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

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Segal Ethics BY HON. J. R. WVEBSTER. It is with regret one leaves his students where the relation has been so pleasant. In parting I will say some words of counsel. You are like a battalion of recruits, I like one of an exhausted command being relieved. The retiring veteran would tell some advantage or peril of the field. The recruit is impatient to listen, anxious only for action. I venture some remarks on ethics that, remembered, will avail you in the active life you enter. Young men, as you enter life, remember that as there are three cardinal feminine virtues, cleanliness, Edelity, and tenderness, so there are four cardinal manly virtues, courage, truth, loyalty, and kindness. If you have these, whatever be lacking of full manly character, you will have other's respect. Without any one of these you will not. VVith these you will be respected because others will know they can depend on and trust you. ' Society is as truly an organism as is an animal or plant. No part is independent of any other. So in society, the Welfare of every-member affects the welfare and advancement of all. Soci- ety is an aggregation of individuals, none independent of many others. None can live to himself, none die merely to himself. Many must be affected. It ought to be the aim of each that others may be affected for good, made better, happier. You can not avoid affecting for good or ill those among whom you live. Twelve centuries before complete organization of the high court of chancery there lived the Great Chancellor who defined in one sentence the principles of equity, All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to themf' lVhen asked by lawyers the first duty, 4'The great command- mentfl as altruist, philosopher, and chancellor he recognized no first commandment. In his View two were equally great. I-Ie said the lirst law is 'cThou shalt love the Lord thy God with all

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70 THE DIGEST But whatever 1nay be said of the isolated few, the geniuses of the race, there can be no doubt that a fair general education is every year becoming more and more essential to success at the bar. And even those who have attained distinction without it, have done so not because of their lack of preliminary training, but only by overcoming disadvantages arising from it. That a genius succeeds at the bar, without general education, by no means proves that the average young man can safely neglect the advantages it confers. The mere possession of a college diploma should not be taken to qualify one to study law, nor should the lack of it necessarily ex- clude him. It is preliminary training and mental development that should be demanded, not a college degree. It may not be essential' that pronciency in any particular branch of knowledge should be shown. It is not accumulated knowledge, the posses- sion of a mass of undigested facts, that qualifies one for the study of law, but rather mental development and intellectual acumen, which are, indeed, the distinguishing characteristics of true edu- cation. The well equipped lawyer is an intellectual athlete. He cannot delay entering upon his profession until he has acquired all the general knowledge he will need in practice, but he should delay until he has acquired something of that mental development and intellectual strength that gives him the power of concentrated mental effort. There is no profession in which the power to master a subject thoroughly and qui.ckly is so essential to success as in that of the law. Cases are often won or lost by the ability of the lawyer, or his want of it, to master in a short space of time, the particular branch of knowledge involved in the controversy. The successful lawyer must possess the power to acquire this knowledge after he linds that it is necessary for him to use it. No one will ever reach the higher walks of the profession who plods through its fields thinking only of the loaves and fishes its practice will bring him. The empyreal atmosphere on the heights is breathed only by those who see in the law something more than the means of mak- ing a living-who can see in it a great system of principles, the growth of centuries, by which the social fabric is held together.

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72 ,THE DIGEST thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind, and added f'The second is like unto it iThou shalt love thy neighbor as thyslff He could not put the duty due from man to God above that due from man to man, and said in substance there is no duty due one higher than to the other. God requires no more of you to him than of you to your fellow, you owe to the neighbor as high duty as to the Creator. I think I may Well say then that self interest alone is not a right guide to moral conduct. A most difficult thing is right and Wise living. ' One must be self-respecting and not self important, must maintain personal dignity, yet be not quick to take offense not intended, there must be some reserve, but not too much. The capable man who does not assert opinion, nor lead in difficulty cannot rise to his merit. Society cannot rely upon or trust one who has no confidence in himself. If one is diiiident and retiring, preferring study to mingling in affairs, the busy World Will go by not marking him out. Courage and the self-confidence it gives is indispensable to success in life. Egotism is less vicious than timidity and cow- ardice. Society is but co-operating activity, and you must be social and conipanionable, have and express opinions and be ready to lead if called, avoiding offensive egotism. Attain this iuiddleway if you can, but at all events have courage. Be truthful and honest. How can one trust another who is not both? A truthful man must be honest, save the rare fevv Whose conscience and self-respect are Wholly gone. A truthful man may be dishonest. I-Ie' is totally depraved Who can admit it. One may do wrong, but will argue with conscience to some Way jius- tify it. Manfred said, C' I have ceased to justify myself unto myself, the last extremity of evil. '7 A volume of philosophy is in that sentence. Only the utterly bad will not try to excuse his wrong doing, Loyalty is kin to truth. It is truth coupled With self-devotion, yielding self to duty. It is negation of selfishness and ingrati- tude, and goes hand in hand With truth. The disloyal to friend, humanity, or country is unworthy of confidence of friend, hu- manity or country, and not worthy or likely to succeed in life. Kindness is due from every living being to all living beings, for none can be free from duty to many others. The social structure