University of Virginia Library

Law Department.

       

JOHN B. MINOR, LL. D.,	Professor of the Law of Real Estate, Pleading and Practice.
JAS. H. GILMORE, LL. D.,	Prof. of Const. and Int'l. Law, Evidence and Equity.
W. M. LILE, B. L.,	Prof. of the Law of Persons, Personal Property, Merc. and Crim. Law.
RALEIGH C. MINOR, M. A., B. L.,	Ass't Prof. of the Law of Real Est., Plead. and Pract.

COURSE OF STUDY.

The course is arranged for two years, and it is not prudent for the student
to devote less time to preparing himself for the practice of the law, since
his future professional success depends upon his full mastery of elementary
principles. It is a maxim sanctioned by long and wide experience that "he
who is not a good lawyer when he comes to the bar, will seldom be a good
one afterwards." In order to acquire such thorough acquaintance with the
elements of the law, thought is requisite as well as reading; and, for the
purpose of thought, there must be time to digest as well as industry to acquire.
One cannot expect to gorge himself with legal principles and to
digest them afterwards; the process of assimilation must accompany the reception
of knowledge, if it is to proceed healthfully and beneficially.

The course is organized with a view to acquaint the student familiarly and
practically with the principles of his profession. Especial care is taken to
teach him to think for himself, and to rely upon reason and principle, rather
than upon memory or impulse; it being considered that it is better for the
student to follow the principle to its legitimate conclusion, even though that
conclusion be at variance with the decision of the courts, than to 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 partly through lectures, with careful daily examinations upon
both.

MOOT COURT.

A Moot Court, with its accompanying instruction, tends to perfect the
student in the details of practice. Under the immediate supervision of the
Professors, he is required to write opinions upon supposed cases; to draw
wills, contracts, conveyances, and other assurances; to devise and institute
remedies by suit or otherwise; to conduct actions at law and suits in equity;
to argue questions of law and of fact; and, in short, to perform most of the
functions of practising counsel.

LIBRARY.

The department is provided with an excellent law library, to which considerable
additions have recently been made, containing several thousand
volumes of well-selected reports and text-books, English and American. Its
location has been chosen with especial reference to the convenience of the
student. And, while he is not encouraged to venture for himself into either
cases or text-books, save for the purpose of verifying or clearing up some
proposition of the lecture, or for the preparation of opinions or briefs, the student
is especially incited to familiarize himself with the bibliography of the
law and the use of the books. To this subject, in addition to the instruction
incidentally given, several lectures are especially devoted. The student is
taught how to look up authorities, where to look, and how to run down
cases; how to ascertain the doctrine of a case, and to distinguish it from the
dicta; to analyze, criticise and compare cases; how to distinguish imperative
authority from that which is persuasive only; what the leading text-books
are on the various subjects taught, with some reference to their comparative
merits; how to prepare briefs; and, generally, so to accustom himself to law
books and their use as to enable him to investigate, with intelligence and skill,
any question that may come within the scope of his duty at the bar.

ARRANGEMENT OF CLASSES.

The Law Department comprises three Schools, each of which is divided
into two classes, designated respectively as Junior and Senior. The course
of instruction contemplates that two years at the least shall be devoted to its
completion—the first year's course comprising all the Junior classes, and the
second year's course all the Senior classes. Heretofore there have been in
the entire course twelve lectures weekly, of one and a half hours each.
But, at the beginning of the next session (1895-'96), the number will be increased
by three additional lectures, making a weekly total of fifteen.
This enlargement of the course, together with the increased number of examinations
rendered necessary under the recent reorganization of the department,
will render it practically impossible to complete the course, as has been
not unusual heretofore, in a single year.

The subjects to be embraced in the additional lectures have not been fully
determined upon, and will be announced later. It is probable that they will
be equally divided between the Junior and Senior classes.

The following table exhibits an outline of the course (with the exception
of the additional subjects yet to be announced) and a list of the text-books
used:

FIRST YEAR'S COURSE.

(JUNIOR CLASSES.)

           

1. The Law of Pleading and Practice in Civil Cases,	Prof. Minor. (R. C. Minor, Assistant.)
Text-Book.—Vol. IV. Minor's Institutes.
2. Constitutional and International Law,	Prof. Gilmore.
Text-Books.—Vattel's Law of Nations; Professor's Printed Notes; The Federalist; Printed Notes of Professor on the Constitution.
3. The Law of Personal Relations; Personal Property; Contracts; Probate and Administration,	Prof. Lile.
Text-Books.—Vols. I. and III. Minor's Institutes; Printed Notes of Professor.

SECOND YEAR'S COURSE.

(SENIOR CLASSES.)

           

1. The Law of Real Estate,	Prof. Minor. (R. C. Minor, Assistant.)
Text-Book.—Vol. II. Minor's Institutes.
2. The Law of Evidence and Equity,	Prof. Gilmore.
Text-Books.—Vol. I. Greenleaf's Evidence; Adams's Equity; Printed Notes of Professor.
3. The Law of Corporations; Negotiable Instruments; Mercantile Law; Criminal Law,	Prof. Lile.
Text-Books.—Minor's Synopsis of Criminal Law. (Others to be announced.)

EXAMINATIONS AND DEGREE.

The degree of Bachelor of Law is conferred upon those students who manifest
an intimate acquaintance with all of the subjects embraced in the course,
evidenced by successfully passing the written examinations, intermediate and
final, in each of the six classes.

The rule heretofore prevailing in this department has been to require applicants
for the degree to attend the lectures in all the classes, and to stand
all the regular written examinations on every subject in the course, during
the year of their candidacy, without credit for any class completed in a previous
year—except in the class of Constitutional and International Law.
With the beginning of the session of 1895-'96 a radical departure will be
inaugurated, by permitting a candidate to complete a portion of the course in
one session and the remainder the following session, without requiring attendance

upon the lectures, or further examination, in such classes as he
may have previously completed. But a re-examination may be required,
whenever, in any case, it may be deemed proper.

The enlargement and re-arrangement of the course, as mentioned, calls for
an increased number of examinations—from nine, as heretofore, to twelve,
under the new system in operation from the beginning of the session of
1895-'96; that is, two examinations, an intermediate and a final, in each
class. The general policy of the University is to permit students to elect
their own work, and to give them due credit for its satisfactory completion,
without regard to the time devoted to it. There is, therefore, no positive
rule forbidding students to undertake the whole course in a single year, or
withholding from them the degree in case of its successful completion. But
the student is warned that unless he has previously had exceptional legal
training he can scarcely hope to complete the course in a single year; and if
by extreme diligence and industry he should succeed in the effort, he will
find that he has acquired more than he has been able to digest.

No entrance examinations are held, and the whole course must be completed
here.

Candidates who attain a standard of seventy-five per centum in any Junior
class, but fail to reach the minimum grade required for graduation (eighty-three
per centum), are entitled, after matriculation, to stand an examination
at the beginning of the following session on the subjects comprised in the
class or classes in which they have so failed, and to receive the same credit
for the result as if achieved during the previous session. This will enable
the earnest student to make up during the summer any deficiency of the previous
year, and to go forward with his second year's course, unhampered by
work brought over from his first year.

Candidates for the degree, who in any session have less than one full year's
course to complete, may be required to take such additional work, and to
stand such additional examinations, as may be prescribed.

SCHEDULE OF LECTURES.

         

	Monday.	Tuesday.	Wednesday.	Thursday.	Friday.	Saturday.
11 A. M. to 12:30 P, M.	Prof. Minor.	Prof. Minor.	Prof. Minor.	Prof. Minor.	Prof. Lile.	Prof. Lile.
	Junior.	Senior.	Junior.	Senior.	Junior.	Senior.
12:30 P. M. to 2 P. M.	Prof. Lile.	Prof. Lile.	Prof. Gilmore	Prof. Gilmore	Prof. Gilmore	Prof. Gilmore
	Senior.	Junior.	Senior.	Junior.	Senior.	Junior.

(This schedule does not embrace the additional lectures, which are yet to be arranged.)

EXPENSES.

The necessary expenses of a student in the Law Department, for the session
of nine months, are estimated as below for the lowest rate and for a more
liberal scale of living:

                       

Tuition,	$100	$100
Matriculation,	30	30
Infirmary,	7	7
Contingent deposit,	10	10
Dormitory rent,	15	30
Servant's attendance,	9	9
Furniture for dormitory,	9	19
Fuel and lights,	12	24
Washing,	14	14
Board,	99	162
Total,	$305	$405
Payable on entrance,	$227	$281

The contingent deposit of $10 is credited in final settlement. This deposit
is assessed for damage to property, violation of library rules, etc., by the
student.

To the above estimate must be added the cost of books and stationery,
about $80 for the entire course, and the cost of the diploma, if taken, $15.
The books are not fairly to be accounted amongst the expenses, since they
constitute a permanent investment, and will form the nucleus of a library
when the student becomes a practitioner.

The tuition fee of $100 covers the charges for the regular first or second
year's course, including any Junior class taken the first year, but not completed,
and brought over into the second year. It also covers any other combination
of three classes. For more than three classes the fee is $115; for two
classes, $75; for one class, $40.

Mr. James B. Green, B. L. (U. Va., 1871), acts as Licentiate Instructor in the Law
Department.