Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-20
WANTTOBELAW CLERKS
NEARLY 500 APPLICATIONS FOR
SIX VACANCIES.
Examinations Recently Held by the
Civil Service Commission
Questions Asked.

The civil service commission recently held
special examination for the purpose of
filling six positions as law clerks In the
Treasury Department. For this there were,
throughout the country. 400 applications
and as an applicant was required to have
had three years general law practice. all
must have been counted in the 1140OO law
yers reported in the census of 1900, so that
one in every 22S of the lawyers In the
United States was a candidate for one of
these six places. The result will do little
to relieve the congested condition of the
bar, but the methods and nature of the ex-
animation may be of interest to some of
those who have never attempted to Join
the departmental service of the govern
ment.
The Method of Procedure.
The competitor with his own pens, pencils
and bottle of ink. and the card which ad-
mitted him to the examination, was at the
examination room by o'clock in the morn
ing, and took a seat at one of the fifty or
sixty little tables there. His examination
number was then given him, and he wrote
1T upon the preliminary sheet, which when
filled out with his name address and other
data, was sealed in an envelope upon which
he wrote his number. This envelope must
remain unopened until all of the papers,
| upon each sheet of which his personal
number is written, have been examined and
marked The examiner in charge then
| gave each competitor the first sheet of
| questions, marking the hour of beginning
| work, for there is always a time allowance
within which the papers must be finished.
In this law clerk examination the time al
| lowed was three days of seven hours each.
| The first sheet called for a thesis, of at
| least 1 600 words upon one of three given
| subjects, two of which were: THE power
| of state to regulate private corporations.
| and THE relative jurisdiction of law and
| equity.
Those examined were of all ages from
| twenty-five to fifty, some faces glowing
| with the omniscience of youth others shar-
pened by atttrition upon the worlds grind
stone, but all were intent upon the short
essay growing more or less rapidly under
their pens. Within an hour several gave up
| in despair and left the room, but in about
| four hours the more rapid workers began
| to hand in their theses, thus finishing their
work for the first day.
Questions in General Law.
On the second day the first sheet con-
| tanned ten questions general law, many
| of the questions being double, covering
| two subjects, altogether including a wide
| range of topics. One asked: Give the
| rule for the construction of the interpreta-
| tive clause of a statue" others gave legal
| problems for solution. and double ques-
| ton was: Write a short will setting out
an executory devise. Explain the meaning
| of the ma kim equity follows the law"
The second sheet for the day stated two
cases in which opinions were to be written.
| and the work of the third day was upon
| three more cases. In the marking for the
examination the relative weights, on a
| basis of one hundred, were, on thesis, thirty;
| law questions, twenty, and cases, fifty, and
| the competitor was required to obtain a
mark of seventy per cent on the whole In
order to pass. OF the five cases given, one
was: I'm a state where a license was re-
uured to practice medicine the statute
also provided that an unlicensed physician
could not recover fees by action, and the
statute of limitations there set three
years as the limit for suit for professional
services. DIR. A, unlicensed, rendered med
ical aid to B. who then refused to pay for
the same Ten years later the statute pro-
hibiting suit was repealed, and within a
year thereafter DR.. A. sued b. for his fees.
What could he recover"
In another case the statement was: He
made a contract with the government for
stated sum to erect a building upon a
tract of land near the ocean. When he had
all of his material the land and the
building partly constructed, tidal wave
| washed away the edifice, the material and
| the ground upon which the work was to
be done. What could he recover"
A third case turned upon the RESPONSE
bility of a surety on a bond, and another
| involved complicated title to personal
| property in the hands of an agent, in a dis
| pute between two corporations, both for
eign to the state in which the. property
was attached. In each of the five cases
decision was to be rendered with full
| statement of the reasons and law upon
which it was decided.
The above examples will give a general
| idea of the scope of the examination, which
| was considered difficult and one which
many would fail to pass. though the re-
| suit would not be announced for about
| two months, on account of the time re-
uuired to mark the thousands OF papers
| sent in from the numerous spring examina-
tons held by the civil service commission.