The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1844-07-09
|. cmcu,. AR rosrupExrs or Law
ia THE UNITED STATES.

/ IN THE UNI ED - ~ sSDs
TN the wear 1924 under the auspices OF the unse,
sity of MARYLAND established IN the c,ty Oh ID az
timore Law School, under The denominAuo" " -
MARYLAND Law institute. This establishments 9o''''
| nued in successful operation nearly eist'" 800, ,t
inc recey. students from sieren OF tue States anu
| from two foreign countries. Owing TO tue pressure
| of an extensive practice, simultaneously WIN 'e ~
lies which the Institution involved resolved In 'he
year 1886, To abandon not oly the pIaeteo " ny 80
and long cherished profession, but also the La" i"
lute; and for he Ith AMI ease, sought Tue more Una
climates of EuroI Fading, at this tne' my u.a''l
perfectly restored and with II no abatement "hs,e's'
of my zeal and devotion TO that great science whIni
in this county, OF all Others needs 10 DC "'e0as
and carefully sudied-and seeking, moreover, ihuus
trous and continued occupation 30 essential TO haPp
ness in land that knows no oilers reso'"d 10
| blish the Law lnstuon-and have seiectsd "a
deiphia as the place of It's location IN 30 doirg nave
thought that no city in the Union affords SUCH various
| and ample inducements for all the PURPOSES OF the
| Law Sutherland that In none can more worthy
economy be preserved and yet with every requisite
comfort.
The frequent app ica,ions made to from dis
lance on the former OCCASION in regard To the Paiic-
lars of my enterprise induce me to anticipate similar
| injuries now--and, TO meet all such in advance,
now address this Circular, all that can oher IN
explanation, and, probably, as all that may De requ'
| site. ,
| The institution, dedicated alone to law studies,
and their cognate and auxiliary topics, Is spacious
and beautiful building, M. III South Fifth street.
suitable for the accommodation OF about sixty stu,
dents. The all suitably furnished, supplied
with an extensive law and miscellaneous library
tci preesdes Of practice IN every conceivable ana APP
| proved form. Students are admitted at any time
through the year-courses OF study, and the re-
quise books are supplied, SO as exaciiy 10 hee' 'he
wants and We've the student according as he may
design practice his profession either IN the country
| or in some of the maritime cities The laws of every
State in the Union in some degree dwelt upon
practice is constantly blended with thecry--but the
deep and radical ofparenis, as well as OF students
is carefully AVOIDED aude to the too erroneous
ton that law students to be made mere mechanical
a,tisans-mere attorneys learning practice by roe, and
jealous of bookknopedge, being too theoretical -
! This mscbievous must inevitably degrade the
science and profession and is gross mistake, since
practising attorney was ever good and lasting one
who not also deeply versed in the reasons and
theory Of the law. therefore cannot acquiesce in
and will yield to, the vugor error Of putting
practice before and above theory-it is an unnatural
inrersion Of the established order of naturean igno
| rant and soveny way of urging young men on to at
tempts far beyond the powers Of the human mind
for if The grounds and reasons of The science be not
| well known, the practice cannot be well known.
But the error, to which | SO earnestly allude, is
founded upoL another, which is equally false and mar
row, viz-that students learn The practice only In
practising tatcye's Office! On the coniIery, gem
era rule, it is The very last place in which he ever
does, can learn the practice-and This can be made
extremely manifest. What is practice as distinguish
ed from theory? Take single example-and er ,io
dice omnes. The theory law point says to the
student if A lends B his watch, and B sells II, or
fuses to return it, A may bring what is called an
ton of Trover and Conversion. Now froper means
finding, and conversion means appropriaiDg 1t to his
own use and here again, the student learns two
other theoretical law poinis-vz. that the finding IL
now verbal fiction, not at all material, or to be
proped-and secondly, that the conversion by the de-
PENDANT to his olcn consists IN the mere WITHHOLD
ing the properly from the plaintiff, although il should
be ever clearly proved that he in way the
property for himself Tor any purpose whatever but
| TO withhold II from the plaintiff.
Now all this hs5gy must be learnt aud good
deal more before the prcics comes-and that practice
on the plaintiffs part Consists of thorough know ledge
of he forms PRECAUTIONARY the defendants part
ofhe like knowledge TO the formula of The pleas
rejonders, &c. There are therefore books of prece-
dents these books unfold every practical proceeding
whatever, in every action known to the aw-pro
gressivey from the importation of the orii to the final
return upon The ereeution These toruiuie of writs
-contnuances-impanne of juries -triai-ex-
cep,ions-veIdlct-jud gmen-e Ieculion-return OF
execuon-or, on the other hand, trial-or APP
peal, sc, &c.-are all set forth in the fprecedtnts so
that, he who knows most of precedeRB, knows most
of practice but STILL these precedents cannot them
selves be unde rstood, without previous theoretical
knowledge The question, then resolves itself into thus
| Cannot a law student be well grounded in all the
precedents tdto sensu, who a pr actlsing
lawyers offce2 And why not On the contrary
cannot he learn far more of practice by the Judi
cous and careful study of all the formula (Which he
never does IN practising lawyers ofiice) than by
writing rather copying those simple and OCCASION
al declarations, pleas &c which he of office
assigns II the sudent} IL il uniformly the case
that all really difficult and responsible business of this
sort Is done by the master himself without reach
ing the eye of the siudent-or if il does only To me-
chanieally copy III Again: Who can distinguish be.
tween real suit in court and fictitious one in whch
one student prepares the writ-another the return
another The declaration other the pea &c
until all the practical proceedings gone through
And hat prevents these students making a record of
the whole, and then comparing all with a certified re-
cord from some court OF justice in like action All
this surely may be done Ia a Law Inslltuton-and far
bttter-more quietly-and with time thar in busi.
offices, where many precious hours often lost ia
useless messages-long @aks--tIanscr bling letters
coming mot depising) declai atoms pleas replica,
tons, &c. so generally the sole wokmanship ol the
master of the office, and very seldom that Of the
student ] confess that all this is TO my mind SlJeme-
ly plain and has long is6ed me of the popufr and
serious which has placed young men IN Offices
where little either oftheory ofpracice is learnt This
surely, is not always the case-but it is too often such
asmany deponding students have found and as others
have been compelled to confess, that they never
learned much oftheory Of practice until afier heu
came TO hs bar but at which time was found very
up hill and arduous work, and sometimes not accom-
pished through a whole life of toll Doubtless
there many noble exceptions to the correctness of
these Temafhs- out SUR aver as TACT, that my
experience has never made me acquainted with an
young Lawyer, who, in candid conversation was not
willing 20 confess that his legal education had been
very haphazard-and that practice TO any really val
uubIc and abiding extent is the last thing student
can ever hope for IN practising lawyers Office
After extensive practice of seven and twenty
years in all of the courts, and devotion the ie-
rests 81 tio students, duung much OF that period NAV
not be too much to say that practice never be lost
Ugh, ofn this institution and that nothing but necian
col nuroDnes Of legal education, unworthy e an en-
lightened lawyer could ever patrouise even the init
nation that such Institution was only adopted for
the incubation ofhe science, and not Of the art of our
profossion-an intmaton confined doubtless TO a
very few, but Which, still, is one so fatal to the inte
rests Of law students and captivating TO unip.