The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1844-01-16
, CIRCULAR TO STUDENTS or LAW
IN THE UNITED STATES.

-
unore Law School under tho denomination OF the
Maryland Law Institute. This establishment CONT
nued IA sueeessiul operation nearly eleven years nav
ing reeeis,d students from eleuen OF ihe STATES anu
from Two iore,en countries Owing 10 the pressure
OF an extensive practice simultaneously wan 'he uu
ties which the Institution Involved, resolved ia inc
year 1886 10 abandon not ly the praeee oil my ever
aud long cherished profession but also the Law ins'i
tu,e and tor health and ease sought the more gen'e'
climates ot Europe, FtndiUg, al this ume my healIh
perfectly restored, and with II abatement whatever
vi my zeal and devotion that great science, which,
in tins eount of all others needs to be iashodieaiy
aud carefully siuded-and seeking, moreover, indus
rious and continued oeoupaioa so essential to hePpi-
in land that knows ers resol, ej 10 Ie-ese-
hllsh the Law institulionand have selected Fhila-
deiphia The place of ia location. In 80 dong have
thought that no city Ia the unlon affords such various
and ample Inducements for all the purposes OF The
Law Sutherland that ia none can a more worthy
economy be preserved and yet with every requisite
comfort.
The frequent applications made TO from dis
lance the former occasion ia regard TO the paiio-
urs of my enterprise, Undue, me 10 anticipate similar
inquiries now-aDd, 10 meet all such IN advance,
now address this Circular, as all that can offer IN
explanation, and probably, as all that may be roqu'-
site.
The Institution, dedicated alone 10 law studies
and their cog nate and auxiliary topics, a spacious
and brauiifu building, N III South Flfth street,
suitable for the accommodation Of about sixty stu
dents. The all suitably fun shed, supplied
with an extensive law and miscellaneous Library
rA precedents Of practice N every conceivable and APP
proved firm. Stud,ns are admitted at any time
throughout The year--oourses Of study and the Ic-
qusiie books supplied, exactly to meet the
| wants and views of The student, according he may
design 10 practice bis profession, cltbo IN the country
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 md radical error of parents, well OF students
is carefully AVOIDED alludc to the too
ton that law students TO be made mechanical
ariiSunsnere attorneys learning practice by rote and
jealous of book knociedge, being too tteoy ecal -
This mlschevous error must inevitably degrade the
science and profession, and is gross mistake, since
no practising Attorney was ever good and lasting one
who was not also deeply versed in the and
theory of the law | therefore cannot acquiesce in,
and never will yield to- the vulgar error Of putting
practice before and above theory-it is unnatural
Inversion Of the established order of na,ure-an igno-
rant and sioveny way OF urging young men on TO at
| tempts far beyond the powers of the human IL 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 alludc 10
| urded upoh another, which is equally false and
row. vz-that students can learn the practice only in
practising incyer's office! On the contrary, as gen
era role, it is The very last place in which he ever
does, or can learn the prac'ice-and this be made
| extremely manifest That is practice distinguish
| cd from heory2 Take single examplc--and tr ,nlo
disco onlnes. The theory or a law point saws To the
student, if lends b his watch, and sells it, or re-
| fuses TO return il, A may bring what is called
| ton Of Trover and Conversion. Now trorer means
| finding, and conversion means appropriang TO his
own use and here, again, the student learns two
other theoretical law poin,s-vz. that the finding is
a verbal fiction not at all material or to be
prorsd-and secondly, that the conversion by the de-
itndant TO his o,cn consists in the WITHHOLD
ing the property from the plaintiff although it should
be ever so clearly proved that he in way 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 the practice comes-and that practice
on the plaintiffs part con, lists of thorough know ledge
of the forms or prectdens-and, the defendant part
OF the like knowledge to the formula Of the plea
rejonders, &c. There are therefore books of prece-
dents these books unfold every practical proceeding
whatever, IN every action known to the iaw-pro-
gressively, from the importation of the ,cri he final
return upon The erecmion. These formula of wri,s
returns TO wris-appeararce s-ba-impai dances
acknowledgement of juries -lrial-e1-
ceptions-verdlct-j ud Observation-Disclosures Of
execution-or, on the other hand new tral-lr APP
peal &c, &c-hre all set forth in The fprtced MS so
that, he who knows most of precede9fs knows most
of practice but still, these rrecedens cannot them
selves be understood, without previous theoretical
know ledge The question, then resolves tsef into thus
Cannot law student be well grounded in all the
piecedents iaio sensu who never saw a or act,sing
lawyers Office Add Why not On the contrary
| cannot he learn far more Of practice by the iud
cous and careful study of all the formula w hch he
| never docs in practising lawyers onice) than by
writing OF rather copying those simple and OCCASION
al declarations, pleas &c which the master n Office
assigns 10 the STUDENT IL it not uniformly the .se
that all really difficult and responsible business of this
-ort is done by the himself without ever reach
ing the eye Of the sludent-or If II does only TO me-
chanically copy II Again; Who dist nruish be.
tween real suit in court, and fictitious one in which
| one student prepares the wrt-another the return
another The decaratiJn-s some other the pea &c
until all the practical proceedings gone through
And what prevents these students making record of
the whole, and then comparing all with a c. red re-
cord Fl ON some court OF Justice in like action All
! this surely may be done n Law nslitution-and far
tef-more quiet and with time thar in bus
offices here many precious hours are often lost il
useless messages-'ong wa.ks--lianscr bling letters
copying mot depisiHg) declai atoms pleas replica
/ tons sc. generally the sole workmanship OF 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 "a sfed me of the popular and
serious error which has placed young in Offices
where little either oftbeory or Of practice learnt This
surely l. not always the case-but 1t is too often such
asinany dosponding students have found and as ohers
have been compelled TO confess, that they never
learned much theory or ofpracice until after they
came TO The bar but at which time Il wa found very
uphill and arduous work, and sometimes not accom-
plshcd even through whole life of toll. Doubtless
there ave many noble exceptions TO The correctness of
these remarks but still | aver IT as a fact that nv
experience has never made me acquainted With any
vo,pg laoyer, who, IN candid Conversation was not
willing 20 confess that his legal education had been
very hap-hazardand that practice to any really val
liable and abiding extent, the last thing a student
can ever hope Tor u practising lawyers office.
After IN extensive practice Of seven and twenty
years m all Of the courts and devotion 10 the int
rest Of oir students during much OF that period may
not be too much say that practice never be lost
iph ofin this Institution and that nothing but eohani-
cal narrotrness Of legal education unworthy e an en-
ghtened lawyer, could ever Patronisc even the int.
nation that such Institution was only adopted for |
the incubation othe science and not Of the Of our
profession-an intimation confined, doubtless, TO a
very few but heb still, Is one fatal TO the inie
rests Of law students, and captivating TO unn
formed parents and guardians and 90 the arlen