The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1844-06-03
, CIRCULAR TO STUDENTS OF LAW
IN THE UNITED STATES.

TN the year 1924, under the auspices ofths UniseI-
siIy OF Maryland | established IN the city OF bah
| t,more a Law School under the denomination OF The
| MARYLAND Law Institute. This establishment CONT
nued in successful operation nearly eleven years nav
ing received students from eeren OF the ois'ss ana
! from two foreign countries. Owing To the pressure
of an extensive practice, simultaneously WIN 'ne uu-
ties which the Institution involved resolved, IN tue
year 1886 abandon not ally the pract,e OF my ever
and long cherished profession, but also the Law ins'
tutei and for health and ease, sought ''o more
climates of Europe. Finding, at ths time, my h.aith
perfectly restored and with IT no abatement Whatever
of my zeal and devotion 10 that great science which,
in this country, of all others needs to be mefodoay
and carefully Sunderland seeking, moreover, INDUS
trous and continued occupation, go essential To hsPP-
ness in land thai knows ides reso cd 10 ie-esta-
blish the Law lnsttulon--and have selected I'hiia-
delphia the place GIFTS location. In 30 doug have
thought that city in the mon Affords uch various
| and ample Inducements for all the pufppsee OF The
\ Law Sutherland that in can more worthy
economy be preserved, and yet with every requisite
| comfort.
| The frequent app icalions made to me from dis
lance The former occasion, In regard TO the pare-
ulars of enterprise induce 10 anticipate similar
| maj now--aDd, TO meet all such in advance,
address this Circular, as all that ! can offer IN
panaton, and, probably as all that may be requI-
| site.
The Institution, dedicated alone TO law studies,
and their cognae and auxiliary topics, spacious
and beautiful building, N. III South Fifth street,
| suitable for the accommodation OF about sixty stu
dents. The all suitably fun shed, supplied
| with an extensive law and miscellaneous library
tp ecede,s Of practlce IN every conceivable and APP
| proved fran. Studcn admitted at any time
throughout the yeaT-courses OF study, and the re-
qulslte books are supplied exactly to heet the
wants aud views OF the student according he may
design to practice his profession eIhei IN the country
or in some of the maritime cities. The laws Of every
State in the Union in some degree dwet upsp--
practice is constantly blended with hecry-but the
deep and radical error OF parents well ut students
is carefully AVOIDED aliude To the too
ton that law students To be made mechanical
aytsans-mere attorneys learning practice by Iole and
jealous of book knorledge, being too theoretical -
This mischisvous error must inevitably degrade the
science and profession and is gross mistake, since
no practising Attorney was ever good and lasting me,
who was not also deeply versed in the and
theory Of the law. therefore cannot acquesce in,
and never will yield To, the vulgar error of putting
practice before and above theoryil is nnatural
nrerson Of the established oder of naure--an igno-
rant and slovenly way of urging young men 10 at
tempts far hey ond the powers OF the human H. ind
for IT he grounds and reasons of the science be not
well known, the practice cannot be well known.
| But the error, TO which earnestly allude, is
fou ded ulon another, which equally false and
row, vz.--hat studeu learn the practice only in
practising lawyers Office On The conIr. ~, gen
erai rule, 1t Is he very last place IN uh,h he ever
does, can learn the pracce-and thus can be made
extremely manifest. W hat practice distinguish
disco The theory, a law point says to the
student, If A lends b his watch aud Il sells IT, or
fuses 10 return II, a may bring what is called
ton of Trovcr and Conversion Now nopsr
finding, and conversion means appruprating il To his
own use; and here, again, the student learns two
other theoretical law poinis-yiz that the find ng il
now verbal fiction, not at all material to be
proped-and secondly, that the conversion by the de-
frnJant to his Oicn use consists in The mere WITHHOLD
ing the properly from the plaintiff although 1t should
he lear ara, ed at he N wa he
property for himself, for any purpose whatever, but
| TO withhold It from the plaintiff.
| Now all this theory must be learnt and good
deal more, before the lctice comesand that practice
on the plaintiff par lists OF thorough knowledge
of HE forms or preetdetS-and the deiendaDt part,
of the like knowledge TO the Jorn,ue of the pleas
reoInders, &c. There are, therefore, books o. prece
dents these books unfold every practical proceeding
| whatever, in every action known to the law-pro
gessyely from The importation of the crit To the final
| return upon The ereciaon. These formula of wriis
| returns 10 wris-appearapces--bail-in paiances
| ntinuances-impdnneiling of Jures -rIal-e1-
| ceptions-verdict- judgment-ex,c uuon- of
eXecution-oI, on the other hand, new tI,al-or APP
peal sc, &c.are all SIT forth in the fp,tced MS so
that he who knows mosi Of preetdeHfs, knows most
of practice but still, these pIecedents cannot them
selves be understood without previous theoretical
knowledge. The question: then resolves Itself this
| Cannot a law student be well GROUNDED ia all the
presidents, idto seTlSu, who never saw a pr actsng
| lawyers Office Aud why not On the contrary
cannot he learn far more OF practice by the ud,-
cious and careful study of all the formula (Which he
never does in practising LAWYER office than by
writing, rather copying, lho,e simple and occasion
al dec aratons pleas &c, which The master Of office
assigns TO the sudenl Is it not 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 # does only 10 me-
cha nicnily copy Again: Who can distinguish be
tween real suit in court, and fictitious ia which
one student prepares the ~nt-snother the return
another he decioration- 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 a C, rtird re-
cord Il court Of justice in a like action All
this surely may be done Law Insiituton--and far
uef-more quetl y-and with more time, thar in bus-
mes offices where many precious hours are often lost H.
useless messages-long waiks-tfanscr binr lttters-
eoping mot derising) declai atoms, pleas, replica
tons &c. so generally the sole workmanship the
ma.tr of The office and very seldom that Of the
student confess hat all this is 10 my mind extreme
ly plain and has long sGed me Of he popular and
serious error which has placed young men IN offices
where little either Theory or oprscce Is learnt This
surely Is not always the case-but is too often such
asimany deronding students have found, and 1thers
have been compelled TO confess, that they never
Learned much oftheoy or ofpraclice until after they
cam, 10 tho bar but, at which tune It found very
po-hrj and atduous work, and sometimes not accom-
pished even through whole life of toll. Doubtless
there arc many noble exceptions The correctness of
these remarks but still aver It a fact that nv
experience has made me acquainted with any
Young lnoyer, who, in candid Conversation was not
wiling % confess that his legal education had been
very haphozard-pnd hat practice to any really val
liable and obiding extent, rs the last thing a student
can ever hope tor m practising lawyers ,ficc
After an extensive practice Of seven and twenty
years all of the courts and devotion to the int
rests Of lane students during much Of that period II may
no, be much to say that practice be- lost
light ofn this Insu,n and that nothing but m,ehani-
cal Of legal education, unworthy e an en-
ligheped lawyer, could ever paironse the intI-
nation that such nstii utiun only adopted Tor
the incucson ofhe science and not Of the or of our
rnuhnnl lllI.llu.n L..