The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1844-02-05


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The lnsihutoa, dedieal,J alone o. lew sied,e..
and Their cognaie anJ AUXILIARY iopacs, y sFartaus
aud bsaui,iu bu ld,ng. \ M south ftflb .trcst,
suit bio for the accommodation OF about sikts Ito.
dents. The ell SUITABLY faFn shsd supaisd
with extensive law and uiiscsllanenus hhiafy--
,olu prtcodnA u yraccf every cunecisAbir and aE
proved frn. SiudsBiH admitted any tame
throughout the yeaf--cSursca ol study and the
qusiio books are supplied, exactly TO ss.et ths
wants and views Of The student according a. be may
design 10 pfacc. his profession c,boi "a Oh. country
OF the mantillc cities The laws ~ every
Slate Ia the Union som. degrees d~elt OPP a.
practice Is constantly blended ~nh Mesrs--but the
deep and radical error Of paren's, well " audsals
is carefully avoidcd-l siude 90 the to
ton that law students TO be made mechanical
arii,amsmerc attorneys learning prasiics by rD's and
jealous of book kiowiedgs, bsiog t,o o.eot eoai
This miscbeyous error must inevitably degrade the
science and profession, and Is eross mistake, since
no practising attorney was ever e. OIL and astng
| who was not also deeply veised IN the and
theory of the law. | therefore cannot acquiesce Ia,
and will yield to, the vulgar error e ,u,ling
practice before and above theory-n is unnatural
Inversion Of the established order of igoo
rant and sloveny way Of urging young on
Temps far beyond the powers OF the human n iod--
Tor If he grounds and reasons of the scirDev be not
| well known, the practice cannot be well known
| But the error, To which ! 50 earnestly allude, Is
vu 'ded upo' another, which is equally false and
row, THAT students learn The practice only in
a practising lawyers office On he C mir ~ az gen.
eral rule, II Is he very last place IN whsh he
does or can learn the praclice-and ihs be mad
extremely manifest W hat is practice as distinguish
| ed from theory Take a single example-and tT uno
disco onnes. The theory or a law pant says la the
student, If lends b has watch, and sells IT, or re-
fuses 10 return II, may bring what is eailed
| ton of Trover and Conversion. Now frorer
| hndiDg anu oonperNoH means Apr priaiiag n 10 his
| own use; and here, again, the student leans two
other theoretical law poinis-vz. that The find ag h.
now mere verbal fiction not al ali material, 10 be
prorsd nd secondly that the conversion by the de-
frndani TO his oicn consists la The WITHHOLD
ing the properly from the painti although II should
be ever clearly proved tina, be IN way USED the
property for himself for any pur pose whatever bot
| to Withhold II from the Ilainiih.
| Now all this theory must be learn, aud good
deal more before The praeice comes-and that paciice
on the plaintiffs part con, Isis of thorough knowledge
OF ne forms or tetdens-and. on the defendants pari
the like knowledge TO the formula of the p,a-
rcjoiners &c. There are therefore books Of preoe-
denis these books unfold every practical preceding
whatever IN every action known 10 the iaw-pro
gessyey from The importation of the icri t. the final
return up,n The ereeuaion. These Jormtiia OF wrts
returns 10 wrs-appesraI cos-hail--lmpa par 10 noes
continuance -Impsnnelling of juries -irsi-tI-
ceplions-veIdict- Observation-Disclosures of
| eXecution-or on the other hand, new tria--or ap-
peal, sc &c.-are all SIT forth in The fpreeed MS so
that, he who knows most Of precedeat, knows most
of practice but sdl these presidents cannot them
selves be understood, without a previous iheoreiieaI
know ledge. The question, then reso llsef into this
| Cannot a law student be well GROUNDED in all the
pecedents. ldlO Serlsu, who never saw or act sing
lawyers Office And why not On the contrary,
cannot be learn far more OF practice by The judi
eious and careful study of all the formula which be
| never does Ia Practising lawyers oilicc) than by
Writing, rather copying, lho,c simple and occ aston.
al declare ons pleas &C. which the master Of an office
assigns to the STUDENT l. not uniform ly the Csc
that all really difficult and responsible business of this
sort Is done by the master himself without ever reach
ing the eye Of the sludent-or, # does only TO me
| chanicsly copy II Again Who can DIT ngush be.
tween real sull IN couu and fictitious one IN VIII ca
| one student prepares the wnt-anotber the return
| another The declaraiiJn- some other the . ca &c
until all the practical proceedings gone through
And hat prevents these students making record of
the whole, and then comparing all with a c, riiird re-
cord iiom some court Of Ju'tcc IN like action All
tins surely may be done IN Law lnsituton-and Ear
b ttef-more quiet, -and with time than ia busi-
meas offices many precious hours are often st i
! useless message'-ong walk anscr bing htiers-
copying (not derisng) declarations pleas, replica.
tons &c. so generally the sole workmanship o the
master Of the Office and very seldom that of the
student confess that all this is TO my mind extreme
ly plain and has long ished of The popular and
serious which has placed young IN Offices
where little either oftheury practice learnt This
surely {. not always the case bot II is too often such
asnany desponding students have found and othos
have been compelled TO confess, that they never
learned much Of theory Of practice until qler hey
came TO The bar but at which tine, found very
uphill aud arduous work and sometimes accom-
pshed even lhi, ugh whole life of toll. Doubtless
there ave macy noble exceptions the correctness of
these remarks but still, aver IL fact, that ms
| er percncc has never made me acquainted With any
young iaioyer who Ia candid conversation, was not
willing 20 confess that his legal education had been
very hap-baz,rd-and that practice to any really val
liable and abiding extent the last thing s. udent
can ever hope Tor practising lawyers ofiice.
! After an extensive practice Of seven and twenty
years IN all of the courts, and dcyoion to the inte
rests Of ao students, dunng much of that period II NAV
not be much to say that practice never be lost
pht ofin this Institute and that nothing bot mechani-
cal narooness Of legal education unworthy # an en-
lgbiened lawyer could paironisc even the inti.
nation that such an lnsti ulinn only adopted for
the ncucston of the science and not of the art Of our
/ profe- sion--an ntmstion confined doubtless to a |
very few, but which, s is one fatal 10 the int
rests Of law students and so captivating 20 unin.
formed parents and guardians and ~ the arden
| n. =. I.t,ra h.,