Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 01.pdf/429

386 matters are to be considered,—first, the subjects to be included; second, the order of subjects; and third, the relative time to be given to each. On the first point there can be little chance for difference; for while topics may be mentioned in one course and not in another, yet it will usually be found that those which seem to be omitted are included under some more general head.

The course in this department differs from some others in giving place at the very beginning to a short series of lectures on legal ethics, and a more extended one (thirty lectures or more) on elementary law, during which the attention is called to the nature of law, its sources and development, the difference between the unwritten and the written law, the method of determining what the law is by the use of reports, statutes, treatises, digests, etc., and finally the different branches into which the law is usually divided and the nature of each, with its relations to the others. During this course, pains is taken to point out the best methods of study, and the student is required to read cases and is given practice in stating them.

As to the proper order of subjects there will be differences of opinion. Indeed the various subjects cannot be arranged in a progressive series like different branches of mathematics,—each depending upon the preceding and leading to those which follow,—for one cannot be fully understood without some knowledge of the others. It seems proper, however, that Torts, Criminal Law, and Simple Contracts, shall come very early in the course. The Law of Property also demands early attention, and therefore Bailments and sales of Personal Property can properly come in the junior year. Real Property involves many intricate questions; and while the nature of legal estates should be early understood, yet it is thought practicable, after a quite full outline of this part of the subject under elementary law, to postpone the full study of Real Property until the senior year, where also Equity is placed. It might seem natural to leave adjective law until the latter part of the course, but the student must have instruction in Pleading, Evidence, and the ordinary procedure before he can do any satisfactory work in Moot Court; moreover, many questions of substantive law are unintelligible until the prominent features of adjective law are understood. Therefore these subjects are placed in the junior course, some special forms of procedure and. practice being reserved for the senior year.

The plan is to put in the senior year also special developments of Contract and Property Law, such as the Law of Insurance, of Carriers, of Chattel Mortgages, of Partner ship and Agency, of Corporations, of Patents, etc., among which are included especially those subjects in which equity is peculiarly involved.

The following schedule of the two courses of study, substantially as it will be presented to the two classes for the coming school year, will give an idea of the arrangement of topics and to some extent of the method of teaching each.

JUNIOR YEAR.

Legal Study and Ethics. A course of lectures for one week as to methods of study, and as to demeanor and duties in the school and in the profession.

Elementary Law. A course of lectures for six weeks introductory to the study of law, accompanied with recitations from a printed synopsis.

Torts. Recitations in Cooley on Torts for eight weeks with oral explanations and references to leading cases.

Pleading. A course of instruction for seven weeks mainly by lecture, on the general principles of pleading and upon code pleading as developed therefrom. and

Contracts. A course of lectures for four weeks upon the elementary principles of the law of contracts, to be followed during the winter term by recitations as shown below.