University of Louisville - Thoroughbred Yearbook (Louisville, KY)

Page 32 text:

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.

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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

Page 33 text:

JUNIOR CLASS ROLL C. W. MORRIS JULIAN BRADBURY DEO; Ws DOYLE, JR. HARRY GRINSTEAD HERMAN LOCK NER ALVIN B. WOLFF EUSTACE WILLIAMS G. J. SMITH AMOS BURT CLELL G. FOWLER ke H. BARKER, [iK. H. C. MORRISON THE JUNIORS NFORTUNATELY for the class spirit of the Junior Branch of the Law Department, most of the members are business men, and the hour and a half during which they are together, affords little opportunity for close friendships and fraternal affection. But, in spite of this, the Juniors are pretty well acquainted with one another, and have, by this time, reached the John and Bill stage at which their colleagues in other departments of the University arrive much earlier in the season. The class has had no occasion to elect officers, but the boys do a lot of barber-shop-chord singing every day before the lecture, and the Juniors have selected a team to debate the Junior Class from the Jefferson School of Law. This debate will be given on the Third of April, and the subject is: ‘‘ Resolved: That all state elective officers shall be nominated by the direct primary.” Although, as has been mentioned, the class represents many vocations and quite a range of ages from eighteen to forty odd, the boys are all jolly good fellows, as one glance at the picture will show. The Juniors are especially proud of the fact that all of them like their professors and the professors seem to have a pretty good opinion of the class. More of the Juniors will be in evidence next year, and we would not be surprised to find a few names on the honor list in the catalog. The Juniors are also experts at bench-carving, and a number of mys- terious designs have appeared on the time (?)-marked seats in the lecture room. Taken as a whole, the Juniors are very much like any other Junior class, but, at any rate, the Uni- versity has in them nothing of which to be ashamed.