The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1844-06-06
A CIRCULAR TO STUDENTS OF LAW
IN THE UNITED STATES.

TN the year 1874 under the auspices OF the onisei-
/ sity of Maryland established IN The city OF Bal
| timofe aw School under the denomination OF the
| Maryland Law Institute. This establishment eon'i-
nued ia successful operation nearly eleven seafs, "a
ing received students from eleten oil tue 0'aes ao
from foreign countries. OWING 10 tns Pie''u''
Of an ensive practice simultaneously WIN the du-
ties which the Institution Involved ies"Ne1 i" Tue
year 1886 abandon not ly the pfaenee OF my ever
and long oheTshed profession, but also 'he La" ihs'
ue; and for health and ease sought the more Pe"ia'
climates VI Europe. Finding, at this time, my heai'h
perfectly restored and with II no abatement whatever
of my real and devotion TO that great science which
ia this country Of all Others needs TO be meuoeeasiy
and carefully siudiedand seeking, mofeo,ef inuus'
-ious and continued occupation so essential 10 haPp
ness land chat knows idlsrs reso ed 10 ees,s-
bIish the Law Insttuiion-and have selected fhs"'
deiphia he place OF rs location. In 50 dong nave
thought that city in the Union affords such various
and ample inducements for ALL the purposes OF 'hs
| Law Sutherland that in none can more worthy
economy be preserved, and yet with every requisite
comfort.
The frequent app ications made TO me from DIS
lance The former OCCASION in regard 10 The pafe-
lars of my enterprise induce me 10 anticipate similar
| inquiries now-and, To meet all such IN advance
now address this Circular, all that | can offer IN
explanation, and probably as all that may be requ'-
| site.
! The institution dedicated alone TO law studies,
and their cogDate and auxiliary topics Is spacious
and beautiful building n. lit South Fhth street,
suitable for the accommodation OF about sixty stu
dents. The rooms all suitably un shed, supplied
with an extensive law and miscellaneous Library
oM preeedents Of practice IN every conceivable and APP
proved frn. Siudens are admitted at any Time
! throughout the year-eourses OF study, and the re-
quisite books supplied SO as exactly to neet the
and of 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 hetry--but the
al al Of III
is elully avoided allude To the too
ton that law students be made mechanical
arsanS-mee attorneys, learning practice by role and
jealous of book-kropiedgs, being too theoretical -
| This mischievous must inevitably degrade the
science and profession, and is gross mistake since
practising attorney good and lasting one,
who not also deeIly veTsed in the and
theory of the law. therefore cannot acquiesce in,
and never will yield to, the vulgar Of putting
practice before and above theoryit is unnatural
Inversion Of the established order of naiure-an igno-
rant and slovenly way of urging young men on TO at
templs far beyond the powers of the human II ind
for if the grounds and reasons of the science be
| well known, the practice cannot be well known.
| But the error, To which | SO earnestly aude, is
fou ded upoi another which is equally false and
row, vzthat students learn the practice only in
practising lawyers office On the Contrary gen
eTai rule 1t IL The very last place in which he
does, learn the praciice-and this can be made
extremely manifest. w hat is practice distinguish
ed from theory? Take single example-and urao
disco onnes. The theory or law point says to the
student, if lends his watch and sells it, or re-
fuses 10 return II, A may bring what is called
| ton of Trover and Conversion. Now roper
Ending, and conversion means approprating II to his
! own use and here, again, the student learns two
other theoretical law pons-viz. that the find ng is
now verbal fiction, not at all material be
pr0red-and secondly that the conversion by the de-
ftndant TO his consists IN the mere withhold.
ing the property from the plaintiff, although should
be ever 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 learn, and good
deal more before the practice comesand that Practice
on the plaintiffs pari consists of thorough know ledge
oflhe forms preosdents-and the defendant part
ofthe like knowledge as the torplce of the pleas
reJolnders &c There are, therefore books Of prece-
dents L; these books unfold every practical proceeding
whatever In every action known to the iaW-pro.
gressvey from the Importation of the orit to the final
return upon the erecaion These fornul1 of wrils
returns 10 -bail-inip aIlances
-continuances-impAnnell of iuries -Irial-eI-
| cepiions-verdct-J OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES of
! eXecuiion-oI the other hand, trial--or APP
peal, &c &c.-are all set forth in the fpreced MS
that, he who knows most of precedeHis, knows most
of practice but STILL these presidents them
selves be understood, without previous theoretical
knowledge. The question: then Itself this
Cannot law student be well grounded in all the
pferedents, ldo SenSu, who never Z pr actlsing
! lawyers office AID why not 2 On the contrary,
cannot he learn far more of practice by the JUDI
cious and careful study of all the tor8liiG which he
never does in practising lawyers oflice) than by
writing, rather copying, those simple and OCCASION
al declarations pleas Sc which the master ofan Office
assigns to the STUDENT l. uniformly the
that all really difficult and responsible business Of this
sort is done by the master himself without reach
Jog the eye Of the student-or If 1t does only to
| chanically copy in Again Who can distinguish be-
tween real suit in court and fictitious one in which
one student prepares the writ-apother the return
another he declaraiion- some other the pea, &c
until all the practical proceedings gone through
And hat prevents these students making record Of
the whole, then comparing all with a certified re-
cord Fl ON court of justice in like action All
this surely may be done Law lnsutution-and far
,ter-mo1e quietli and with more time than IN bust.
ness offices where many precious hours often lost ia
useless mcssages-ong waikiki auscr bling letters
coping mot derising) decai atoms pleas, replica.
tons &c so generally the sole wofkmanship oi the
master Of the office and very seldom that Of the
student confess bat all this Is To my mind extreme
| ly plain and has lng ished of The popular nd
! serious error which has placed young Offices,
where little either oftheory or of practice learnt This
surely Is not always the case-but is too often such,
asmany d,ponding students have found and as others
have been compelled 10 confess that they never
learned much OF theory practice until after they
came 10 hs bar but at which time It found very
uphill and atduous work, and sometimes not accom-
pished even thu ugh whole life of toll. Doubtless
here are many noble exceptions he correctness Of
these remarks bot still | aver It az fact that my
er perience has never made me acquainted With any
young Ld,ryer, who, m candid conversation was not
willing 20 confess that his legal education had been
very haphazar-and that practice, TO any really val
liable and abiding extent, ~ the last thing student
can ever hope Tor IN practising lawyers ofice.
After an extensive practice of seven and twenty
wears IN all Of the courts and devotion TO the int
rests Of lao students, during much of that period may
not be too much 10 say that practice be lost
.ighl ofn this Insuton and that nothing but mechani
cal narrO,oness Of legal education, unworthy e
liz htcned lawyer, could ever paronse the init
nation that such lnsti utIun only adopted for
the incubation ofthc science and mol Of the ar Of our
u1nfn. slnn-an intlmAlon cnnhneL. dnnhllcns- m a