ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS.
Regular Students.—Candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Laws
must have attained the age of eighteen years before entering the department,
must produce a certificate of good character from the school last
attended or from other satisfactory source, and must conform to the
general requirements following:
For Admission to the Department of Law the candidate must offer
fourteen units as specified below; of these three must be in English, two
and one-half in Mathematics, one in History, and residue selected at will.
The Subjects accepted for Admission and their values in units are
given in tabulated form on page 7. The applicant for admission may enter
(1) by certificate or (2) by examination.
(1) For Admission by Certificate the candidate must file with the
dean of the University not later than September first a Certificate of
Preparation, made out on the blank form furnished by the University.
This certificate must come from some recognized institution of collegiate
rank or from an accredited high school; but admission by certificate from
accredited public high schools in Virginia is extended only to graduates
from four-year high schools. The certificate must bear in all cases the
signature of the head of the school; must specify the character and content
of each course offered for entrance credit; must give the length of time
devoted to the course, and the dates of the examinations; and must give
the candidate's grades in percentages. Each unit in the entrance requirements
is the equivalent of one full year of high-school work, including
five periods a week of at least forty minutes each during not less than
thirty-six weeks. For schools in which the number of periods given to
any study, or the length of the period, is below the standard here specified,
the credit for such study will be reduced
pro rata. In the scientific subjects
two hours of laboratory instruction will be counted as the equivalent of
one hour of recitation. High-school courses in Physics and Chemistry,
otherwise adequate, will be allowed half credit, when individual laboratory
work is not done by the student or is not attested by proper note-books
filed with the certificate. Certificates of preparation from private tutors
will in no case be accepted; students thus prepared must in all cases take
the Entrance Examinations.
(2) For Admission by Examination the candidate must present himself
for test at the University in June or September, according to the dates
given in the Programme of Entrance Examinations, which may be had
by applying to the Registrar. The examinations are held under the honor
system, no paper being accepted unless accompanied by the usual pledge.
All candidates who take their examinations at the times appointed are
tested free of charge. In case of delayed entrance, where the grounds of
postponement are good, the President of the University may admit the
candidate to a special examination, for which an additional fee of five
dollars is charged. The fee is payable in advance and is in no case
returned. Satisfactory certificates as to character and age are in all cases
required.
SUBJECTS ACCEPTED FOR ADMISSION.
| Subject |
Topics |
Units |
| English A |
Grammar and Grammatical Analysis |
1 |
| English B |
Composition and Rhetoric |
1 |
| English C |
Critical Study of Specimens of English Literature |
1 |
| English D |
History of English and American Literature |
1 |
| Mathematics A |
Algebra to Quadratic Equations |
1 |
| Mathematics B |
Quadratics, Progressions and the Binomial Formula |
½ |
| Mathematics C |
Plane Geometry |
1 |
| Mathematics D1 |
Solid Geometry |
½ |
| Mathematics D2 |
Plane Trigonometry |
½ |
| History A |
Greek and Roman History |
1 |
| History B |
Mediæval and Modern European History |
1 |
| History C |
English History |
1 |
| History D |
American History and Civil Government |
1 |
| Latin A |
Grammar, Composition, and Translation |
1 |
| Latin B |
Cæsar's Gallic War, I-IV; Grammar; Composition |
1 |
| Latin C |
Cicero's Orations (6); Grammar; Composition |
1 |
| Latin D |
Virgil's Æneid, I-VI; Grammar; Composition |
1 |
| Greek A |
Elementary Grammar, Composition, and Translation |
1 |
| Greek B |
Xenophon's Anabasis, I-IV; Grammar; Composition |
1 |
| German |
Grammar, Composition, and Translation |
2 |
| French |
Grammar, Composition, and Translation |
2 |
| Spanish |
Grammar, Composition, and Translation |
2 |
| Science A |
Physical Geography |
1 |
| Science B |
Inorganic Chemistry |
1 |
| Science C |
Experimental Physics |
1 |
| Science D |
Botany |
½ |
| Science E |
Zoölogy |
½ |
| Science F |
Agricultural (special schools) |
2 |
| Drawing |
Mechanical and Projection Drawing |
1 |
| Shop-Work |
Wood-Work, Forging, and Machine-Work |
1 |
Conditioned Students.—A candidate who can not meet the full entrance
requirement of fourteen units may be admitted with conditions on any
two units except English A and B. All conditions must be absolved before
the beginning of the session following initial registration. This may be
done by private study or by taking courses in the University or in the
Summer School.
Special Students.—A candidate may be admitted as a special student
without fulfilling the entrance requirements above specified, provided he
is more than twenty years old on the day of registration, and gives
adequate evidence of serious purpose and of the needful training. No
special student may be a candidate for the degree; but such students are
permitted and encouraged to make up their deficiencies by private study
or by taking courses in the University or in the Summer School. They will
then be admitted as regular students, and may be accepted as applicants
for the degree, provided all entrance requirements are met at least one
academic year before the date of graduation.
With the admonition that over-zealousness is apt to beguile an
ambitious student into the assumption of more work than he can thoroughly
master in a given time, leading to cramming and inaccuracy, and often to
complete failure, the special student is free to select his own work, within
reasonable limits.
Admission to Advanced Standing.—No credit is given for attendance
at another law school, nor for time spent in private reading. The candidate
for graduation must spend three years in residence.
The Session begins on the Thursday preceding the nineteenth of
September, and continues for thirty-nine weeks. The session comprises
thirty-six weeks exclusive of holidays. 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 upon the
following Monday, and absences will be recorded against any student not
present, from the opening lecture of each course. Students entering after
the first three days will be charged a fee for registration.
Late Entrance.—Students are advised that late entrance is a serious
hindrance to progress. The student who enters late must begin his work
at the point to which the work has advanced at the time of his entrance;
and credit for three years' attendance can not be secured unless the student
is in actual residence at least thirty weeks per session. No registration
in absentia is permissible.
As regards conditions of admission in case of late entrance, reference
is made to the General Regulations, which will be found on page 208.
Expenses.—The necessary expenses of a student in the Department
of Law may be estimated at $350 per session of nine months. This
minimum estimate includes all university and tuition fees, board, lodging,
washing, and books. An average estimate would be $450 per session,
reckoning board, lodging, washing, and books at a somewhat higher figure.
The university fee applicable to all law students (including those from
Virginia) is $40; and the tuition fee is $100 for the regular work of each
session. For special students who desire to take selected courses, the
tuition fee is estimated according to the ratio which the work chosen bears
to the whole.
Three Years' Course.—The course of study embraces three years of
thirty-six weeks each, exclusive of holidays. Residence, for three years,
with an attendance of at least thirty weeks a year, exclusive of holidays,
is essential to graduation.
Plan of Instruction.—The course is planned with a view to acquainting
the student familiarly and practically with the principles of his profession.
Care is taken to teach him to think for himself, and to rely
upon reason and principle, rather than upon memory; it being considered
better that the student follow principle to its legitimate conclusion, though
this be at variance with the decisions of the courts, than that he should
arrive at a faultless result by the exercise of memory or by accident.
The instruction is as thorough as possible, and is given partly through
text-books and lectures, and partly through the study of cases. While
convinced of the value of the combined text-book and lecture system, which
has prevailed for more than half a century in the Law School, and from
which, in the inauguration of the more extended course, it is not meant
in any wise to depart, the Law Faculty have long appreciated the value
which the study of cases possesses, in illustrating the practical application
of legal principles, and in forcing the student to extract for himself the
doctrine which the cases establish. The enlargement of the course gives
opportunity for more emphasis upon this form of instruction, and the
case-book will, therefore, be used more extensively than heretofore—not
as supplanting, but as supplementing, the text-book and lecture.
The daily oral quiz has long been a marked and, as experience has
proved, a most valuable feature of the system of instruction. As cross-examination
exposes error and develops truth, so the daily quiz enables
the instructor to discover and rectify misconception of legal principles on
the part of the student.
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.
Legal Argumentation.—Beginning with the session of 1913-14, an
advanced course on Legal Argumentation was added to the list of elective
courses. This course, supplemented by the courses in Brief-Making and
Forensic Debating, absorbs the work formerly done by the Law Debating
Society.
Practical Work.—In the course of Equity Procedure, Virginia Pleading,
Practice at Law, Code Pleading, Criminal Procedure, and Legal
Bibliography and Brief Making, special stress is laid upon practical work.
In the Pleading and Procedure courses, every student is required to draw,
and submit for correction and criticism, all of the principal pleadings,
orders, decrees, and other forms usual in actual litigation. In the course
on Legal Bibliography and Brief Making, familiarity with Law books and
their use is secured by lectures and demonstrations in the presence of the
books followed by oral and written quizzes, and finally by practical tests;
and briefs on assigned topics are required to be prepared according to
rigorous standards.
Required for Graduation.—The degree of Bachelor of Laws (LL. B.)
is conferred upon such students as have attained the age of twenty-one
years; 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 either the course in Virginia
Pleading or that in Code Pleading.
It follows that of the courses termed "elective," a required minimum
is in fact obligatory—the candidate being permitted to exercise an election
among them.
