and argue the cases as they come out, in his own moot court. He should if possible prepare and argue one case a month. This work is one of the best ways of acquiring a knowledge of law and better yet

it gives one a readiness in argument which every trial lawyer must somehow attain. He can never attain it so easily as now and never with so little mortification to himself.

To the Editors of the Columbia Law Times: The Law School of the National University was the first step to the fulfillment of the grand idea of a National University, a representative institution similar to the great French and German Universities. This was first advocated by President Washington. In his first message to Congress he said: "You will agree with me in opinion that nothing can better deserve your patronage than the promotion of literature and science; knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness."

In his last message he said "I have heretofore proposed to the consideration of Congress the expediency of establishing a National University and Military Academy. The desirablenesss of both these institution has been so constantly increased with every new view I have taken of the subject that I cannot omit the opportunity of once for all recalling your attention to them. A primary object of such a National institution should be the education of our youth in the science of Government." In this manner did Washington urge upon Congress the establishing of a National University, and that he was sincere and that his motive was pure love of his countrymen, his will attests, for in it he made a bequest of $30,000 and expressed his ardent wish to see a plan devised, on a liberal scale, to spread sys

tematized ideas through all parts of this rising empire, thereby doing away with local attachments and State prejudices in our National Council.

President Jefferson, in his message to Congress Dec. 2, 1806, urged upon Congress the immediate consideration of establishing a National University which could alone supply those sciences which are necessary to the improvement of the country and some of them to its preservation. Presidents Madison and Adams in their messages to Congress strongly advocated it.

The bequest of $30,000 made by President Washington failed and lapsed to his estate because there was no organization duly incorporated and capable of taking such a bequest.

The subject was not again revived until after the close of our civil war. Many were in favor of securing a mammoth endowment at the time of procuring a charter of incorporation, believing that the one would be useless without the other. Large meetings were held in this city and the subject was ably discussed. Many who thought there was "millions in it" advocated an appropriation of at least $20,000,000 as a preliminary or co-ordinate requisite to granting a charter. A few of the more practical ones were of the opinion that a university should be incorporated and the endowment be a matter

of future consideration. It had remained, up to this time, ideal, invisible, intangible. The first step was to make it real, visible and tangible by corporation. In accordance with an act of Congress, the National University became, on the 19th day of September, 1870, a body politic and corporate, entitled to perpetual succession with power to sue and be sued, to acquire, hold and convey personal and real property, to have and use a common seal; to make bylaws necessary to the government of the University and to confer upon such persons as may be considered worthy such academic and honorary degrees as are conferred by any college or university and by the charter of incorporation, the President is chancellor ex-officio.

Following the advice of President Washington "that the primary object of such a National University should be to educate young men in the science of government," the incorporators first established the law department for the education of those young men who as lawyers, statesmen and jurists are to be the future guardians of the liberty of our country.

It was the design of the incorporators that free instruction should be given to the students and that they should be charged only for the necessary incidental expenses. A sufficient number of distinguished educators were found to constitute an able an efficient faculty who were willing to contribute their services to this enterprise without reward. This plan was strictly This plan was strictly adhered to; a building was rented and students admitted to the lectures. From its incorporation up to 1879 the law department was under the control of Professor Wedgewood, an able lecturer and writer, who had been a Professor of Law in the New York University Law School; he was also a contributor to Bouvier's Law Dictionary and author of a work on Gov

ernment Law and Banking. Under the management of Professor Wedgewood the law school at first prospered, but in 1880 owing to internal dissensions that had been threatening for some time it came practically to an end. A good many plans were brought forward for its re-establishment, and through the efforts of Mr. W. J. Newton, one of the graduates under Professor Wedgewood's regime, a new faculty was created and the law school again opened its doors to students and charged a small amount for tuition. From this period up to the present time the career of the law school has been wonderful.

We have during this time gradually increased the number of our text books and have added to our faculty such men as Samuel J. Miller, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of United States, Professor of International and Constitutional Law, James Schouler, Lecturer on Bailments and Domestic Relations, and Charles S. Whitman, Professor of Patent Law and Practice. The other members of our faculty are composed of the foremost lawyers of the bar of this city. There is a course of two years which entitles the student to a degree of Bachelor of Laws, but the bar of this city requires three years study to entitle the applicant to an examination, so the law school has added a post graduate course of one year, at the end of which the student is entitled to a degree of master of laws. Last year it conferred the degree of Bachelor of Laws on 40 and the degree of Master of Laws on 30 the Largest class in the history of the law school. school is in a flourishing condition and promises to exceed in number the classes of last year which at the commencement of the term numbered 122. The future of our school is very promising indeed and one of which its many graduates and friends feel justly proud. W. A. J.

The

Mr. A. C. Bernheim, a graduate of the School of Political Science, of the class of '86, has been appointed prize lecturer in that school for a term of three years.

Mr. A. H. Auborn has been appointed assistant secretary of the law school, Mr. Cary succeeding him as janitor.

On June 10th, '88, the following Board of Trustees of the Columbia Law Times Publishing Company was elected for the year ending June 1st, '89. T. Gold Frost, President, Elisha K. Camp, Secretary, Paul K. Ames, Treasurer, Charles B. Cole, Norton M. Cross.

Those members of the Junior Class who wish to compete for the position of literary editor of the TIMES are hereby notified that competition begins immediately and is subject to the following rules: Any member of the Junior Class is eligible. Those desiring to compete should hand in their names, together with the department to which they will contribute, to the editors at once. Competitors must hand in at least one article, signed and ready for publication-whether it will be published or not is left to the discretion of the editors-the two gentlemen displaying the most ability for editorial work, in the opinion of the Board of Trustees, will be appointed as literary editors. The Board reserves the right to appoint the business manager.

The following announcement of prizes in the class of '88 was made at the commencement in June. In Municipal Law, first, William Augustus Moore, A. B. (University of Denver); second, Frederick Rogers Kellogg, B. S. (Brooklyn Poly

technic Institute); third, Henry Bell Gayley, A. M. (College of New Jersey). Honorable mention, Thomas Gold Frost, A. B. (Knox College) In Constitutional Law, prize, Henry Charles Charpiot, B. S. (Cornell University). Honorable mention,

Frederick Rogers Kellogg.

Mr. Philo Perry Safford (Oberlin College) has been appointed tutor for the term of three years.

The following, former students at this law school were admitted as attorneys and counsellors at the general term examination for the second department, held at Brooklyn, September 20th:

George W. Harris, Edward Hamilton Cahil, John I. Delany, Henry E. Frankenberg, Henry G. Schultz, John I. Traff, William D Utley, Frank Harvey Field, Canby D. Christensen.

The Johnson Essay Prize was awarded to Walter Teis Smith, a graduate of Michigan University.

We reprint the following with a few changes from the "TIMES" of last year for the benefit of the Junior Class.

THE LAW LIBRARY.

The law library occupies the west end of the main hall of the library. Law students will be expected to occupy and to confine themselves to the section of the reading room west of the catalogue cases, which form a sort of dividing line across the hall. They will have at their disposal all the tables in this space with the exception of those on the north side taken up by the catalogues. As will be seen the law library is arranged around this part of the reading room. Beginning on the main

floor, on the south side, about midway the books stand as follows: First, the law text books and reference books arranged alphabetically, then the digests in order, the United States digests, the Federal digests, the digests of the several States alphabetically and the English digests. Then come the revised statutes and the codes of the several States in the same order. Next come the American reports beginning with the United States Supreme Court, then the reports of the circuit and district courts arranged alphabetically as cited, the general reporters followed by the reports of the several States arranged by States from Alabama to Wyoming. Under each State, they are arranged chronologically so as to form a regular series. Where more than one series of reports exists-that is, in such States as have reports of more than one court they are arranged as they appear in "Soule's Lawyer's Reference Manual." The series of State reports as far as New York extend around the main floor and then into the gallery on the south side, beginning there with North Carolina. After the American reports follow, on the west and north sides of the gallery, the English statutes at large then the English reports arranged alphabetically as cited, and not by courts or jurisdictions. These English reports extend to about midway on the north

gallery. Then follow the law periodicals, both American and English. The New York Session Laws are in a revolving book case in the southwest corner of the room under the stairs.

Students will find at the desk of the law librarian, at the right of the main entrance, various bibliographical aids and catalogues and should apply here for all needed help in the use of the library. Students in making the acquaintance of a law library will find particularly useful the abovementioned "Lawyer's Reference Manual," of which copies at the librarian's desk have been interleaved and checked to serve as a sort of catalogue to much of the law library.

The law librarian will show all students how it may be used and also how to get and use digests, tables of cases and other reference books.

Besides the law books in the main reading room, the library also contains a large number of less used law books which it is necessary to shelve elsewhere. These are brought to students like the books of the general library. To get these and other books go to the card catalogue and copy on a slip of paper the class and book number which stands on the upper left hand corner of the card, give the slip to a page and he will bring the book.

Professor Dwight met the Junior Class on Monday morning, October 1st. Recitations in Blackstone began October 2d. Professor Dwight commented on the text. Blackstone's definition of municipal law, that it is a rule of civil conduct pre

scribed by the supreme power of a State, commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong," is not strictly correct. It should be municipal law is a rule of civil conduct prescribed by the supreme power of a State. The latter part of Blackstone's

The

to regulate civil conduct. In England this would rather be suggestive of what law should be than what it always has been, as English legislation has often meddled with matters of purely private concern. In this country a check is put on such legislation by the Constitution of the United States or of particular States, and when it appears it is declared void by our courts. Municipal law must be prescribed. This applies strictly only to statute law; common law is prescribed only by a fiction. When the judge declares what the law is it is deemed by a fiction of law to have always been what he now declares it to be. A law, unless there be some provision to the contrary, goes into effect as soon as enacted. law takes no notice of parts of a day. The consequence of which was that all laws were for a short time retrospective in fact, but not in theory. To obviate this it is provided in New York that a law shall go into effect twenty days after its enactment, unless otherwise specified. "Retrospective law" is a generic term applied to all laws that look to the past. If these laws affect a person in a criminal way they are ex post facto laws. Such laws, while binding in England, are prohibited by the United States Constitution. Any law is ex post facto which bears more hardly on the criminal than the one in force when the crime was committed. A mere change in kind of punishment or a rule of evidence that makes it easier to convict is sufficient to render it so. Other retrospective laws may or may not be valid. If they interfere with vested rights they are void. Law is prescribed by the supreme power of a State. This is lodged in those who, at the time, have the suffrage. This power is

delegated to legislatures. The ruie, as to the powers of State Legislatures, is that they have all the power of the English Parliament at the time of the Revolution unless restrained. by State or United States Constitutions. The power of the United States Congress must be derived either from the express words or by reasonable implication from the United States Constitution. We study the powers of State Legislatures historically. While the power of Congress is a matter of construction solely from the language of the United States Constitution. The power of the State is delegated in part to lesser bodies to enact local legislation, but back of it to enforce it lies the supreme power of the State.

Law acts more in the light of rights than of duties. There is a great difference between the adjective right and the noun right; Right and a right. The first is a matter of morals; the lawyer has not to do with it. We treat of a right. When has one a legal right? When the law of a State gives him something and excludes all others. There are four elements in a right. There must be, 1st, one to claim the right; 2d, the thing about which it is claimed; 3d, the one to be restrained; 4th, that which is to be done or refrained from in respect to the right.

The word person in law is not coincident with human being. It means one having a legal standing in court Persons are either natural or artificial. Artificial persons are either corporations or officers, having a legal standing as such. Queen Victoria might sue in her character of queen in our courts as a person. The United States would sue in English courts as a person.

We cannot bring international law under Blackstone's definition of law. It is tacit understanding or a matter of treaties rather than law.