The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1844-06-14
CIRCULAR 40 STUDENTS or LAW
IN THE UNITED STATES,

IN THE UNITED STATES
I'm the wear l24 under the auspices OF the uniser-
sity of Maryland established in the city OF Bal
tmore Law School under the denomination oil 'he
MARYLAND Law institute. This establishments eoh''-
nued D successful operation nearly eleven years naS
ing received students from eierea oil tue STATES anu
f,om Two foreign countries Owing 10 the pressure
of an ensive practice simultaneously with the du-
ties which the Institution involved resolved, IN the
year 1886 TO abandon not ~ the practice OF my ever
and long cherished profession but also the Law ins'-
tute and for health and ease sought the more genial
climates of Europe. Finding, al this time, my heah
perfectly restored and with It abatement whatever
Of my zeal and devotion to that great science which
ia this county, OF all others, needs TO be mehodea"y
aud carefully studed---snd seeking moreover, INDUS
trious and continued occupation, essential TO happ-
in land that knows tdsrs resol ed to Ie-esta-
bllsh the Law lnstltution-and have selected i'hHa
deiphia the place of It's location In 80 dong have
thought that no city in the Uion affords such various
and ample inducements for all the purposes oil the
Law Sutherland that in none can more worthy
economy be preserved, and yet with every requisite
comfort
The frequent app icalions made 10 me from dis
lance the former OCCASION regard To the parftc-
ulars of my enterprise, induce To anticipate similar
nauires now--and to meet all such in advance
nov address this Circular all that ! can offer In
eXplanaton and, probably, as all that may be roqu-
site.
The Institution dedicated alone to law studies,
and their cognate and auxiliary TOPICS Is spacious
and beautiful building, NJ. III South Fifth street,
suitable for the accommodation of about sixty stu
DENTS The rooms are all suitably furn shed, supplied
| with an extensive law and miscellaneous library
,c precedens Of practice in every conceivable and APP
| proved firm. Studens are admitted at any time
throughout The year--courses OF study, and the re-
quislte books supplied, exactly TO 0eet the
wants and of the student, according az he may
design practice his profession either in the country,
or in come of the maritime cities. The laws OF every
State in the Union in some degree dwet upon
practice is constantly blended with fheory--but the
deep and radical of parens well Of students
is Iefuy AVOIDED siiude to the too
ton that law students 10 be made mechanical
artisansmere attorneys learning practice by rote and
jealous of book knolciedge being too theoretical
This mischevous error must inevitably degrade the
science and profession, and is gross mistake, since
practising attorney was good and lasting me,
who was not also deeply veTsed in the reasons and
theory of the law. therefore cannot acquesee in,
and never will yield to, the vulgar Of putting
practice before and above theoryit is anunuatnral
Inversion Of the established oider of naure-ln 10
rant and slovenIy way of urging young on AT.
| tempts far beyond the powers OF the human mind
for If The grounds and reasons of the science be
well known, the practice cannot be well known.
| But the error To which | earnestly allude, is
ou ided upo.i another which is equally false and
row, vz.tbat students learn the practice only ia
practising lawyers office! On The ~, gen
erai rule, II Is he very last place in which he
does or can learn the pracIce-and this be made
|
ell from theory? Take single example-and
disco omnes The theory, law point says To the
student, y lends his watch and sells it, or re-
| fuses 10 return it, A may bring What is called
| ton of Troper and Conversion. Now rorer means
6ndiDg and conversion means appru prating II To bis
own use and here, again, the student learns two
| other theoretical law pons-viz. that the find ng is
now mere yebal fiction, not at all material or to BE-
proued-and secondly that the conversion by the de-
fendant to bis consists in The WITHHOLD
| mo he he
be ever clearly proved that he IN way the
property for himself for any purpose whatever bot
TO withhold II from the plaintiff.
| Now all this theory must be learnt aud a good
deal more, before he practice comes-and that practice
on the paintis parl con-iss OF thorough knowledge
of he forms preoedenfs-and the defendants part
ofthe like knowledge TO toe formula of the pleas,
r.joinders &C. There are, therefore books Of prece-
dents /; these books unfold every practical proceeding
whatever, in every action known to the aw-pro
gressvey from the mpe alton of the irrii to the final
return upon the erecution These formula of wrls
returns 10 -bail-impaI lsnces
| -coDtinuances-impdnBell of juries -trial-eI-
| ceItions-verdct- judgment-e1t culion-retur of
eXecutbn-or on the other hand, trial--or APP
peal, Sc &c.-are all st forth IN the fpTeoed MS 80
that, he VINO knows moA of preeedeab, knows most
of practice but stl these rIeceJents cannot Them
selves be understood, without previous theoretical
know ledge. The question: then, itself this
| Cannot law student be well grounded in all the
ptecedents, iato Sensu, who never saw practising
| lawyers ofiice2 A I'D why not 7 On the contrary
cannot he learn far more OF practice by the JUDI
cious and careful study of all the Jormuia which be
never does in practising lawyers oliice) than by
writing, rather copying, ihoe simple and occasion
al dec arstons pleas &C. which The master If an office
assigns to the siudentl Il 1t uniformly the case
that all really difficult and responsible business of this
is done by the master himself without ever reach
ing the eye of the sludent-or If does only TO me
chancaly copy in Again; Who can distinguish be.
tween real suit in court and fictitious in which
one student prepares the erit-anuther the return
| another he declnratiOn- 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 rtified re-
cord ON some court of justce in a like action All
this surely may be done in Law InsIuton--and far
ttef-uofe quIet ,-and with more time tina in busi.
Offices where many precious hours often lost it,
| useless messages-ong ~alks-ifanscr bling l,tters-
copying mot derisng) declarations, pleas, replica.
tons &c. 80 generally the sole workmanship o the
master Of the office and so very seldom that Of the
student confess that All this il to my mind extreme
ly plain, and has long isfed of The popular and
serious which has placed young men IA Offices,
where little either oftheory practice learnt This
surely - always the case but IL is too often such
asmany despondng students have found and as others
have been compelled 10 confess, that they never
learned much Of Theory Of practice until after ty
came 10 iAs bsr but which time it was found very
up bill and srduous work and sometimes not accom-
! pshed even through whole life Of toll Doubtless
there many noble exc, ptons TO the correctness of
these remarks but still, aver It ~ fact, that my
experience has never made acquainted With any
po,ng luoysr who, IN candid conversation, was not
wiling 20 confess that his legal education had been
very hap-hszard-an lh, practice to any really val
liable and abiding extent, "a the last thing student
can ever hope Tor IN practising lawyers office.
After an extensive practice Of seven and twenty
wears IN all # the courts and devotion to the ini,-
rests Of ao students, during much OF that period II may
not be too much TO say that practice never be loot
iQh of,n this institution aud that nothing bu, rnecha
cal Of legal education unworthy e an en-
hghtooed lawyer, could ever patrooise the init.
nation that such lnsti ution only adopted for
the medication of the science and not of the at of our
profe, sion-an intipstion confined, d0ubtless, to