University of Louisville - Thoroughbred Yearbook (Louisville, KY)

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28 | The Colonel CHANCELLOR HENRY PIRTLE By JupGE JAMEs S. PIRTLE ENRY PIRTLE was the first Dean of the Faculty of the Law Department of the Uni- versity of Louisville. The other professors at the opening of the Law School, in October 1846, were Garnett Duncan and Preston S. Loughborough, who remained in the Faculty a few years. Professor Pirtle continued in the chair of Equity Jurisprudence, Consti- tutional Law, and Mercantile Law to the end of his life, on March 28, 1880, in his eighty- second year, for the last six years as Emeritus Professor. The Law School prospered from the beginning and gained strength from year to year until 1861, when the young men of the country became engaged in more exciting pursuits than the study of the law—Inter arma silent leges. The students came to Louisville from many of the Southern States, and from Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Kentucky; some from more distant States. The fame of Judge Pirtle was carried home by them and influenced other ambitious men to come to the Louisville Law School to enjoy the benefit of his great learning, his luminous elucidation of the science of the law, and his enthusiasm for the dignity of the legal profession. His manner of lecturing was his own. He

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The Colonel 27 HISTORY AND RECORD OF LAW DEPARTMENT HE Law Department of the University of Louisville was organized in the fall of 1846, and has held its sessions continuously since that time. It began with a corps of three Professors—Henry Pirtle, Garnett Duncan and Preston L. Loughborough. The building on the southeast corner of Ninth and Chestnut was erected with the intention of being used as a suitable building for the Law Department and for an Academic Department, which it was then expected would be established; but the Academic Department did not materialize until the fall of 1908. The sessions of the Law Department were originally five months in length, closing in February, and so it continued for some forty years; afterward they were lengthened to seven-month sessions. In 1881 the Faculty was reduced to a single member, William Chenault, who conducted the school until 1884, when the faculty was filled up to the old number of three and so continued until 1908. In 1908 three new chairs were added to the Faculty so that now six professors are in charge of the institution. Its professors since its foundation have been as follows: Henry Pirtle Henry J. Stites W. O. Harris Garnett Duncan Bland Ballard Charles B. Seymour Preston S, Loughborough Thomas E. Bramlette George DuRelle. Ephraim M. Ewing James S. Pirtle Leon P, Lewis James Prior Horatio W. Bruce Arthur B. Bensinger James Speed William Chenault Alex G. Barret John Preston Henry C. Pindell Robert M. Barret Horatio Simrall Rozel Weissinger Percy N. Booth Peter B. Muir Emmet Field Of those who were professors prior to 1886, Judge P. B. Muir and James S. Pirtle alone survive. Probably the oldest alumnus now living is Colonel R. T. Durrett, one of the best known citizens of Louisville. Many of the greatest statesmen and lawyers of Kentucky have been graduates of the school. ° Among the prominent members of the Louisville Bar, who have been members of the school were Rozel Weissinger, George M. Davie and James P. Helm. The building at Ninth and Chestnut was found too large for the Law School and so it was occupied for many years by the Louisville Male High School, the Law School being removed to rented quarters in Court Place. About 1905 the Law Department took possession of the old building, and continued to hold sessions there until 1908, when it moved to its present quarters on the University grounds on Broadway between First and Second Streets. It has so happened that five of the professors on the present Faculty have each served for more than twenty years, averaging a service of twenty-four years among them. Inevitably the views of these five men have had much to do with the development of the school. While their colleagues were men very highly experienced, none of them served for a longer term than eight years. As might be expected their modes of teaching are not so well known among the members of the Kentucky Bar as the method employed by the five who served the longest periods. It has been the standing policy of the school to allow each professor his own mode of instruction. Some have used the text book almost exclusively; others written lectures; other the case method; but every one has constantly used the quiz as a means not only. of imparting instruction, but also of pro- ducing accuracy of thought and disciplined attention among the pupils. The Law Department is about to enter the seventy-seventh year of its public service with good prospects of continuing in active usefulness for years to come.

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The Colonel ee | . 29 delivered no written out discourses, but from notes, upon pieces of paper, comprehensible to himself, he taught, with profound knowledge, the interpretation of the constitution, twice a month, without a text book. These lectures, about two hours long, were not confined to an examination of decided cases; they embraced the history of liberty in all nations. They were inspired by a devoted patriotism and a generous admiration of the men who founded the government. He discussed the application of the provisions of the Constitution to the existing conditions, and the wise foresight which planned for the future. He laid before his hearers the sources from which American liberty and constitutional provisions sprung, with an ardent eloquence which warmed the minds of his students into a glow of admiration and love of country, which made the subject a delight and its study a pleasure. In his other teaching, eight hours each week, he used Story’s Equity Jurisprudence, Bailments, Bills of Ex- change and Agency, and Smith’s Mercantile Law, as text books, with a lesson of considerable length for each day. The text was read and commented upon, supplemented by an abundance of illustration from other sources, and some questions were asked of the students so that every man took part in the daily work, or was in expectation of being called upon. Judge Pirtle was not a hard task master. He did not enjoy the discomfiture of a student. Indeed it was a common saying that he was never known to let one of his boys in the class make a bad answer to a question. If he found he was questioning one who was ignorant, the matter was passed over by the Professor answering his own inquiry, or put- ting a plain leading question. The Moot Court during the winter months was held at night in the lecture room in the basement of the Court House, at the beginning, afterwards in Court Place where the Annex to the Court House stands, and was usually presided over by Judge Pirtle. It was like other Moot Courts, generally not very much like a real court, but blossoming out sometimes into skill and eloquence—always enlight- ening by the instruction of the presiding Judge. The final examinations for the degree of Bachelor of Laws were conducted by the three Professors at one time, in the evening, sitting around the fire in the lecture room. Three to five students were taken through a scattering course of questioning, which not infrequently produced a debate between the Faculty, of which the students were beneficiaries to the extent of being exempt from further examination, not an unwelcome interruption to them. The relation between Professor Pirtle and his classes was one of intimate friendship; they revered him and confided in him, and he felt an affectionate interest in each of them; while there was profound respect on their part, there was nothing of awe or distance, and this friendship continued through life. The rank of Judge Pirtle as a jurist was with the great scholars and judges of the country. He was with Kent and Story and George Robertson—great judges and teachers. Many of his decisions, as Chancellor of the Louisville Chancery Court for three terms and Judge of the Jefferson Circuit Court, struck out new pathways in the administration of justice and gave him great fame, but he will be best remembered as a teacher of the branches of jurisprudence above mentioned and for the influence he had over the lives of many great lawyers in Kentucky and other States.