Study of the Law [pp. 25-31]

SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER.
at present into a full detail of his idea of what a law
university slhould be, au-d this is thle less importanit, as
this essay is rather suggesive thln practical. It i but
a survey of tl.e ground on whichl tlhe edifice is to be
erected, the arcilitect wlil coce afterwards. But it
may be proper here to iidicate thle general plan and
principles, to sow seed for tlioughlt-and leave the de velopment.nd maturiig for reflection and exuerience.
IL is now tim,e, that in the miore thicliy settledl portionl
of our country thl practice of the law should be divided,
and conseq,entiy the studies at the university so con ducted tiat each stuLdenit might apply himself p.rticu larly to that braclh of the profession which hIe might
intend to pursue. Coiiveyaniceers, attorneys and solici tors, and coiunsellors and advocates, comprise the divi sions that seei proper. To conveyancers would belong
the drawing all papers relating to thle transfer or incumribrancing of real estate, such as wills, deeds, miortgages, leases, settlements, trusts, uses, powers, fines,
recoveries, abstracts of titles, and the like. To the
attorneys and solicitors, thle practical conducting of all
suits, the drafting of pleadings and proceedings, the
collecting of evidence, &c. To the counsellors, who
might be again divided into chamber counsel, and advocates at the bar would appertain the giving of advice
upon legal rights and liabilities, upon settling or compromising matters of dispute, the settling of the form of
pleadings and proceedings, and the attending, to the
trial of causes, a;,d argumen,i ts of cases.
It may be objected that there would be few willing
to confine themselves to the rank of attorneys and solicitors, but that all would aspire to be counsellors.
To this we may reply both by fiet and argument, that
in England where a similar division has obtained, no
such inconvenience occurs; and further, that whatever
aspirations the mind may entertain for a higher exercise
of its powers are checked and confined wvithin their
proper sphere by the actual limitation of those powers.
And moreover, it would be found that those persons
who had been well schooled as attorneys and solicitors,
would make the most accomplished and ready, and
therefore most successful counsellors, when they should
choose to change their vocation.
As to the professorships in our university, there
should be one of log,ic-that the student's mind might
be trained to close and severe reasoning, induction,
analysis, comparison, the detection of sophistry the
most subtle, and of fallacy the most plausible. There
should be one of rhetoric-tlthat hle mnight deliver a deduction of reason or a statement of facts in a clear and
lucid order, in language choice yet determinate —nervous yet graceful. A professorship ofmoral philosophy
would be requisite, for by a contemplation of their
duties as menmbers of God's gi eat family, the students
would discover that the streams of the law descend
from the great fountaiins of truth and justice, and thus
incline tocherish in their hearts a deeper attachment for
their profession, and a deeper desire to pursue it uprightly and honorably. A professor-ship of history and historical jurisprudence would be essentially necessary, for
the " thing that bath been is the thing that shall be," and
experience is the great corrective of legislation. This
presents a wide field; for the law keeps progress with
science, trade, commerce, and all other brancltes of
human pursuits; it has often changed the destiny of a
people-and to trace out the effect of laws on morals
and of niorals on laws would be curious and instructive.
International law, so essential to thle admiralty pleader,
so necessary in the pursuit of rights springing firom
treaties, or of rights delayed or destroyed by war,
would demand a separate professor. So, too, of the
civil law, lwhich as regards all matters of contract (a
comnprehensive title in the law) is "fouis et priucipiiiu,"
and which though not law here by enactment, involves
and elucidates the principles of justice so fully, so
clearly, so justly, and has furnished so large a portioni
of the basis of the law of all civilized nationls, that lihe
who is w ell skilled in its teachings, shall have little
more of general principles to learn. In regard to con stitutioiial and municipal laws, and their various divi sions, statute law and common law, arnd the subdivi sions, maritime, commercial, criminial, &c. iO remarks
are necessary. They are too essential to be overlooked
by any.
Although I have now fulfilled all I proposed to em brace in this essay-fulfilled not according to the im portance of the sublject, but to the extent of mny leisure
and present object, I cannot forbear citing one or two
passages firom Lord Coke's English Prefaces to the
second and third parts of his Reports.
"Now for the degrees of the law," says hle, "as tlhere
be in the universities of Cambridge and Oxford divers
degrees, as general sophisters, bachelors, masters, doctors, of whom be chosen men for eminent and judicial
places, both in the church and ecclesiastical courts; so
in the profession of the law, there are mootemnen, (which
are those that argue readers cases in houses of chancery, both in terms and grand vacations.) Of mootemen, after eight years study or thereabouts, are chosen
utter harristers; of these are chosen readers in inns of
chancery: Of utter barristers, after they have been of
that degree tivelve years at least, are chosen benchers, or
ancients; of which one, that is of the puisne sort, reads
yearly in summer vacation, and is called a single reader;
and one of the ancients that had formerly read, reads
iI Lent vacation, anld is called a double reader, and
commonly it is between his first and second reading,
about tine or teni years. And out of those the king
makes choice of his attorney, and solicitor general, &c.
And of these readers, are sergeants elected by the king,
and are, by the king's writ, called ad staturm gradurn
servieitis ad legecn. * * * "
"For the young student, which most commonly cometh fi'om one of the universities, for his entrance or beginning were first instituted, and erected eight houses of
chancery, to learn there the elements of the law. * * *
Each of the houses of court consists of readers above
twenty; of utter barristers above thrice so nmany; of
young gentlemen about the number of eight or nine
score, who there spend their time in study of law, and
in commendable exercises fit for gentlemen: the judges
of the law and sergeants being commonly above the
number of twenty, are equally distinguished into two
higher and more eminent houses, called Sergeant's Inn:
all these are not flur distant one from another, aud all
together do make the most famous university for profession of law only, or of any one hulnan science that is
in the world, and advancetli itsclf above all others,
quzaetuin iter vibierna cupresslis. In which houses of
court and chancery, the readings antl other exercises
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