The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1844-01-19
A CIRCULAR TO STUDENTS or LAW
In THE UNITED STATES.

nued la successful operation nearly Glove" wears nav
ing rocsiy. students from elerea OF the States, a
from two foreign countries. Owing 40 the pressure
of an extensive practice simultaneously WAN toe hu-
ties which the Institution Involved, resolved ia Tue
year 1886 10 abandon Doi ly the paclce OF nay ever
and long cherished profession but also the Law lnst-
tutc; and for health and ease sought the genial
CLIMATES OF Europe F,udiDg a, this time, my health
perfectly restored and with It no abatement whatever
of my zeal and devotion ia that great science, which
in this county of all others, needs to be methodeay
and carefully studIed-and seeking, mvreoN or, indus
tFious and Continued occupati A. essential TO happ
10 land that knows oilers Tesol' ed 10 re-esta-
bsh the Law lnsttuiion-and have selected Phiia
epha as The place of lis location IN doing have
thought chat city Ia the Union alordsS uch yarpus
and ample Inducements for all he purposes of the
Law Sunderland that ia none worthy
economy be preserved, and yet with every requisite
comfort.
The frequent applications made to from dis
lance, ON tho former OCCASION ia regard The parte
utalS of my enterprise, induce To anticipate similar
inquiries now-and, Ia meet all such in advance,
now address this Circular 5 all that | can offer ia
GIlanation, and probably, all that may be r,qu-
site.
The Institution dedicate alone TO law studies
and Their cognae and auxiliary Topics, Is spacious
and beautiful bu lding, NJ. III South Fifth street
suitlble for the accommodation of about sixty stu
dents The rooms all suitably fun shed supplied
with an extensive law and miscellaneous library
tc preeedenf o. practice IN every conceivable and APP
proved f,r,D. otudtn admitted at any time
throughout The year-courses Of study, and the To-
qulsiie books are supplied, exactly aeet the
wants and views of The student, according he may
design To 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 Meory--but the
deep and radical error Of parentS well as of sula
is carefully avoided Il aiiude the too erroneous no
lion that law students 10 be made mere mechanical
atisans-mere attorneys, leaning practice by role and
Jealous of ook.knorledse, cs being too theor eeal -
| This mlschieVous error must inevitably degrade the
science and Profession, >and is gross mistake, since
no practising attorney ever g, Oh and lasting ne
who was not also deeply versed in the reasons and
theory of ihe law. therefore cannot acquiesce in
and never Will yield to- the gar error Of putting
practice before and above ,heory-it is an unnatural
Inversion Of the established order of naiure-an igno
rant and slovenly way of urging young on at
| templs far beyond the powers of the human mind
Tor If he grounds and reasons of the science be
well known, the practice cannot be well known.
But the error, To which ! so earnestly allude is
fou 'ded upoh another, which is equally false and mar
row, vz-that students can learn the practice only in
practising lawyers office On nc canlr ~, as gen
erai rule, 1t The very last place in which he
does can learn tie praciiceand this can be made
extremely manifest What is practice as distinguish
ed from theory? Take single exampe-and az ,tno
| disco oplnts The theory law point says to the
student, If lends b bis watch, and sells it, or re-
fuses TO return it, A may bring what is called an ac-
ton Of Trover aud Conversion, Now froper means
bnding and conversion means appropriating ii his
| own use; and here again, the student learns two
other theoretical la points-vz. that the find ng is
now mere verbal fiction not at all material, To be
propsd-and secondly that The conversion by the de-
fndant To his oicn use consists Ia the WITHHOLD
ing the property from the plaintiff although 1t should
be clearly proved that he IN way used the
property for himself for any purpose whatever but
| to withhold II from the plaintiff
! Now all this theory must be learnt and a good
deal more before thepractiee comesand that practice
on the pIanths con lists Of thorough knowledge
Of the forms orpreedensand. the defendants part
OF the like knowledge to the Jormt9 of The pl, a.
reJondeTs, &c. There are, therefore books If prees-
dents these books unfold every practical proceeding
whatever, IN every action known TO the law-pro
gressiveIy from The importation of the orit the final
return upon the erecuon. These JoyDi,ii9 of wris
returns TO wriis-appearar ces-bail-iu paiances
acknowledgement of jures -rial-ex-
ceptions-verdIct-J judi ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of
execution-or, the other hand, new irial-or ap-
peal SC, &c.-are all SIT forth in the fpreeed MS so
that be who knows most of precede rs knows mos,
of practice but still, these precedents cannot them
selves be understood without previous theoretical
knowledge. The question: then itself into this
Cannot a law student be well grounded in all the
presidents, ioto se,isu, who never saw rsctsnp
lawyers Office Aud why not On the contrary I
cannot he learn far more OF practice by the iud
cous and careful study of all the formula (which he
never does ia practising lawyers ofice) than by
writing, OF rather copying, lhoe simple and OCCASION
al dcclarat ons pleas NC, which the master ofic
assigns 10 the student1 f. it not uniformly the So
thai all really difficult and responsible business OF this
sort Is done by the master himself without reach
ing the eye of the siudent-or Il II does only To me
chanicaly copy II Again Who can dist ngush be.
real suit in court and fictitious one IN which
one student prepares the wnt another the return
another The declarari IN some other the u ca &c
until all the practical proceedings are gone through
And What prevents these students making record of
the whole, and then comparing all with c, ruff I re-
cord fiom court OF Justce in like action All
this surely may be done Law Instiution-and far
b.uor-morc quiotl and with time than in busi
ne offices " here many precious hours are ocnlos, it
useless mcssages-ong ~alks-lianscr bling htters- |
eopying (not derrsng) declarations pleas rcplica-
tons, &c. generally the sole workmanship OF the
master of The Office and very seldom that of the
student confess that all this is my mind extreme
~ plain and has long isied OF he popular and
serious error which has placed young men 10 Offices
where little either Of theory of practice learnt This
surely - not always the case bot II is too often such
asmany dcspondng students have found and as Others
have been compelled TO confess, that they never |
learned much Of theory Of practice until AFTER they
came the bar but, which tine, 1t found very
up. hill and arduous work and sometimes not accom-
piished even through whole life of toll Doubtless
there many noble exceptions TO he correctness of
these remarks - bot still, aver a fact, that nv
experience has never made acquainted with any
uo,,ng lo,ouer who 10 candid Conversation was not
wiling 20 confess that his legal education had been
very haphsznrd-and that practice, to any really val
liable and abiding extent the last thing a student
can ever hope Tor IN a practising lawyers flee
After a extensive practice Of seven and twenty
wears in all Of the courts, and devotion 10 the inf-
rests Of lao students during much Of that period II may
not be much 60 say that practice lost
.irht ofn this Insu and that nothing but pecLani-
cal Of legal education, unworthy Il, an en-
thtened lawyer could ever patroosr the inti-
nation that such Institution only adopted for
the incubation of the science md not Of the ari Of our
pfofe, son-an intmation confined, doubtless TO a
very few bot which, still is one 50 fatal TO the inie
rests Of law students, and captivating to unin-
formed parents and guardians, aud even 10 the aren
student who is liable Ia be too anrous to practice
before he has submitted {, The tolls Of isnning ho,r
-. Il ...I.-. IL.