GENERAL INFORMATION
The Session begins on the Thursday preceding the nineteenth of September,
and continues for thirty-nine weeks, ending about June 15. The first
three days of the session are given to registration, and all students, both old
and new, are required during that time to place their names upon the books
of the University and the rolls of their respective classes. Lecture courses
begin on the Monday following, and absences will be recorded against any
student not present from the opening lecture of each course. Students entering
after the first three days, without satisfactory excuse, will be charged
a fee for registration.
The session is divided into Three Terms. The first term ends December
21; the second, March 21; and the third, with the close of the session.
Late Entrance.—Students are advised that late entrance upon the work
of any term is a serious hindrance to progress. The student who enters late
must begin his work at the point to which the several courses have advanced
at the time of his entrance; and credit for three years' attendance cannot be
secured unless the student is in actual residence at least thirty weeks per session.
No student may register for the work of the first term after October
15, nor for that of the second term after January 10—nor is registration
in absentia
permissible.
When Students May Enter.—It is highly desirable that students of any
year, and particularly those of the first year, should enter at the beginning of
the session. Where this is impossible students may register at the beginning
of the second term, but not later, save in exceptional cases. In case of
such late entrance the student's chief handicap (often a serious one) will be
lack of familiarity with preceding courses, on some of which his own work may
be based. Entrance at the beginning of the later term, therefore, is not advised,
but only permitted. Where the student has thus entered in a later
term, he may not make up the work of the earlier term except by returning
for such portion of a fourth year as is covered by the term omitted.
Expenses.—The necessary expenses of a student in the Department of
Law may be estimated at $500 per session of nine months. This minimum
estimate includes all university and tuition fees, board, lodging, laundry and
books. An average estimate would be $600 per session, reckoning living expenses
at a somewhat higher figure. The university fee applicable to all law
students (including those from Virginia) is $60; and the tuition fee for
residents of Virginia is $170; for non-residents, $190.
Three Years' Course.—The course of study embraces three years of
thirty-seven weeks each, exclusive of holidays. Residence for three years,
with attendance of at least thirty weeks a year, exclusive of holidays, is essential
to graduation.
Plan of Instruction.—The instruction is sought to be made as thorough
as possible, and is given mainly through textbooks and lectures, supplemented
in many of the courses by the study of cases. While convinced of the value
of the combined textbook and lecture system, which has prevailed for practically
a century in the Law School, the Law Faculty have long appreciated
the value that the study of cases possesses in teaching the student to work
out for himself the principles involved, and in illustrating the practical application
of legal rules. The present organization of the Law School gives
opportunity for more emphasis on this form of instruction, and the casebook
is now used more extensively than heretofore—not as supplanting, but
as supplementing, textbooks and lectures.
The daily oral quiz has long been a marked and, as experience has
proved, a valuable feature of the system of instruction. This oral quiz is supplemented
by frequent written tests, the results of which are carefully recorded,
and, in the professor's discretion, are considered in estimating the
final grade of the student.
Practical Work.—In the procedural courses, in Draughting, in Forensic
Debating, and in Legal Bibliography and Brief Making, special stress is
laid upon practical work. In the course on Legal Bibliography and Brief
Making, an intimate acquaintance with law books and skill in their use are
secured by lectures and demonstrations three times a week during the first
term of the first year, accompanied by the assignment of practical work in
the library, on which numerous oral and written tests are held; and in the
third year briefs on assigned topics are required to be prepared according to
rigorous standards. Much practical work is done in the headnoting of cases,
on scientific principles.
Required for Graduation.—The degree of Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) is
conferred upon such students as have satisfied the entrance requirements;
have attended three full sessions of the Law School; and have successfully
passed the required examinations, with satisfactory performance of assigned
practical work.
More specifically, the candidate for graduation must have completed all
of the obligatory courses (see Outline of Courses, below), and at least two
elective courses, one of which must be Virginia Pleading or Code Pleading.
