 | The University of Virginia record February 1, 1920 |  |
GENERAL INFORMATION.
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 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 registration in absentia is permissible.
When Students May Enter.—It is of course highly desirable that students
of any year, and particularly those entering the work of the first
year, should enter at the beginning of the year's work which they propose
to pursue. Where this is impossible—as is likely to be the case with
many students recently in the military or naval service—the terms are so
arranged that students may register at the beginning of any one of the
three terms into which the session is divided. And, as all first-year
courses are complete with the term to which they are assigned, new
courses begin with each succeeding term. Thus the student entering late
may begin his work with the inception of the courses taken. In such case
his 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 a 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 or terms previously
omitted.
Expenses.—The necessary expenses of a student in the Department of
Law may be estimated at $445 per session of nine months. This minimum
estimate includes all university and tuition fees, board, lodging, washing and
books. An average estimate would be $570 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 $135 for the regular work of each session.
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 mainly through textbooks and lectures, supplemented in some of
the courses by 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. The course as now arranged gives
opportunity for more emphasis on this form of instruction, and the casebook
will, therefore, be 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 most valuable feature of the system of instruction. This oral
carefully recorded, and, in the professor's discretion, are considered in
estimating the final grade of the student.
Practical Work.—In the courses on Equity Procedure, Virginia Pleading,
Practice at Law, Code Pleading, Criminal Procedure, Forensic Debating,
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.
| The University of Virginia record February 1, 1920 | |