The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1844-02-28
|, cfRcuI.Aa TO STUDENTS OF LAW
IN THE UNITED STATES.


Maryland Law Institute. This establishment conn
nued in successful operation nearly eleven years nav
ing received students from eteren OF the o'aes anu
from two foreign countries owing 10 'no pressure
of an extensive practice simultaneously WIN 'ne uu-
ties which the Institution involved resolved In the
year 1886 abandon not lly the practice OF my ever
and long cherished profession but also the Law ins'
ue and for health and ease sought the more geniai
climates Of Europe. Finding, al this Tune, my htah
perfectly n stofed and with II abatement Whatever
of my zeal and devotion 10 that great science winch
in this country of all others, needs TO be mefhodea"y
and carefully studied-and seeking moreover, indus
trious and continued occupation, so essential 10 haPp
ness in land thai knows oilers resol ed to ie-esta-
bIish the Law Insttuion-and have selected PhiIa-
delpa the place Of It's location In 70 doisg nave
thought that city in the Union affords such various
and ample inducements for all the purposes OF the
Law Studeni-and that in none can a more worthy
economy be preserved and yet with every requisite
comfort
The frequent applications made TO mo from DIS
lance on the former OCCASION in regard to the patie-
,ars of my enterprise induce TO anticipate similar
inquiries now--and, to meet all such IN advance,
now address this Circular, as all that | can offer in
explanation and probably as all that may be requ'-
site
The Institution, dedicated alone to law studies,
and their cogDae and auxiliary topics, spacious
and beautiful building, N III South Fifth street
suitable for the accommodation of about sixty stu
dents The rooms are all suitably nshed, supplied
with an extensive law and miscellaneous library
pi precedents Of practice in every conceivable and APP
proved form. S,ud,ns admitted at any time
throughout the ycar--courses Of study, and the re-
qusitc books are supplied exactly to acct the
wants and views Of the student, according he may
design practice his profession either IN the country
in come of the maritime cities. The laws Of every
State in the Union are in some degree dwet upon
practice is constantly Blended with hecry-but the
deep and radical error OF p1ents well of students
is carefully AVOIDED alludc to the too erroneous no.
ton that law students TO be made mechanical
atisdns-mere attorneys, learning practice by roe, and
jealous of book knociedge being too orstical.
This mischievous error must inevitably degrade the
science and profession, and is gross mistake since
practising attorney good aud lasting one
who was not also deeply veTsed in the reasons and
theory of the law. therefore cannot acquiesce in,
and never will yield to- the vulgar error Of putting
practice before and above theoryit lis unnatural
Inversion oi the established oder of na,urean igno-
rant and slovenly way of urging yonng at
temp,s far beyond the powers of the human II ind
for # he grounds and reasons Of the science be
well known, the practice cannot be well known.
But the error, to which | so earnestly allude, is
fouuded upon another which is equally false and mar.
row, vIz-that students can learn the practice only in
practising lawyers office On The contTtry, gen
eral rule, is he very last place in which he
does, can learn the praciice-aDd his be made
extremely manifest. What is practice distinguish
ell from theory? Take a single exampe-and tn uno
disco omnes. The theory law point says To the
student, if lends b his watch and Il sells it, re-
fuses to return il, A may bring hat is called
ton of Trover and Conversion Now troper means
finding, and conversion means appropraing II to his
USE and here, again, the student learns two
other theoretical law pons-viz that the finding is
a verbal fiction, not all material or to be
propsd-and secondly that the conversion by the de-
PENDANT to his Opn consists in The WITHHOLD
ing the properly from the plaintiff, although 1t should
be ever clearly proved that he in way the
property for himself OF for any purpose whatever bot
| 10 withhold II from the plaintiff.
Now all this theory must be learnt and good
deal more before the practice comesand that practice
on the plaintiffs part con lists Of thorough knowledge
of the forms preetdenis-and the defendants part
of the like knowledge TO the torIn,de Of the pleas,
relonders &c. There are, therefore books Of preee-
dents these books unfold every practical preceding
whatever, in every action known to the law-pro-
gressivey from the importation of the cr TO the final
return upon the erecHton. These formula OF wrts
returns TO wrhs-appearances-ba-im noes
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS of juries -lral-eI-
cep,ions-verdict- Observation-Disclosures of
execuon-or on the other hand, trial--or APP
peal, Sc &c.-sre all set forth in the preeed,nts
| that, be who knows most of precedeHs knows mos,
of practice but snll, these presidents cannot them
selves be undo without previous theoretical
knowledge. The question: then resolves Itself into thus,
pccedens lao se h Who ven never saw 81 the
lawyers Office And why not On the contrary
| cannot be learn far OF practice by the iud,-
cious and careful study OF all the formula which he
never does in practising lawyers ofiice) than by
writing, OF rather copying hose s,npie and OCCASION
al decarbtons, pleas &c which the master cf office
assigns TO the sludenl Is il not uniformly the case
that all really difficult and responsible bushes. of this
sort Is done by the master himself without ever reach
ing the eye Of the sudent-or " il does only TO me-
| Chemically copy II Again; Who can distinguish be.
tween real suit in court and fictitious one in which
one student prepares the vnt-another the return
| another he deolaraton- some other the p,ea &c
until all the Praeiieaf proceedings gone through
And hat prevents these students making record OF
the whole and Then comparing all with c, rifcd re-
cord Fl ON some court Of justice In a like action An
this surely may be done a Law InstItution-and Gr
b. ef-more quiet land with more time than in bu.i
offices here many precious hours are often lost in
useless messages-!ong salks-transcr. bng letters
copying (uot dspisng) declaI atoms pleas replica
tons, &c generally the sole workmanship of the
master Of the Office and so very seldom that of the
student confess that all this is 10 my mind extreme
ly plain, and has long "a lsfed of the popular and
serious error which has placed young men ~ Offices
where little either OF theory or of practice is learnt This
surely Is not always the but is too often such
asmany desponding students have found and as bets
have been compelled to confess, that they never
learned much oflheoy Of practice until after hey
came 10 the bar but at which time It war found very
uphill aud arduous work, and sometimes not accom-
pshed even Though a whole life of toll Doubtless
there are many noble exceptions to The correctness of
these remarks but still, aver il as fact that nv
experience has never made me acquainted With sny
Young ia,oyo, who, IN candid cobyersaiion was moi
willing 20 confess that his legal education had been
very hap-hszard-and that practice any really val
liable and abiding extent the last thing student
can ever hope Tor IN a practising lawyers Office
After an extensive practice of seven and twenty
years in all Of the courts and a devotion To the in,-
rests Of lac students during much of that period it NAV
not much to say that practice can never be LOST
light ofn this Institution and that nothing but mechar-
cal naroones Of legal education, unworthy e an en-
hghtened lawyer, could ever patrobise even the init,
nation, that such IA lnstl utiun only adopted for
the othe science and of the a,t of Our
profession-an intmstion confined doubtless 10 n
very few but which, still is so fatal TO the ine
rests Of law students, and so captivating 10 unin.
formed parents and guardians snd even 10 the arden,
student who IL so liable 10 be too anxious TO practice
before he has submitted to The tolls of iearnine ho,,