It is needless to say that we furnished the Dean with some very valuable reading matter, touching the questions propounded to us, the perusal of which must have occupied his spare moments- for a considerable time thereafter. I doubt very much if ever again in the career of the law student there comes a time when he thinks he knows so much law as after having passed a creditable final examination in Blackstone. In connection with the study of the common law of England we took up Domestic Relations. I need not emphasize here that this was a very interesting subject, torso much will be presumed. Here we learned the theory of marriage making, the legal effect of marriages that are made, and how unhappy couples may dis- solve the matrimonial ties. In theory there are three general re- quisites to make a marriage: first, that the parties have a will to marry, second, that they can marry, and third, that they actu- ally clo marry. But in practice it seems that any one of the three is abundantly sufficient, for we know that if the parties have a will to get married that settles it, or if they crm marry they are bound to do so, or if they really do marry it matters little in prac- tice whether they cfm or will. Q Contracts were taken up the second term and thelalmost in- finite number and variety of transactions into which the subject enters were fully elucidated by Professor Robbins. It was sometimes rather difficult to see just where there was a meeting of minds, or to understand what constituted the good or valuable consideration in a particular contract, but at those times liberal faith in the author or instructor very often had quite a material tendency to relieve us of all doubts in the premises. Agency, a subject closely allied to contracts, was also covered during the second term, and the doctrine of doing an act by another which a party might do by himself, or being held accountable for the act of another the same as if done by himself, received due consider- ation. It is by the application of this principle of agency that a party may sometimes be said to have acquired knowledge without

Page 49 text:

CIS me Clre. Brilliant October weather greeted us when we descended upon Lincoln at the beginning of the Senior year. There were greet- ings between friends who had not met since the previous .I une. Lies were Uswappedv and wonderful vacation tales were told. W'e were all bulging with political news from our own partic- ular sections of the country. Jones was morally certain that Mc- Kinley would sweep Idaho in November. John DeYarman Smith, who had returned, together with his name, from Iowa, took Sun- dry and several of his friends into quiet corners and told them to bet their simoleons that Bryan would go out of the Hawkeye state with seventy thousand majority. Sid. White, who had evi- dently been associating with a gang of ward heelers in South Omaha, appeared resplendent in a Nloudv suit and a bright red necktie, and offered to bet 355,000 that the champion of silver would carry Nebraska. Flaherty was back with his expansive upper lip and his Hibernian cast of countenance. Most of the old boys drifted in and our erstwhile lone girl QGod bless the girlslj found solace in the presence of another one of the emancipated to keep her company on the front seats. lVhen we looked over the H large and intelligent audiencev that greeted Professor VVilson at his first lecture we discerned a lot of new faces. Greenfield had come from Lexington with his popu- listic ideas and his insane desire to wear low shoes regardless of the weather. Hassler had walked in from Pawnee City and brought with him a pair of glasses and a ministerial expression which never left him. Frank Brown answered U presentw the first afternoon and hasn't said a word since. Babcock, Carr, Creigh, Goodner, Gates, Green, Parker, Ridgley, True, and lVallis also shed the light of their countenance upon us for the iirst time. But this history is not the leap year edition of a country weekly and I shall not enumerate at length the numerous virtues of our charming new comers. The term started off beautifully. Professor lllilson, after the