The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1844-04-30
A CIRCULAR TO STUDENTS OF LAW
in THE UNITED STATES.

1 In
I'm The yrar 1924 under the auspices of the uniyef-
sity OF Maryland l estAb Ished IN the Guy OF pal
timore Law School, under The denomination OF sne
| Maryland Law Institute This es'abiishhen' 'on
nued ia successful operation nearly eleven years na
inc received 81 udens from eierea OF the States, ana
from Two foreign countries. Owing TO inc pressure
OF an extensive practice, simultaneously WIN 'e ~
ties which the Institution Involved Resolved IN Tue
wear 1886 abandon not liy the pracuee OF my ever
and long cherished profession, but also the La" insi
tute; and for health and sought Tue more ee"a
climates Of Europe. Finding al this ume' u'y hea'n
periecy restored and with II no abatement "haeVs'
of my zeal and devotion to that great nciehee winch
in this country Of all Others needs to be nDfhodeaiy
and carefully sudied-and seeking, moreover, inous
trous and continued occupation, so essential 10 hsPP
ness in land that knows iders reso ed 10
| blish the Law lDstiution-and have selected f"u"
d<lphia as The place OF location In soag have
thoug that city in the Union affords such various
and ample inducements for all the purposes OF the
| Law Sudent-and that In none can a more worthy
economy be preserved, and yet with every requisite
| comfort. 80
| The frequent applications made TO me from dis-
lance the former occasion, ia regard to the Pare-
ula,s of my enterprise induce me To anticipate similar
| inquiries Dow-aDd, To meet all such IN advance
now address this Circular, all that | offer in
explanation, and, probably all that may be requi-
site.
| The Institution, dedicated alone to law studies,
and their cognato and auxiliary TOPICS Is spacious
and beautiful building, N. III South Fifth street,
suitable for the accommodation Of about sixty stu
dents. The all suitably furn shed, supplied
with an extensive law and miscellaneous library
h preedenfs Of practice IN every conceivable and
| proved form. students are admitted at any time
through out the year-courses OF study, and the re-
quiste books are supplied so as exactly to neet the
wants and Of the student, according he may
design practice his profession ethei the country
or in some Of the maritime cities, The laws Of every
State in the Union in some degree dwet upon
practice is constantly blended with heory-but the
deep and radical error OF paen well OF students
is care fully AVOIDED allude to the too
ton that law students to be made mechanical
arsansmere attorneys leaning practice by rote and
jealous of book-knorledge, being too theoretical =
| This nischievous must inevitably degrade the
science and profession, and is gross mistake, since
practising attorney good and lasting one,
who was not also deeply veTsed in the reasons and
theory Of the law. therefore cannot acquesce in,
| and never will yield TO, the vulgar of putting
practice before and above theoryi is an unnatural
Inversion of the established order of naurean igno.
rant and slovenly way of urging young at
tempts far beyond the powers of the human mind
for if the grounds and of the science he
| well known, the practice cannot be well known.
| But the error, to which | earnestly allude, is
founded upoI another which is equally false and
row, vzthat students learn the practice only in
practising lawyers office! On the conIe ry gen
eral rule 1t is the very last place IN which he
does or can learn the praclice-and this be made
extremely manifest. W hat is practice as distinguish
cd from theory? Take single example-and er tno
disco onnes The theory or law point says to the
student, if lends his watch and sells it,
fuses TO return it, A may bring what is called ac-
| ton of Trover and Conversion. Now frorer means
hndiDg and conversion appropriating II to his
| own use and here, again, the student learns two
other theoretical law ponls-viz. that the find ng Is
now mere verbal fiction, not at all material, TO be
propsd-and secondly that the conversion by the de-
| tndant to his consists in the WITHHOLD
ing the properly from the plaintiff although 1t should
be clearly proved that be in way used the
property for himself for any purpose whatever, but
| TO withhold At from the plaintiff.
| Now all this theory must be learnt and a good
deal more before he practice comes-and that practice
the plaintiffs pari con Isis of thorough knowledge
of the forms prsetdens-and, the defendants part
oflhe like knowledge TO the Jo1nuia of the pleas
ejonders, &c. There are therefore books Of preoe-
dents these books unfold every practical proceeding
| whatever, in every action known to the law-pro
gressvey, from the importation of the prt to the final
return upon the erecuiion. These formula of wriis
returns TO wrts-appeara nces-bai-impa lsnces
| -contnuances-mpanne of juries -irial-eI-
| ceptions-verdlct- Observation-Disclosures of
| execuon-oT, on the other hand, new tral-or APP
peal, SC, &c-are all set forth in the !preeed MS so
that he who knows most of precedeats, knows most
of practice but stll, these precedens them
selves be understood, without previous theoretical
know ledge The question, then resolves itself into this
Cannot law student be well grounded in all the
| pee accidents laio sensu, who never pr actsng
lawyers ofice2 Add why not On the contrary, /
cannot be learn far OF practice by the JUDI
cious and careful study of all the formula (Which he
never does in practising lawyers office than by
whiting OF rather copying, tho,e simple and
al dec stons pleas &c, which The of Office
assigns to the suden1 l. it 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 sudent-or, If it does only
chanicaliy copy it Again: Who can distinguish be-
tween real suit in court, and fictitious one which
one student prepares the wnt-another the return
another he decaraion-- some other the pea, &c.
until all the practical proceedings gone through
And hat prevents these students making record Of
the whole and then comparing all with srtIiied
cord Fl ON court of justice in a like action All
this surely may be done IN Law lnsIluton-and far
b uer-more quiet, and with time than in busi
ness Offices here many precious hours often lost ia
useless messages-long ~alks-tIanscr bing letters
coming mot derising) 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 s6ed of he popular and
serious error which has placed young in Offices
where little either ofheory of practice is learnt This
surely - always the case-but il too often such
asimany deyonding students have found and otbcrs
have been compelled TO confess, that they never |
learned much oftbeory Of practice until after ev
came 10 hs bar but, at which time il found very
p-hil aud afduous work, and sometimes accom-
pished even Though whole life Of toll Doubtless
there many noble exceptions to The correctness Of
these remarks but STILL | aver it az fact that nv |
experience has never made me acquainted with any
young ia,cyer who, in candid conversation was not
willing 20 confess that his legal education had been |
very hap-hazard-and that practice to any really val
liable and abiding extent, ~ the last thing a student
can ever hope Tor IN practising lawyers Office.
After a n extensive practice of seven and twenty
wears IN all of the courts and devotion to the ine
rests Of lac students during much of that period may
not be too much to say that practice be lost
iph, ofn this institution and that nothing but meohan
cal arro,rness Of legal tduoaon unworthy e an en-
! A.. Ian I,ys mi. he. ,,,