Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 1.djvu/106



next number of the will appear in October. We are fortunate in being able to announce for that number articles by Professor William A. Keener, of the Law School, and Frederick Jessup Stimson, of New York.

important subject in its influence on legal education is the num- ber of years of study required for the ordinary degree of A.B. Earlier in the century four years did not seem too short a time for this degree; for the age at which men entered college was much lower than the average at the present day. Professional study was also much slighter. A large proportion of lawyers studied solely in offices, and in the law schools which then existed the course was comparatively short. The times have changed. The number of studies required for admission to college has gradually increased, and the age at entrance has steadily risen, until now at Harvard the average age at entrance is nearly nineteen years. At the same time legal study has increased its demands. In the various law-schools of the country the ordinary course is two years, and here in Cambridge a third year has been added. Under these circumstances a fourth year in college seems unnecessary. It makes the college course out of proportion to the period of professional study that must follow the A.B., and brings into the law either men who feel it a necessity to enter practical work as soon as possible, or men who have omitted a college course altogether.

The number of students who try to finish the college course in three years is slowly increasing. Last year, at Cambridge, the Conference Committee, composed of certain professors and representatives chosen from the undergraduates, recommended that seniors be allowed to take courses in the law-school, such courses to count toward the degree of A.B. This recommendation has not been acted upon; and as the Conference Committee has ceased to exist, the matter has been dropped. It shows, however, in a slight way, the general drift of