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place would have been occupied by that distinguished judge, Lord Justice Lindley, who, as chairman of the council for some five years, has, with the loyal co-operation of his colleagues, acting E under difficult conditions, done much to improve our system of legal education. For myself, I have no such services to point to. It is one of the many drawbacks of a busy, professional life that, however great one's interest in such a subject may be, and Er however strong one's views, the time necessary to manifest usefully the one, or to give practical effect to the other, is not available.

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I propose to myself to-night but one object, and that is to endeavor to give, what I conceive to be, a much-needed stimulus to the cause of legal education. With that object in view, I shall ask you to follow me whilst, with needful brevity, I consider— 1, the past history of legal education in England; 2, its present state; 3, its state in other countries; and, finally, 4, the shortcomings in our present system, and how those shortcomings may best be remedied and a system of legal education established on a broad and enlightened basis.

One word I must premise. I speak here in no representative character. I have no mandate from the benchers of my own Inn of Court - Lincoln's Inn nor from any other body of men. I speak with no other weight or authority than may properly belong to the merits of what I say. But I would fain hope that in this hall, and in a wider circle outside it, I shall find responsive echoes, and that, as the result, the effort may once more be made, and this time successfully made, to establish what Westbury and Selborne hoped and worked for, namely, a great school of law fit to interpret and to teach, to this and to future generations, the noblest system of law which, take it for all in all, the world has known.

In speaking of our law I would avoid, on the one hand, the undiscriminating praise of Blackstone, and, on the other, the uncompromising censure of Bentham. Our law is no doubt unsystematic in its character; it is labyrinthine; it is disfigured by crudities, which it is gradually rejecting; it is insular, and therein lie at once its weakness and its strength. But its faults are faults of form and method rather than of substance. It bears the marks of its native origin. It is not a system fashioned by the great minds of one day or generation. Its growth, like that of our Constitution, has been slow. It is instinct with the genius and peculiarities of the mixed race from which it has sprung. It is elastic in its character, and it follows, slowly indeed, but surely, the needs of society, always changing and always progressive bringing itself more and more closely in accord with the

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In the historical portion of my address I avail myself of the evidence given before the Gresham Commission of 1892, and particularly of that of my friend, Mr. Montague Crackanthorpe, who has been so earnest and steadfast an advocate of improvement in our legal educational system, but whose voice has so often been as the voice of one crying in the wilderness. I do not approach the subject exclu- · sively from the standpoint of the professional lawyer. Some training in law ought to be part of a liberal education. "Every man is supposed to know the law," expresses a legal presumption, and is one of those legal fictions which Sir Henry Maine says plays so important a part in our legal history. The wisdom of the councilors of the Stuart times prompted the passing of a law compelling the eldest sons of nobles and of great land owners to go through a course of legal training to fit them for the due discharge of the duties appertaining to their station. To-day all classes and all grades of society have the same need. The wisdom of Parliament has widened the area, not only of the rights but also of the duties of citizenship. It is hardly exaggeration to say that every citizen, from the humblest to the highest, has his share in the government of his

country.

It is, therefore, not alone professional lawyers, nor legislators, nor justices of the peace, nor sons of nobles, who take part in the actual government of the country, and therefore consequently require to The need extends to know something of its laws. all classes. It includes the unambitious, but nevertheless important, rôle of municipal councilors, county councilors, school board members, parish councillors, and the rest. It extends also to our diplomatic and consular services.

Bentham described the state of our law in his day as chaotic, and although his teaching (with that of others) has done something towards its improvement, much is still needed to simplify and systematize it. The value of his teaching, as is so often the case, was but tardily recognized, and it is somewhat curious that many of his works were first published in a foreign tongue and in a foreign country.

I for one am strongly convinced that there is no factor which will prove so potent for the simplifica

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tion and the systematization of our law, as its scientific teaching in a great school of law, which shall be open to all who desire to avail themselves of it, but whose curriculum shall be framed mainly with a view to those who propose to follow the law as a profession in one or other of its branches.

PAST HISTORY OF LEGAL EDUCATION. I recur to the points on which I desire to dwell, and first a few words about the past history of legal education. Need I say that that history means in effect the history of the Inus of Court? I propose to speak on this point with marked brevity of the period up to 1846, when the report of a committee of the House of Commons did much to rouse the Inns of Court and the profession from the lethargy in which they had long lain. It is impossible to speak of the Inns of Court without emotion. They are unique in the history of the world. They are private, unincorporate associations, and, except for such difference as the confirmatory charter of James I. may have made in the case of the Temple Inns, they hold their property on no express trust, and probably on no enforceable implied trust. Yet, during their venerable history, they have now with greater, now with less zeal, fostered legal education; and further, they have, by their discliplinary authority, uniformly upheld a high standard of professional conduct. If they had done nothing but this last, the world would be largely their debtors. What a suggestive history is theirs! What an illustrious roll of men they have sent forth to add to the wisdom and to the literary and scientific wealth of the world-statesmen, poets, philosophers, jurists, advocates and judges! Their history sends us back to the thirteenth century, when our Constitution was still crude and unformed. They were, when the new worlds were not within our kin. They have seen the advent of those new worlds and the social and political transformation of the old. They have witnessed the long struggle for, and the final attainment of, constitutional freedom which the labors of their children did much to secure. But if it be charged against the Inns of Court that they have in great measure been stationary, while society in its progression has been giving birth to fresh needs-that they have been slow to follow in paths along which they ought to have led-that in the matter of legal education they have not acted up to the full measure of their opportunity and their responsibility, I think that by no candid judge can they be assoilized from these charges. I speak not of the calling and disbarring powers of the Inns of Court; that would be foreign to the subject in hand. It is enough to say that these weighty powers have been exercised with a single view to the interests of the public and the profession.

A brief glance at the character of the legal instruction given in the Inns will suffice. Originally, "inns," in the literal sense of lodging and boarding their students, they imparted legal instruction in lectures and in "moots" and like exercises; the greater part of study, however, being done, as must always be the case, by the student in his own chamber. Fortescue, in the forty-ninth chapter of "De Laudibus " (which chapter has, however, been attacked as apocryphal), is represented as writing thus: "There is both in the Inns of Court and the Inns of Chancery a sort of an academy or gymnasium fit for persons of station, where they learn singing and all kinds of music. dancing, and such other accomplishments and diversions (which are called revels) as are suitable to their quality, and such as are usually practised at court. At other times, out of term, the greater part apply themselves to the study of the law. Upon festival days, and after the offices of the church are over, they employ themselves in the study of sacred and profane history. Here everything which is good and virtuous is to be learnt. All vice is discouraged, and banished, so that knights, barons, and the greatest nobility of the kingdom often place their children in those Inns of Court, not so much to make the laws their study, much less to live by the profession (having large patrimonies of their own), but to form their manners and to preserve them from the contagion of vice."

I will not stop to inquire how far this pleasing picture can be historically justified. One thing is clear, that again and again earnest men in the profession of the law lamented the deficiencies of the Inns of Court as legal seminaries. Bacon, Lord Verulam, is loud in his lamentation at the absence of what he calls a "legal university " in London, "which shall impart legal knowledge and befit men for public life." Meanwhile, in the universities, the study of law, except the canon law, was neglected. Chroniclers agree that the period from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century was marked by apathy in the Inns of Court; that legal instruction and legal learning were on the whole at a low ebb; and, co-incident with that apathy, and in part, probably, because of it, arose that system of special pleading, the painful record of whose subtleties fill many volumes of laborious law reports. I do not wish to be misunderstood. In its original conception, special pleading was sound. It radically meant nothing more than this- that the essentali conditions, on which a claim was based, or the answer to that claim rested, should be clearly stated without redundancy. But that object was soon overlaid by a mass of technicality in which, as has been well said, the science of statement was made

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to appear more important than the substance of the right. In our civil suits this system has gone by the board, but its spirit still survives in our criminal procedure.

In our civil procedure, the enemy against which we have now to guard is not over-technicality, but redundancy and prolix statement, often of immaterial matter.

PRESENT STATE OF LEGAL EDUCATION.

I pass to the consideration of the present state of legal education. I start from the report of the Commons Committee, 1846, already referred to. One of the principal witnesses examined by it was Mr. Richard Bethell, afterwards Lord Westbury, and it is significant of the conservative spirit of the age, and of the profession (I am speaking in no political sense) that although that report is now nearly half a century old, we have to-day to deplore a state of things as existing now which in large measure existed then.

The action of the other branch of the profession of the law had done something to quicken the pub. lic conscience. In 1832 the charter of the Incorporated Law Society had been obtained and the body of solicitors had aimed at insuring adequate legal education for those who desired to be enrolled as solicitors. Since 1836, a satisfactory public examination has been a condition precedent to admission as a solicitor, but it was not until 1872 that a similar rule came into existence for aspirants to the bar. In 1833 some of the Inns appointed Readers or Lecturers in Law, but the students of Lincoln's Inn could not attend the lectures at the Temple, nor Temple students the lectures at Lincoln's Inn There was no concert between the Inns, and, therefore, no system of education for the profession as a whole.

sities, in which jurisprudence often forms the chief faculty, and that, through the legal faculty, supplied with numerous courses and tested by efficient examinations, not only the future lawyer, jurist, civilian, and solicitor, but the future diplomatist and official must necessarily pass. It declared that a system of legal education ought to comprehend and to meet the wants, not only of the professional, but also of the unprofessional student, and that, for the purposes of a comprehensive system, the four Inns of Court should be constituted an aggregate of colleges, or law university. The final resolution of the committee contains a covert threat that if the Inns failed voluntarily to take the initiative in the suggested direction, recourse should be had to a royal commission with a view to compelling them. The report besides contains much valuable matter as to what ought to be the scope and character of the system of legal education to be pursued.

The report of the committee of 1846 is a scathing condemnation of the then state of things. The committee arrived at several important conclusions. It resolved that no legal education worthy of the name, of a public nature, was then to be had. It called attention to the striking contrast in this regard between England and the more civilized States of Europe and America. It pointed out that, amongst other consequences of the want of scientific legal education, this country was deprived of a most important class, "the legists or jurists of the continent, men who, unembarrassed by the small practical interests of the profession, are enabled to apply themselves exclusively to law, as to a science, and to claim by their writings and decisions the reverence of their profession, not in one country only, but in all where such laws are administered." It pointed out that the legal education of the continent is conducted in connection with the univer

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The single net result of this report was the formation in 1852 of a standing council of eight benchers, representing all the Inns, to frame a scheme of lectures open to the members of each of the Inns. This standing counsel was the germ of the council of legal education. Subsequently, five readerships were instituted, viz., in jurisprudence and roman law, real property, common law, equity, and in constitutional law and legal history. was undoubtedly a step in the right direction. It was in this state of things that I made my way to the Bar, and I recall with gratitude the benefit I derived, especially from the lectures in jurisprudence and Roman law of the late Sir Henry Maine, and in equity of the late Mr. Birkbeck. But still there was no guarantee of competent legal learning as a preliminary to call. The student had his choice either (1) to pass an examination, or (2) to attend for one year two sets of the lectures, or (3) attend for a like period in a barrister's, pleader's, or conveyancer's chambers.

I will not stop to point out how slight the evidence of competent knowledge which any of these tests afforded, and how illusory were the last two. It was the taunt levelled at the Bar that, while in other professions and in handicrafts long service and special preparation were considered necessary as a guarantee of fitness, there was no such safeguard in the case of the Bar. The taunt was the harder to bear because it was based on truth. It was said that a man had only to "eat his way" to the Bar, which was a contemptuous mode of condemning the requirement of keeping term by dining in hall. I do not join in that condemnation. I maintain that the requirement is wise and useful, but it must not stand alone. Just as much of the advantage of university life springs from the association of students in their studies and sports, so the meeting

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in Hall, for even the commonplace purpose of dining, has its direct advantages. Friendships are formed, schemes of mutual encouragement in study are set on foot, a spirit of emulation is cultivated, a feeling of good fellowship springs up, the rough edges are smoothed off, and a standard of manners and of conduct attained, which, fashioned by the students in the aggregate, will generally be found to be higher than in the average individual. disciplinary force is also thus brought into action which lasts during professional life. I do not hesitate to say that to the association which so largely prevails amongst us are in great measure to be attributed in the first place the honorable character which the Bar as a whole has always maintained, and in the second place, the fact that, although our profession is one in which men are brought into close and severe personal competition, there is a marked absence of jealousy and ill-will amongst us, and a generous appreciation of men according to their deserts.

In 1855, a royal commission was appointed "to inquire into the arrangements of the Inns of Court, for promoting the study of the law and jurisprudence, the revenues properly applicable, and the means most likely to secure systematic and sound education for students of law, and to provide satisfactory tests of fitness for admission to the Bar." Amongst the commissioners were Sir William Page Wood, afterwards Lord Hatherley, Mr. Justice Coleridge, Sir Alexander Cockburn (then attorneygeneral), and Sir Richard Bethell (then solicitorgeneral).

The character of their inquiry and their report is like that of the committee of 1846, already dealt with. It condemns the existing state of things, and recommends the formation of the four Inns of Court into a legal university, with power of conferring degrees in law, and that the necessary funds for carrying out the scheme of education shall be provided by the Inns of Court. It lays down the necessity for a preliminary examination of candidates before admission as students at the Inns, and of an examination before call to the Bar. The Inns of Court acted promptly upon the suggestion as to the preliminary examination, but the final or test examination was not adopted, as I have already said, till 1872.

The movement inaugurated by the late Mr. Jevons solicitor of Liverpool, in 1868, taken up by Sir Roundell Palmer, and followed by a resolution debated in the Commons in 1872, affirming the necessity for the establishment of a law school, followed in turn by Sir Roundell Palmer's (then Lord Selborne) bill of 1877 with that object, which obtained a second reading in the House of Lords all these events passed lightly over the heads of the benchers.

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They had, however, ultimately some definite and important results. Time does not permit, nor is it necessary, that I should trace chronologically and in detail the gradual evolution of the consolidated regulations until finally they attained their present character, However much we may think that we are still far off a system of legal training worthy of the name, we should indeed be ungrateful if we did not recognize the progress made in face of difficulties and opposition almost incomprehensible.

It will suffice to summarize the results. They were these: 1. An official examination before call is made compulsory. 2. The council of legal education is increased to twenty members. 3. Its powers are enlarged. 4. A board of studies formed by it devotes mueh pains to the character of the lectures and of the examinations. 5. The public are in future to be admitted to the lectures; and 6. In addition to the ordinary lecturers and assistant lecturers, the council may arrange for special lectures by special lecturers.

The enlargement of the powers of the council and the securing admission of the public to the lectures are important recent gains, and are due to the strenuous efforts of the present members of the council of legal education.

I am glad to know that, at the instance of the council, Mr. William Willis, Q. C., has undertaken to deliver six lectures on the "Law of Negotiable Instruments." I hope other distinguished members of the profession will follow this example. I hope also that the judges will not forget that Story and Kent found it possible to instruct the world by their learning even while discharging the onerous duties of the judicial office.

Before I pass from this subject I desire to state what is the actual instruction now offered, and what is the actual test of fitness before call to the Bar unI reserve till a later moment some criticism on both these points. According to the existing regulations, the curriculum embraces Roman Law and Jurisprudence. International Law, Constitutional Law and Legal History, and English Law (including Equity) in all its branches. There is a staff of readers and assistant readers, the readers being appointed for three years, and the assistant readers on terms left to the discretion of the council. The lectures and classes are carried on throughout the year, except during There are four examinations for call to vacations. the Bar in each year, and each person must pass a satisfactory examination in Roman Law and Constitutional Law and Legal History, and in English Law, including Equity; but the council may accept as an equivalent for the examination in Roman Law certain university degrees and testamurs.

der the existing system.

I think that the curriculum here shadowed forth

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is sufficiently comprehensive, and that if really
studied and mastered it would adequately equip the
law student for the grave responsibilities of profes-
sional life. But is there any guarantee that it is
studied and mastered? I shall later recur to this
matter; but, first, I turn to the third head of my
subject, viz., the state of legal education in other

countries.

STATE OF LEGAL EDUCATION IN OTHER COUNTRIES.

Time compels me to make the briefest reference to European systems. In the collegiate and university system of Europe, law holds a much more important place than with us, and the professor of law, who is also generally the text-writer and jurist, holds- and rightly a much higher position. In France there are eleven seats of faculties of law, and before joining the law school each student must obtain the degree of bachelier-ès-lettres. To become qualified as an avocat he must be a licentiate of law, and this involves an attendance at law lectures for two years or more, and the passing, during this course, of several examinations. The range of subjects is wide, and includes the study of law scientifically and historically treated, as well as law for practical professional uses. In Germany the law student requires, as a preliminary to admission as a student, a certificate of proficiency in classical and modern literature, and in mathematics. In general, attendance at the law lectures of university professors is obligatory. In Berlin the curriculum extends over some three years, and applies to as many as sixteen legal subjects, or subjects cognate to law.

applying himself to the actual practical work of the profession in solicitors' chambers. That period is passed in the learning of law, historically and scientifically considered.

Professor Elliott, of Harvard university, writing in the American Law Review, speaks of the revolution in legal education effected in recent years; how the old system of sending students to chambers, before they knew anthing of the history and principles of law, had been completely discarded, and with the best results, and previous systematic teaching in the law schools had taken its place. According to the report of the American Bar Association for 1894 (these annual reports afford much instructive reading), there were then existing in the United States seventy-two law schools, attended by 7,600 law students. In such schools there were engaged altogether some 500 professors whose business is the teaching of law. The schools are for the most part

in connection with universities, but it is to be noted that, although this is so, the majority of students do not in fact obtain university degrees. The percentage of students who have such a degree varies from seventy-six per cent in the case of Harvard students, to seventeen per cent in the case of students of the Columbian university.

The range of subjects is comprehensive, and periodical examinations take place in class throughout the course. catechetical. There are constant moots or exercises. The system of teaching itself is largely The professor is always at hand to give advice and assistance. Cases are argued by the students, the professor acting as judge, and care is taken that the student shall really appreciate the matters discussed, by having brought before him and placed in his hands, in class, specimens of actual instruments, leases, contracts, policies of insurance, pleadings and the like, so that he reaches, in a way in which he is deduced from the concrete illustration given. likely to keep hold of it, the principle sought to be

In a word, these foreign systems show that the teaching of law on a comprehensive and scientific system is regarded as a matter that concerns the State. It is, therefore, carried on under public responsible authority, principally in connection with the universities. Cogent proof also is required that the man who proposes to practise the law as a profession shall be adequately equipped for the duty. I observe also, as a matter of interest, that the I turn to the state of things in the great Western Republic, where our own system of law largely pre-other of the States to discuss matters affecting the Bar Association, which annually meets in one or vails, expanded and modified to meet the existing conditions of society. Sir Frederick Pollock, writing in the Law Quarterly Review of 1892, speaking of the improvements then contemplated by the Inns of Court, and now carried out by the Council of Legal Education, says that, "if worked with zeal

Bar, the Judiciary, and the legislation of the councation Section," which charges itself with the distry, has appointed a section called the "Legal Educussion of all matters affecting that important subject. With all this care and zeal, I note that and intelligence, the Inns of Court may, possibly, the need of further improvement is still urgently

within a few years be not much inferior as a center
of legal instruction to an average second-rate Ameri.
can law school." He is no mean authority upon the
subject. The general system in the United States
may be described briefly thus: The law student is
required to spend from eighteen months to two
years-sometimes more—in a law school before

pressed.

Enough has, I think, now been said by me to show that we must bestir ourselves if we are, in this country, to keep our proper place in the march of educational progress.

DEFECTS IN OUR SYSTEM OF LEGAL TRAINING.
I now come to the concluding head of my sub-

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