The Portland daily press., 1896-02-27
LIBBY ON Law.
Continued from First Page.

and educatiye processes are necessary.
Once the principle had been found, the
method of its application is strictly
deductive process, involving the use Of
Doth major and minor premises. But IN
seeking for the principle in extracting
the rule of law from the multitude OF de-
cided cases, the inductive process must
re used. The test of good lawyer Is
not necessarily the number of deoldea
cases with which he is familiar, puS
rather the facility with which h~ can
ascertain the rule of law applicable to a
case, and the accuracy with WHOM ne can
apply it; and these logical processes IN
volying the exercises or an educdueu
judgment are what legal education shoupa
develop in the student
Of the seventy two law SCHOOLS now
existing. twenty require three years
course OF study. and the time, think, Is
not far distant then less than that time
will be considered made quate tor any
proper preparation for actlve professional
work. 1t may be that The tline rs ho6
vet ripe to ask the legislature OF this state
TO lenythen by another year the time
during which students shall be required
to Garry ON their studies before being ad-
mi1ted to the bar. But l believe that the
best interests of the profession Will be
promoted by suoh change. POSSIBLY 1t
will be said that so long a course of study
will have a tendency to prevent some
men from studying law. | am almost in
olined to agree with Mr. Justice Brew er,
who in answering this objection in his
address before the American Bar Assooi
alton, says SIT may be objected that if
the course of study is extended and the
conditions of admission to the bar in
creased, great many will be deferred
from entering the profession. A perfect
answer is that great many ought to be
deferred A growing multitude is crowd
ing in who are not fit to be lawyers, who
disgrace the profession after they are in
IL, who in scramble after a livelihood
are debasing the noblest of professions
into the meanest of avocations, who in
stead OF being leaders and looked up to
for advice and guidance, are despised as
tie hangers-On of police courts, and the
nibblers after crumbs which dogs ought
to be ashamed to touch. 1t
would be blessing to the profession.
and to the community as well, II some
Noachian deluge would engulf half of
those who have license to practice.
EXAMINATIONS FOR THE BAR.
There is one other matter which should
be considered in connection with i'm
provements in legal education, and that
is, the methods of conducting examina-
tions for admission to the bar. The
present statute of our state, in securing
the passage of which some of US were
acting in 1881, provides that "All ex-
aminations shall be public and in the
presence Of some Of the justices of the
Supreme judicial Court, during term
tune; that it shall be partly oral and
partly written, and shall be conducted by
an examining committee of the bar in
each county to be appointed by the chief
Justice" While this statute was a great
advance over the conditions which ex-
listed previously to the time of its pas
sage, in its operation l think it will be
agreed that il fails to secure that uni
forrnity in the examinations which is i'm
portant 1t is too much to expect of a
nusy lawyer, that he shall be able to give
thar time and attention to the prepara-
ton of examination papers, which are
requisite to fairly test the applicants
knowledge and fitness for tho practice of
his profession. The preparation OF such
papers requires not only an accurate
knowledge of the law, but the exceptional
faculty of shaping the examination so as
tn test not only the candidates. knowledge
of general principles, but also his ability
to apply those principles to varying facts,
and this task should be performed with
due regard to what the student ought to
know, as we'll as to what he should not
be expected to know at this stage of his
professional life. The difficulties attend
ing examinations by committees Of the
bar from time to time in each county,
have been well pointed out in recent
paper read before the Michigan Political
science ASSOCIATION, BY Prof. H.. B.
Hutohings, who says: "Thosa who have
not given attention to the matter, may
perhaps be of the opinion that every
lawyer of average ability is prepared to
conduct an examination for admission to
the bar, without previous thought or
preparation, He can certainly 60 through
the forms, but the result In the majority
of cases is anything but satisfactory. An
examination so conducte rarely serves
the purpose OF testing fairly the appli-
cant's knowledge. The busy practitioner
is, from force of circumstances, in sense
a specialist. AS rule, his Investigations
are defined by the demands of the cases.
His ordinary studies are of necessity from
tions are for an immediate purpose, and
that purpose rarely calls for scientific
study and review of the different depart
ments of the law. Such being the case,
his examination, if he enters upon 1T
without thought Or preparation as he or
dinarily must under the present system,
naturally runs at once In the field of his
most recent Investigations. The almost
inevitable tendency is for him to meas
ure the acquisitions of the student by his
ability to respond along this particular
. line Of inquiry. ! do not mean to say
that this is always the case, but that the
tendency Is in this direction. The result
of such an examination may be an in
| Justice to the student, or the admission
of one not entitled to the privilege. *
The result of all this is that the different
standards exist in different parts of the
state and at different ties in the same
locality. The examination may be a
little more than form in one court,
while in another it may be professionally
severe. The law teacher probably realizes
more keenly than the practitioner, the
disadvantage, to say nothing of the posi-
tive injustice, the result from the present
nlap -, A nd the change that he racom.