ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS.
Regular Students.—Candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Laws must
have attained the age of at least eighteen years before entering the department,
must produce a certificate of good character from the school or college
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 fifteen
units, of which three must be in English and one in History.
Notice is given that an additional requirement of one year of work in a
standard college will become effective with the beginning of the session of
1920-21.
The Subjects accepted for Admission and their values in units are given
in tabulated form on page 140. 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 1 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 of 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 at least forty mintues
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.
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 |
Critical Study of Specimens of English Literature |
1 |
| Mathematics A1 |
Algebra to Quadratic Equations |
1 |
| Mathematics A2 |
Quadratics, Progressions and the Binomial Formula. |
½ or 1 |
| Mathematics B |
Plane Geometry |
1 |
| Mathematics C |
Solid Geometry |
½ |
| Mathematics D |
Plane Trigonometry |
½ |
| History A |
Greek and Roman History |
1 |
| History B |
Mediaeval 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 |
Caesar'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 |
| Greek C |
Homer's Iliad, I-III; Grammar; Composition |
1 |
| German A |
Elementary Grammar, Composition, and Translation |
1 |
| German B |
Intermediate Grammar, Composition, and Translation |
1 |
| German C |
Third-Year Grammar, Composition, and Translation |
1 |
| German D |
Fourth-Year Grammar, Composition, and Translation |
1 |
| French A |
Elementary Grammar, Composition, and Translation |
1 |
| French B |
Intermediate Grammar, Composition, and Translation |
1 |
| French C |
Third-Year Grammar, Composition, and Translation |
1 |
| French D |
Fourth-Year Grammar, Composition, and Translation |
1 |
| Spanish A |
Elementary Grammar, Composition, and Translation |
1 |
| Spanish B |
Intermediate Grammar, Composition, and Translation |
1 |
| Spanish C |
Third-Year Grammar, Composition, and Translation |
1 |
| Spanish D |
Fourth-Year Grammar, Composition, and Translation |
1 |
| 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 |
Agriculture (special schools) |
2 |
| Drawing |
Mechanical and Projection Drawing |
1 |
| Shop-Work |
Wood-work, Forging, and Machine-Work |
1 |
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.
Special Students.—An applicant who is at least 23 years old, and who
presents proper evidence of good character, and of needful maturity and
training, though unable to fulfill the foregoing entrance requirements, may,
by special action of the Law Faculty, in exceptional cases, be admitted as a
special student, and not as a candidate for the degree.
Every applicant for admission as a special student shall make written
application to the Dean of the University, on a blank furnished for the purpose,
with detailed information as to his age, general habits, his educational
and business experience, and his general fitness to undertake the study of
law. Such application, together with such testimonials as may be required,
should be filed with the Dean of the University not later than September 1
of the year in which the applicant desires to enter the Law School.
Every such applicant for admission as a special student must pass a
satisfactory examination, to be held at the University during the registration
days of the session. The examination, which will be conducted by a
committee of the Law Faculty, may include the subjects of English, American
and English History, and Civil Government.
This regulation is subject to the general university regulation as to delayed
entrance examinations.
Special students who fail to complete 60 per cent of the work taken during
any session may be declared ineligible for readmission the following
session.
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 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
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, without satisfactory excuse, will be charged a fee for reigstration.
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 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 registration
in absentia is permissible.
Expenses.—The necessary expenses of a student in the Department of
Law may be estimated at $425 per session of nine months. This minimum
estimate includes all university and tuition fees, board, lodging, washing and
books. An average estimate would be $500 per session, reckoning board,
lodging, and washing 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
attendance of at least thirty weeks a year, exclusive of holidays, is essential
to graduation.
Plan of Instruction.—The instruction is as thorough as possible, and is
given partly through textbooks and lectures, and partly through the study
of cases. While convinced of the value of the combined textbook and lecture
system, which has prevailed for more than half a century in the Law
School, the Law Faculty have long appreciated the value that 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 course as now arranged gives opportunity for more
emphasis on this form of instruction, and the case-book will, therefore, be
used more extensively than heretofore—not as supplanting, but as supplementing,
textbook 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.
Practical Work.—In the course on 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 encountered in actual litigation. In the course on
Legal Bibliography and Brief Making, an intimate acquaintance with law
books and skill in their use are secured by oral and written quizzes, and
finally by practical tests; and 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 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.
