The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1844-05-07
A CIRCULAR 70 STUDENTS OF Law
IN THE UNITED STATES.

4 II
sity OF Maryland established IN the city OF BAL
| timore Law School under the denomination OF Tue
Mrryland Law lnsnue. This establishment eoh''-
nue. Ia successful operation nearly eleven Neasi nav
ing receive students ffm eieeen Of the otates ano
| from Two foreign countries Owing TO the pressure
OF an extensive Practice simultaneously wan the uu-
ties which the Institution involved resolved IN the
year 1886 To abandon not lily the practice OF my ever
and long cherished profession, but also the Law ins'
u,e; and Tor health and ease sooeh, the more genial
climates ot Europe. Finding, al this ume, my hsalih
perfectly restored and wh II no abatement whatever
OF my zeal and devotion TO that great seience when,
in this county OF all Others needs TO be mefodeahy
and carefully sudiedapd seeking, moreover, indus-
tous and continued occupation, essential 10 haPp-
ia land that knows oilers reso cd 10 rec sta
| blish the Law lnstiuon-und have selected i,h'ta'
deih.a The place OF lis location. Ia 90 Soing nave
thought that city 10 the Union affords such various
and apple Inducements for all the purposes OF The
| Law Sutherland that ia none can more worthy
economy be preserved, and yet with every requisite
comfort.
The fr.qu.m app ica,iops made TO me from dis
lance on the former OCCASION in regard 10 the paiic
uia,s of my enterprise induce anticipate similar
| ina uiries now--and, Ia meet all such in advance
now address this Circular, all that can offer IN
explanation, and, probably as all that may be rqu'
| site.
The Institution dedicated alone to law studies,
and heir cognae and auxiliary ioplcs Is spacious
and beautiful building, N. III South Ffth street,
suitable for the accommodation of about sixty stu
|
with extensive lazy and miscellaneous library
c peeedents d practice IN every conceivable and APP
proved firn. Stud,n admitted at any Time
throughout The yeai-courscs OF study, and the re-
quisite books supplied, exactly to meet The
wants and views of the student, according he may
design la practice his profession ellhcr IN the country
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 of parenis well Of students
is carefully AVOIDED ailudc to the too erroneous
ton that law students to be made mechanical
arti'ansmere attorneys leaning practice by ro,e and
jealous OF book-kno,ciedge as being too theoretical -
This nischievous error must inevitably degrade the
science and profession, and is a gross mistake since
no practising attorney was ever good aud lasting one,
who was not also deeply veIsed in the reasons and
theory of the law. therefore cannot acquiesce ia,
and will yield to- the vulgar error of putting
practice before and above theory-n is an unnatural
inrerson Of the established oder Of nalure-an gno.
| Iant and sloveny way Of urging young on at
| tempts far beyond the powers of the human ind
for If The grounds and Of the science he not
| well known, the practice cannot be well known
| But the error, TO which | earnestly allude, is
fou ded upoh another which is equally false and mar
row, vz-that students can learn the practice only in
practising tmoyer's office On Inc c1n'r ~, 10 gen
era rule, 1t Is he very last place IN ~h,h he ever
does, or can learn the praclice-and this be mad
| extremely manifest. " hat is practice distinguish
ed from heory2 Take Il single exampe-and az uno
disco onlnes. The theory a law point says the
student If lends his watch and b sell, IT, or re-
fuse. To il, may bring hat is called an ac-
| ton Of Troyer and Conversion. Now trorer means
bndDg, and conversion means approprating II to his
own use and here, again, the student leans two
other theoretical Law poin,s-viz that the find ng
verbal fiction, not all material or 10 be
prorsd-and secondly, that the conversion by the de-
ftndant to his consists ia the 'htuld-
ing the properly from the plantIh, although noud
be ever clearly proved that be IN way The
property for himself OF for any purpose whatever but
TO Withhold II from the plaintiff.
Now all this theory must be learnt aud a good
deal more before the practice comesand that practice
on the plaintiffs lar con of thorough knowledge
of The forms preetdens-and the defendants part
OF the like knowledge TO the formula Of the plea,
reoindes, &c. There are, therefore books Of preee-
dents these books unfold every practical preceding
whatever, IN every action known to the law-pro |
gressi'ely from the importation of the tort t. the nal
return upon The ereeption These formula of wrts |
returns 10 es-bail-impaIlances |
-conuDuances-lmpapDelling of lures -iTIal-eI- |
ceptions-se rdct- judgnent-eI, cution-re,urn of
execu,ion-or, on the other hand, tria-or APP
peal &c &c.-are all st forth in the fpreeed MS SO
that be who knows most of predicts, knows mosI
of practice but STU these pIecedents cannot them
selves be understood, without previous theoretical
know ledge. The question then, resolves Use into
Cannot a law student be well GROUNDED la all the !
pccedents, iaO SeTlsu, who never a practising
lawyers office Z AID why not Ga the CONTRARY /
cannut be learn lar more OF practice 10y the iud,-
cious and careful study Of all the Jormuit which he
does In practising lawyer Office than by
wiung, OF rather copying, thoe simple aud occasion
al dec uratons, pleas &c, which the ofan office
assigns 10 the siudcntI L. II not Unormiy the
thai all really difficult and responsible business Of this
is done by the master himself without reach
ing the eye of the siudent-or # II does only to me-
chanicaly copy u A gain: Who dIst rush be
tween real in court, and fictitious one IN which
one student prepares the wnt-another the return
| another he declaration other the pea &c
until oil the practical proceedings gone through
And hat prevents these students making record OF
the whole and then comparing all with a C, rtiiied re-
cord ON court Of justice ~ a like action All
this surely may be done Law Insuuton--and far
uef-more quetl and with more time than IN buzz.
Offices " here many precious hours often lost H.
useless Dcssage.-ong ~aiks-iianscrb bling l,tters-
copying mot derinng) declarations pleas, replica
tons sc. generally the sole workmanship a. the
ma.ur Of The oilice and very seldom that of the
student confess hat all this Il To nv mind ertreme-
ly plain, md has Long ished Of h. popular nd
serious which has placed young nen 10 Offices
whore e either oithoory OF practice l. learnt This
surely - not always the case-but 1t Is too often such
apany dspondng students have found and as others
have been compelled 10 confess, that they never
learned much of theory ofprsclice until alsr then
oaus 10 n, br but, at which time found very
no hill aud atduous work and sometimes not accom-
pished even Though whole life Of toll. Doubtless
there are many noble erc'ptions to The correctness of
these remarks but still, aver It 90 fact, that my
. rperence has never made me acquainted With any
YOUNG lacusr who, IN candid cOnversatinn was not
Wiling 70 confess that his legal education had been
very hap-hszard- aud that practice TO any ready val
liable and abiding extent, - the last thing student
can hope tor IN practising lawyers oiTice.
Aftcr In extensive practice Of seven and twenty /
wears m all Of the cuuits, and devotion to the ini-
rests Of no sidenis during much of that period may
not he too much to say that practice never be lost
irh ofin this institution and that nothing but uieeta
cal na1rornsss Of Legal education unworthy e an en-
lithtened lawyef could pattouise even the nt
nation that such a. lnrti uton only adopted for