The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1872-08-01
UNIVERSITY DE MISSISSIPPI,
OXFORD,
IULY Hsah, Hss9.
THE LAW SCHOOL,

THE LAW SCHOOL,
FACULTY:
JOHN N. WADDEL, d. D., CHANCELLOR.
THOMAS WALTON, Ii. B., PRoFEssoR.
TTNHE following are the subjects Of study pur-
L sued in this School, and under each head
Is set down list Of those authors read from
time to tine ON that particular topic
1. The Law of Real Estate.
Blackstone, Kent, washburne, and Blackwell
on Tax Titles.
2. The Law of Personal Property, in
Guiding Contracts and Commercial Law.
Kent, Story, Smith, Byles, Redfeld, and Par
sons, and Benjamin Sales and Williams
on Personal Property
3. The Rights of Persons.
Blackstone. Kent, Shoulders Domestic Rela-
tons, and ANGEL Ames on Corporations
4. The Law of Torts.
Addison on Torts.
5. Criminal Law and Procedure.
Blackstone and Bishop.
6. The Law of Practice, including
Pleading and Evidence.
Stephen on Pleading, Chitty on Pleading,
Greenleaf on Evidence, Starkie's Evidence,
Courts, and Bump on Bankruptcy.
Moot Courts, Also have always been in use
in this School.
Z. Equity Jurisprudence, Pleading and
Practice.
Adams, Story and Daniel.
8. Constitutional Law.
Cooley, Kent and Story.
g. International Law, including Pri-
IL 7 L. q &c
Laws.
Whartons Conflict Of Laws, Story, Kent and
Wheaton.
Textbooks are the chief means Of instruc-
tion in this School and lectures are not read to
the class, for law is too abstruse learning to
be taught after that fashion; but it has been
the practice to furnish the student written
lectures on Mississippi practice, for him to
read and copy.
One of the chief advantages of law school
and especially of one not oVer-crowded with
students-is that by a rigorous course of ex-
animation repeated with every student every
day on his days reading, thorough accuracy
is guaranteed in his mastery of the subject.
In this school, every student is thus examined
every day, about three hours day being de-
voted to this exercise, and explanations being
given on those points which this rigorous eX
animation may show that the student does not
sufficiently understand.
practice has also been adopted here of re-
quiring the students, frequently, TO write down
in the recitation room a synopsis of their latest
reading, in order to compel them TO that accu-
racy which is essential to lawyer; and each
student is IN turn required 10 stand up before
the class and, in manner as decent and quiet
as possible, to deliver an oral statement of the
contents of the chapter and sometimes synop-
sis of the book under perusal. This is done to
train the young men to the art of forensic ora
tory; for they are not allowed to deliver a
memorized statement, and their exercise
amountsto the same thing as an oral argument
h .l,on.u i'm nra1N 10
practical of teaching the art of public speaking.
Obviously, the fewer the students, the more
training of this kind each one can obtain.
The law course here has always been two
years course. In June, 1872, the trustees dis
pensed with the necessity of two years atten-
dance, and permitted the graduation of a stu
dent who attends one year provided he
should pass a satisfactory examination. The
degree, or diploma, thus obtained, is made, by
statute, a license to practice law in any court
in Mississippi. The student may enter the
class at any time, though he is advised TO be
here at the beginning eff the session, about
the first of October.
Board and lodging, fuel, lights, washing
and servants attendance, can be had In Tx
ford at prices varying from sixteen to twenty
five dollars a month-the cheapest being about
as good as the cOstliest The tuition fee is fifty
dollars in the Law School; in all other depart
ments of the University, tuition is free. There
two hundred and sixty students in the
University last session. The Law School,
though re-organized only just as the Univer-
sity opened, had a success surprising to its
most sanguine friends, and 1t is already
known that next year it will have n still bet
ter attendance.
No young man who has attempted without
soclates IN study, to master the voluminous
learning of the law, need be told of the dismal
and often overpowering dreariness of such an
undertaking. Blackstone, after quoting n
very great lawyer, Sir Henry Spelmans con-
fession that such trial had made his soul sink
within him. condemns the effort to learn law
" AASROnaRtpFlnp world
and by a tedious, lonely process, extract
ing the theory of the law from mass of
undigested learning" He equally condemns
the effort to learn it ''by assiduous atten-
dance on the courts, to pick up theory and
practice together" law school gives the
student immense relief from this painful
irksomeness attending his first year or two's
plOdding in the endless volumes of the law.
Such relief is derived from the emulation
and companionship of studying in classes
and from the daily examinations. The stu
dents are constantly discussing their studies
not only with the professor but with each 9TH
err and their interest is thus prevented from
tagging, and their daily work from becoming
repulsive.
cision in his learning, and of a much livelier
and therefore, much more vigorous prosecu-
tion Of his studies, to be derived by law stu
dent from the daily discussions of a law school,
there is another question, namely, whether a
law Office law school be the better place
for learning law in a scientific method, such
as every man must pursue to obtain success;
and on this question, the attention of students
and of the profession is invited to the opin-
ion of Sir William Blackstone
Making due allowance says he, "for one
or two shining exceptions, experience may
teach to foretell, that lawyer, educated to
the bar in subservience to attorneys and
licitors, win find he has begun at the wrong
end. If practice be the whole he is taught,
practice must also be the whole he will ever
know. He must never aspire to form, and sell
dom expect to comprehend, any arguments
drawn, priori, from the spirit of the laws
and the natural foundations of justice"
On the other hand, speaking of the law
school he says:
IF the student will afford himself here a
year or twos further leisure, to lay the foun-
dation Of his future labors in a solid and sci
entife method, without thirsting too early TO
attend that practice which it is impossible he
should rightly comprehend, he will afterward
proceed with the greatest ease, and will unfold
the most intricate points with an intuitive ra-
pidity and clearness."
l Blackstone Commentaries, Introduction,