Bachelor of Laws

“ The major part of law schools of the United States now freely admit women when applied to for that purpose. Among those still refusing are the law departments of Yale, Harvard, and Georgetown universities, and Columbia College; the Cumberland University Law School of Lebanon, Tennessee, the Law Department of the Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, and the Law Department of the University of Virginia. “One woman, however, does wear the honors of the degree of Bachelor of Laws as conferred by Yale. ”

“ The degrees conferred are bachelor of arts, bachelor of laws, bachelor of science, doctor of medicine, master of arts, doctor of philosophy, master of science, master of laws and civil, electrical, mechanical, sanitary and mining engineers. Women are admitted on equal terms to all departments except military science. ”

“ The laws, therefore, of a nation so circumstanced, must increase to such a number, and consist of so great a variety of particulars, as to render it impossible for the generality of the subjects to be masters of them, and will oblige them to resort to those whose easy circumstances and leisure have enabled them thoroughly to comprehend and understand them; and among such a people there must be lawyers, although, perhaps, not formed into a distinct and separate profession, or known by that appellation. ”

“ The University to have exclusive jurisdiction in suits wherein scholars, scholars servants “or common minister of the University” were one of the parties. Also to hear and determine plaints concerning victuals or contract for victuals arising in the fair, except in cases between a burgess and a foreigner not privileged of the University, which should be heard before the Mayor, &c. The court of the Chancellor &c. within the fair to be a court of record with all powers according to the statutes of the realm, or the laws and customs of the University. ”

“ Witht his qualification, it is true that a judgment of a state court, which is put on independent nonfederal grounds broad enough to sustain it, cannot be reviewed by us. But the qualification is a material one and cannot be disregarded without neglecting or renouncing a jurisdiction conferred by law and designed to protect and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof. ”

“ See lord Bacon's proposals and offer of a digest.
For I think it is past dispute that those gentlemen, who resort to the inns of court with a view to pursue the profession, will find it expedient (whenever it is practicable) to lay the previous foundations of this, as well as every other science, in one of our learned universities. We may appeal to the experience of every sensible lawyer, whether any thing can be more hazardous or discouraging than the usual entrance on the study of the law. ”

“ A State can require high standards of qualification, such as good moral character or proficiency in its law, before it admits an applicant to the bar, but any qualification must have a rational connection with the applicant's fitness or capacity to practice law. ”

“ There are no further requirements of scholarship. [52]
D.Litt., D.Sc., D.C.L. Candidates who have taken the Bachelor’s degree in Letters or Science may proceed to the Doctorate in the twenty-seventh Term from the date of their matriculation. Bachelors of Civil Law cannot take the degree of D.C.L. until the expiration of five years from the time of their admission to the B.C.L. In any case, all candidates for the Doctor’s degree in Letters, Science, or Civil Law are required to submit a dissertation [68] which has contributed to the advancement of knowledge in their particular field. ”

“ Therefore the various state governments have taken a happy middle position in these matters, and their responsibility for the separate institutions has been made even less complete in that the degrees of these institutions carry in themselves no actual rights. Every state has its own laws for the admission of a lawyer to its bar, or to the public practice of medicine, and it is only to a small degree that the diplomas of professional schools are recognized as equivalent to a state examination. ”

“ The new provisions relating to the organization and jurisdiction of the Federal Court take effect only after the publication of federal laws thereon. Article 4. A delay of five years is allowed to Cantons for the establishment of free instruction in primary public education. (Art. 27.) Article 5. Those persons who practice a liberal profession, and who, before the publication of the federal law provided for in Article 33, have obtained a certificate of competence from a Canton or a joint authority representing several Cantons, may pursue that profession throughout the Confederation. ”

“ The Senior of this Chore is president, the Consenior vice-president, and the Dritte-Chargirte secretary. Under the jurisdiction of this court fall general affairs, those which affect the interests of all students; and it passes all the resolutions, to which the whole student-body of the university must submit itself. It keeps what students call Allgemeine Comment, that is, the student code of laws. It addresses itself, to protect their rights from all encroachments. ”

“ They, constituting the University, are the "hope of the State in the direction of its practical affairs; in teaching the lawyer the better standards of his profession, his duty to place character above money making; in teaching the legislator the philosophy of legislation, and that the constructive forces of legislation carefully considered should precede every effort to change an existing status ”

“ The court found that 'The most extensive activities of the State Bar are those directed toward postgraduate education of lawyers,' and that 'Post-graduate education of lawyers is in the public interest because it promotes the competency of lawyers to handle the legal matters entrusted to them by those of the general public who employ them.' 10 Wis.2d at page 246, 102 N.W.2d at pages 412-413. ”

“ The advanced work in Law is of a very special character. Most of the lectures in Law are intended for those reading for the Jurisprudence School, so that the candidate for the B.C.L. is thrown largely upon his own resources. Prof. Vinogradoff lectures on the History of Law and Comparative Jurisprudence, and also holds a seminar-class along these lines. But the bulk of the work for the degree must be done in private under the direction and supervision of the College Tutor. The examination for the B.C.L. is one of the most difficult University examinations. ”

“ The most important point of all is the proper choice of subject titles. Laws should be indexed under the general subject or branch of the science of jurisprudence, or the subject-matter to which they belong, not too technically and not too much according to mere logic. ”

“ The faculties of medicine confer the degree of doctor of medicine. The faculties of theology confer the degrees of bachelor, licentiate and doctor of theology. The faculties of law confer the same degrees in law and also grant “certificates of capacity,” which enable the holder to practise as an avoué; a licence is necessary for the profession of barrister. ”

“ In practice, indeed, the matter becomes enormously complicated, yet extensive administrative machinery regulates every case with due justice. In the legal and medical faculties, everything is dependent on the final examinations of the year. In the philosophical two, or more often three, years of study after the bachelor’s degree lead to the doctorate of philosophy. ”

“ It is a matter of congratulation, too, that large success has attended the examination in Law, The Examination in Law. because the University examination in Law is not an examination in the knowledge which qualifies a man to be a successful practitioner,—it is not a knowledge of cases and decisions and practice—it is a knowledge of the principles of law and jurisprudence ”

“ The tendency is toward bulky volumes. Meanwhile other subjects than constitutional law,—othervii branches of the law,—must be pursued. Multiplicity of subjects is characteristic of the curriculum whether at Law School or at College or University. Time is brief: studies are many. ”

“ The curriculum of legal subjects in which lectures are given and examinations held is calculated to give a student a sound fundamental knowledge of general principles, as well as an elementary acquaintance with the rules of modern English law. Jurisprudence, Roman law, Constitutional law and International law are taught, as well as the law of Real and Personal Property, the Law of Contract and Tort, Criminal law, Procedure and Evidence. But the law tripos and the law schools suffer from remoteness from the law courts, and from the exclusively academical character of the teaching. ”

“ There is no doubt that the United States have been in advance of England both in providing means of legal education and in requiring their use. The length of the course of study now established at our older Law Schools—three years—seems all that can reasonably be exacted, if a proper foundation of general discipline and knowledge has been previously laid. ”

“ Candidates for the bar ordinarily prepared for practice by reading in a lawyer's office, a good old method that perhaps has some merits, but one which did not, save in the case of a teacher of exceptional qualifications, give a uniform preparation or an insight into the principles of legal philosophy. As the general level of education advanced, however, the advantages of some systematic instruction in law became more and more apparent, and it was not long after the establishment of the University before demands for a Law School began to be heard. ”

“ The great object of a Faculty of Law is to teach those who aspire to take part in public life jurisprudence, not as the art of jurisdiction, but in its connection with moral and social sciences, in its philosophical and historical aspect. In this relation, besides a Chair of PubHc Law, Chairs of Philosophy of Law, of Political Economy, of Commercial and of International Law, are necessary. They presuppose, of course, that the student has in the Faculty of Arts been well trained in the method of historical inquiry from a sociological point of view, and has had a sound general education. ”

“ A bachelor of law must have studied six years, and after five years more he could become licentiate. In filling a paid teachership, the doctor was chosen next in age of those holding the diploma, unless a great majority of the scholars objected, in which case the rector and council decided. This liberal constitution for the scholars is in harmony with the code of Alphonzo X., soon after 1250, in which the liberty of instruction was made a general principle of law. ”

“ Permit me, Sir, to add another circumstance in our colonies, which contributes no mean part towards the growth and effect of this untraceable spirit. I mean their education. In no country perhaps in the world is the law so general a study. The profession itself is numerous and powerful; and in most provinces it takes the lead. The greater number of the deputies sent to the congress were lawyers. But all who read, and most do read, endeavour to obtain some smattering in that science. ”

“ In most of the nations on the continent, where the civil or imperial law under different modifications is closely interwoven with the municipal laws of the land, no gentleman, or at least no scholar, thinks his education is completed, till he has attended a course or two of lectures, both upon the institutes of Justinian and the local constitutions of his native soil, under the very eminent professors that abound in their several universities. ”

“ The chemist, the physician, etc., studies his subject because he wants to become a chemist, physician, etc., but the lawyer studies law not because he wants to become a lawyer, but because he wants to become an official, and as he has no especial interest he chooses his state position in that branch in which he thinks he has the best prospects. It is a bitter truth and a general rule—that those who want to study law and the science of law are the exceptions, and that hence we have to acquire a real interest in our subject from laymen, from our experts. ”

“ The [123] whole matter of educational qualifications varies widely in different jurisdictions, largely because of the absence of a definite standard of knowledge, intelligence, and general ability established either by Act of Congress or by the Naturalization Service.
ATTACHED TO THE CONSTITUTION The applicant must be “attached to the principles of the Constitution,” and “well disposed toward the good order and happiness of the United States.” Can a man be “attached to the principles of the Constitution” without having read it? ”

“ Lord Penzance further asks his readers: “Did you ever meet with or hear of an instance in which a young man in this country gave himself up to legal studies and engaged in legal employments, which is the only way of becoming familiar with the technicalities of practice, unless with the view of practicing in that profession? I do not believe that it would be easy, or indeed possible, to produce an instance in which the law has been seriously studied in all its branches, except as a qualification for practice in the legal profession.” ”

“ Hence it may be a measure of policy with them, to introduce the student, in the first place, to the study of political law, in the hope of making on his raw and unpractised mind, such an impression, as may secure his approbation of the existing order of things. The faculty of investigating legal questions, and forming legal opinions, may almost be regarded as an acquired faculty; so that, in the earlier part of his researches, the student necessarily acquiesces in the doctrines which are pronounced ex cathedra by his teacher. ”