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EXAMINATIONS AND DEGREE.
The degree of Bachelor of Law is conferred upon such
students as manifest an intimate acquaintance with all of
the subjects embraced in the course, evidenced by successfully
passing all the written examinations, in each of the
ten classes, and who have satisfactorily performed the Moot
Court or other assigned work.
The rule formerly prevailing in this department required
applicants for the degree to attend the lectures in all the
classes, and to stand all the regular written examinations on
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 the
course of study was considerably enlarged, and a radical
departure was inaugurated, by permitting candidates to
complete a portion of the course in one session and the
remainder the following session, without requiring attendance
upon the lectures, or further examinations, in such
classes as may have been previously completed. But a
re-examination in the work of a previous year may be
required, whenever, in any case, it may be deemed proper.
Any one of the five classes of the first or second year
may be completed separately, and for purposes of examination,
the subjects of Evidence and of Pleading and Practice
are regarded as distinct classes. Upon the satisfactory
completion of any class, a certificate is issued to the student,
followed by the diploma of graduation when, (and not until)
all the examinations have been successfully passed.
The general policy of the University is to permit
students to elect their own work, and to give them due
credit for its satisfactory preformance, 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
even though he may have had exceptional legal training he
can scarcely hope to complete the course in one year;
and if by extreme diligence he should succeed in the effort,
he is apt to find that he has acquired more than he has
been able to digest.
The fact is emphasized that since the reorganization of
the department, and the very considerable enlargement of
the course of study, it is practically impossible to complete
the work, as had not been unusual before, in less than two
years. Students who can attend but a single session are
earnestly advised to take special courses, which the
arrangement of the classes readily permits.
No entrance examinations are held, and no advanced standing
can be secured by certificates of work accomplished at other
schools of law—the whole course must be completed here.
Candidates who attain a grade of seventy-five per
centum in any class, but who fail to reach the minimum
standard 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.
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 shall be prescribed.
Seats in the Law Lecture-rooms are assigned in the
order of matriculation.
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