The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1872-09-12

UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI,
OXFORD,
ILH.E Asah. sHsa.
THE Law SCHOOL.
FAcuL-x:
JOHN ". WADDEL, d. d., GHANck1LoR.
THOMAS WALTON. IL. b.. PRoFEssoR.
TN June 1877 The Trustees dispensed with the
IL necessity of two years attendance, in this
Law School and permitted the graduation of a
student who attends one year provided he
should pass a satisfactory examination. The
degree, or diploma, thus obtained, i 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 70 be
here At the beginning CT the session, abont
the FIRST of October.
Board and lodging, fuel, lights washing
and servants attendance, can be had IN Ok
ford at prices varying from sixteen 70 isenty-
FIVE dollars montl-the cheapest being about
good as the costliest. The tuition lee i fifty
dollars in the Law School; in all other DEPART
ments of the Z University, tuition is free. There
were two hundred and sixty students in the
University last session. The Law School,
though re-organized only just as the Uniyer-
sIty opened, had a success surprising TO its
most sanguine friends, and 1t is already
=
ter attendance
The following are the subjects of study pur-
sued in this School, and under each head
is set down a list of those authors read from
time 10 time on that particular topic.
/. The Law of Real Estate
Blackstone, Kent, Washburne, and Blackwell
Tax Titles.
2. The Law of Personal Property, in
Guiding Contracts and Commercial Law
Kent, Story, Smith, ByIes. Redfeld, and Par
sons, and Benjamin Sales and Williams
on Personal Property.
3. The Rights of Persons.
tions, and ANGEL & Ames on Corporations.
4. The Law of Torts.
Addison on Torts.
3. Criminal Law and Procedure.
blackstone and Bishop.
6. The Law of Practice, including
Pleading and Evidence.
Stephen on Pleading, entity on Pleading
Greenleaf on Evidence, Starkie Evidence,
Blackstone, Conkling's United States
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.
9. International Law, including Pri- |
vate International Law or the Conflict of |
Laws.
Wharton Conflict of Laws, Story, Kent and |
Wheaton.
Textbooks are the chief means of instruc- |
ton 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. u
One Of the chief advantages of law school 1
and especially Of one not over-crowded with |
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 those points which this rigorous ex- 4
animation may show that the student does not /
sufficiently understand.
\ practice has also been adopted here Of re 4
quiring the students, frequently to write down /
in the recitation room synopsis of their latest
reading, in order TO compel them to that accu- 1
racy which is essential 10 n lawyer; and each4
student Is ia turn required to stand up before
the class, and, in manner as decent and quiet /
as possible, to deliver an oral statement of the
contents OF the Cn ana SN mop
sis Of the book under perusal This is done to
train the young men TO the art of forensic ora
tory; for they not allowed to deliver "A /
statement, and their exercise /
amountsto the same thing as an oral argument /
at the bar, and is perhaps the only practi- H
cal mode ofteaching { TIC art ofpublc speaking /
Obviously, the fewer the students, the more l
training Of this kind each one can obtain.
No youngman who has attempted without as 4
sociates in study, to master the voluminous 4
learning of the law, need be told of the dismal /
and often 6verpowcring dreariness of such an 4
Blackstone, AFTER qHoi1ng Il Il
very great lawyer, Sir Henry Spelman's con-
fessIon, that such trial had made his soul sink 4
within him, condemns The effort 10 learn law \
by "sequestering ones self from the world, I
aud by tedious, lonely process, extract
ing the theory of the law from mass ofd
undi gested learning. lie equally condemns I
the effort to learn IL by an assiduous atten-
dance on the courts, to pick up theory and 1
practice together A 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 I
dents are constantly discussing their studies I
not only with the professor but with each 9TH /
er, and their interest is thus prevented from /
tagging, and their daily work from becoming /
repufsive
Besides, however, the advantages of pre-
cision in his learning, and of a much Hvelier,
and therefore, much more vigorous prOsecu- i
tion of his studies, to be derived by a law stu
dent from the daily discussions of n law school, /
there is another question, namely, whether a l
law Office a law school be the better place I
for learning law in scientific method such |
as every man must pursue to obtain success \
and on this question, the attention of students I
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 so |
lieitors, will lind 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 I
drawn, a priori, from the spirit of the laws
and the natural foundations of justice.
On the other hand, speaking of the law 1
school he says:
IF the student will afford himself here 1
year or two's further leisure, TO lay the foun-
dation of his future labors in a solid and sci
entitic method, without thirsting too early to
attend that practice which it is impossible he /
should rightly comprehend, he will afterward Il
proceed with the greatest ease, and viii unfold i
he most intricate points with intuitive ra-
pidity and clearness.'
Blackstone Commentaries, Introduction, 1
DID. 31-34 july23w6m
ETNEON FEMALE COLLEGE,