SECOND YEAR'S COURSE.
1. The Law of Corporations.
Professor Lile.
The recent development of the law of corporations, both in extent and importance,
has induced special stress to be laid upon this branch of the curriculum.
Among other subjects of lesser import, the lectures embrace the promotion, organization
and management of business corporations; the formation and enforcement
of subscriptions for shares; corporate duties, powers and liabilities; the relations
between the corporation and the State, between the corporate body and its shareholders,
officers, agents and creditors, and the reciprocal relations of these with
each other; the consolidation, dissolution and winding up of corporations; and
the appointment, duties and powers of receivers. The principles applicable to
municipal corporations, whether in their public or their proprietary characters,
are fully elucidated; the subjects of municipal taxation, municipal bonds, franchises
etc., rights and liabilities in connection with streets, as affecting the municipality,
the public generally and the abutting proprietor, are dealt with in detail.
—
September 15 to February 1—Twice a week.
Text-Book.—Taylor on Corporations (used session 1897-98; Clark may be substi
tuted 1898-99).
The Professor's Notes.
2. The Law of Evidence; Pleading and Practice.
Professor Dabney.
In this class are taught:
(1) The general principles of the law of Evidence, with explanations of the
statutory changes, especially those relating to the competency of witnesses, and
the practical application of these principles to the conduct of inquiries in court,
or before officers authorized to take testimony.
(2) The forms of action, and the forms, principles and rules of pleading, at
common law and under the codes; an intimate acquaintance with the common law
rules and principles being insisted upon as essential to a proper knowledge of
pleading, under any system.
(3) The organization and jurisdiction of courts, and the proceedings in a law
suit from beginning to end, including appellate proceedings and the various special
and extraordinary proceedings provided for by common law or by statute.
(4) The organization and jurisdiction of the Federal courts; removal of causes
from State to Federal courts; the particulars of conformity or nonconformity
between the procedure at law in the Federal courts and that in the courts of the
State wherein they are held; and appellate proceedings in the Federal courts.—
September 15 to May 20—Three times a week.
Text-Books.—McKelvey on Evidence.
4 Minor's Institutes (3d edition).
Bryant's Code Pleading.
Dabney's Federal Jurisdiction and Law Procedure.
3. Criminal Law.
Professor Minor.
In the study of this subject the student is made acquainted with the general
principles enforced by the courts in the administration of criminal justice. He is
instructed as to the nature and elements of the more important crimes, both common
law and statutory. Attention is paid rather to the acquisition by the student
of a thorough knowledge of the leading principles than to the less important
details, which, with a knowledge of the former, he may readily acquire for himself.
The course of instruction further embraces a study of the forms of procedure,
the nature, organization and duties of grand and petit juries; arrests and bail;
indictments, informations, presentments, and the various defenses; together with
the usual incidents of a criminal trial, such as challenges of jurors, motions for
new trial, bills of exception, motions in arrest of judgment, and writs of error.—
September 15 to November 20—Three times a week.
Text-Book.—Minor's Synopsis of Criminal Law.
The Professor's Notes.
4. Equity Jurisprudence and Procedure.
Professor Lile.
The study of Equity Jurisprudence and Procedure is taken up immediately
upon the completion of the course on the law of Corporations, to which it is
designed to be supplementary. After consideration of the origin and rise of the
chancery jurisdiction, the student is lead carefully through the usual subjects of
equitable cognizance, and thence into the methods of procedure, as recognized in
the High Court of Chancery in England, and as modified by statute or by rules of
court in America. In the study of equity jurisprudence, the contrast between
legal and equitable principles is constantly adverted to, and the student is incited
to the appreciation and cultivation of the fine sense of moral right underlying
the doctrines of technical equity. The procedure in the Federal courts of chancery
and in the chancery courts of Virginia (where the distinction between legal and
equitable procedure is still maintained) is made the basis of instruction. Practical
work is required in draughting the various forms and pleadings, from the subpœna
to the final decree.—February 1 to June 10—Twice a week.
Text-Books.—Bispham's Principles of Equity.
Text-book on Equity Practice: (to be announced).
The Professor's Notes.
5. The Law of Real Property.
Professor Minor.
The instruction in this class covers a detailed study of the subject of real property,
in all of its branches. The nature and several kinds of real estate, and the
several estates therein, with the various principles appertaining to each, curtesy
and dower, the relations of landlord and tenant, co-tenancies, the feudal tenures,
uses and trusts, the far-reaching effect of the Statute of Uses, the conditions,
covenants and other qualifications attached to conveyances of land, are reviewed
at length. The historical connection between ancient and modern doctrines of
conveyancing, with the statutory changes, are carefully traced. Remainders,
reversions and executory limitations, and the principles governing their creation,
validity and effect, together with the sources of title to lands, whether by descent
or by the manifold forms of purchase, and the principles controlling each, the
subjects of conveyances, contracts to convey, wills of lands, adverse possession,
tax-titles, and the registry of instruments of title, are investigated in detail.
Throughout the course, emphasis is placed on common law principles, and effort
is made to give the student a clear comprehension of these, by tracing them to
their feudal or other sources.—November 20 to May 1—Three times a week.
Text-Book.-2 Minor's Institutes (4th edition).
The Professor's Notes.
