IN BOARD OF OVERSEERS, February 1, 1849.
_Voted_, That Hon. PELEG SPRAGUE, Hon. SIMON GREENLEAF, CHARLES
SUMNER, Esq., Hon. ALBERT H. NELSON, and PELEG W. CHANDLER, Esq.,
be a committee to visit the Law School during the ensuing year.
[Hon. WILLIAM KENT was afterwards substituted for Mr. GREENLEAF,
who declined.]
* * * * *
IN BOARD OF OVERSEERS, February 7, 1850.
_Ordered_, That the Report of the Committee appointed to visit the
Law School be printed.
Attest,
ALEXANDER YOUNG, _Secretary_.
* * * * *
The Committee appointed by the Overseers of Harvard University to visit
the Law School performed that service November 7, 1849. Among their
number present on the occasion was Hon. WILLIAM KENT, of New
York, who gratified his associates by coming a long distance to join in
this duty.
* * * * *
The attention of the Committee was first directed to the actual
condition of the School, and its advantages as a place of legal
education. Here there is occasion for lively satisfaction. The number
of students is one hundred, assembled from all parts of the Union, and
constituting a representation of the whole country. Their attendance
upon the lectures and other exercises, though entirely voluntary, is
full and regular; while their industry, good conduct, and intelligent
reception of instruction is a source of gratification to their
professors.
Lectures were given, during the current term, by Professor
PARKER, upon Equity Pleadings, Bailments, and Practice,--by
Professor PARSONS, upon Blackstone's Commentaries, Admiralty
Jurisdiction, Shipping, Bills and Notes,--and by Professor
ALLEN, upon Real Law and Domestic Relations. In treating most
of these branches, the professors employed text-books of acknowledged
authority, to which the attention of the students was especially
directed. They also examined the students in these books, and in
leading cases illustrating the subject.
This system, which, with substantial uniformity, has been continued
in the School since its earliest foundation, appears well adapted
to instruction in the law. It is essential that the student should
be directed to certain text-books, which he must study carefully,
devotedly. Nor can he properly omit to go behind these, and verify them
by the decided cases, letting no day pass without its fulfilled task.
In this way he is prepared for examination, and enabled to appreciate
the explanations and illustrations of the lecture-room, throwing light
upon the text, and showing its application to practical cases. The
labors of the student will qualify him to comprehend the labors of the
instructor. Still further, examinations in the text-books, accompanied
by explanations and illustrations, interest the student in the subject,
and bring his mind in contact with that of his instructor.
These same purposes are promoted by the favorite exercise of
moot-courts, held twice a week by the different professors in
succession. A case involving some unsettled question of law is
presented by four students, designated so long in advance as to allow
time for careful preparation; and at the close of the arguments an
opinion is pronounced by the presiding professor, commenting upon the
arguments on each side, and deciding between them. These occasions
are found to enlist the best attention, not only of those immediately
engaged, but of the whole School,--while some of the efforts they call
forth show distinguished research and ability. On this mimic field are
trained forensic powers destined to be the pride and ornament of the
bar.
The advantages for study afforded by the extensive library of the
Law School should not be forgotten. This is separate from the Public
Library of the University, and contains about fourteen thousand
volumes. Here are all the American Reports,--the Statutes of the United
States, as well as those of all the several States,--a regular series
of all the English Reports, including the Year-Books,--the English
Statutes,--the principal treatises on American and English law,--also
a large body of works in the Scotch, French, German, Dutch, Spanish,
Italian, and other foreign law,--and an ample collection of the
best editions of the Roman or Civil Law, with the works of the most
celebrated commentators upon that ancient text. This library is one
of the largest and most valuable, relating to law, in the country. As
an aid to study, it cannot be estimated too highly. Here the student
may range at will through all the demesnes of jurisprudence. Here he
may acquire knowledge of law-books, learning their true character and
value, which will be of incalculable service in his future labors.
Whoso knows how to use a library possesses the very keys of knowledge.
Next to knowing the law is knowing where to find it.
There is another advantage, of peculiar character, in the opportunity
of kindly and profitable social relations among the students, and also
between students and professors. Young men engaged in similar pursuits
are instructors to each other. The daily conversation concerns their
common studies, and contributes some new impulse. Mind meets mind,
and each derives strength from the contact. The professor is also
at hand. In the lecture-room, and also in private, he is ready for
counsel and help. The students are not alone. At every step they find
an assistant ready to conduct them through the devious and toilsome
passes, and to remove the difficulties which throng the way. This
twofold companionship of students with each other and with their
appointed teachers is full of good influence, not only in the cordial
intercourse it begets, but in the positive knowledge it diffuses, and
its stimulating effect upon the mind.
In dwelling on the advantages of the Law School as a seat of legal
education, the Committee therefore rank side by side with the lectures
and exercises of the professors the profitable opportunities afforded
by the library and the fellowship of persons engaged in the same
pursuits, all echoing to the heart of the pupil, as from the genius of
the place, constant words of succor, encouragement, and hope.
* * * * *
From the present prosperity of the School, the Committee are led to
look back at its early beginning, to observe its growth, and to
commemorate with gratitude its benefactors.
It hardly need be added, that a Law School was not embraced by our
forefathers in the original design of the College, and that it is a
late graft upon the ancient stock. The College was planted at a time
when law was not treated, even in England, as a part of academic
instruction. The first settlers could not be expected to establish
professorships unknown in the land from which they had parted; nor
did there appear in those early days, or for some time later, any
occasion for professional instruction. The law, as science, profession,
or practical instrument of government, was scarcely recognized.
Lawyers were not known as a class, nor was their business respected.
Thomas Lechford, of Clement's Inn, who emigrated not long after the
foundation of the College, hoping to gain a livelihood as attorney,
being cautioned at a quarter court "not to meddle with controversies,"
went back to England. As the Colony grew, it gradually laid hold of the
Common Law, and for some time before the Revolution claimed it as a
birthright.
The history of the University Library exposes the poverty of the
means for the study of the law in those early days. In its Catalogue,
published in 1723, we find but _seven_ volumes of Common Law. These
are Spelman's Glossary, Pulton's Collection of Statutes, Keble's
Statutes, Coke's First and Second Institutes, and two odd volumes of
the Year-Books. Such were the means for the study of our law afforded
by the public library, which Cotton Mather, sometime before the
publication of this catalogue, described as "the best furnished that
could be shown anywhere in all the American regions." Since books are
the instruments of learning, it follows, if these were wanting, that
the study of the law could make little advance. Happily this is now
changed.
The first professorship of law in the University was established
in 1815, upon a foundation partly supplied by an ancient devise of
ISAAC ROYALL, Esq.,--a munificent gentleman of ample fortune,
who, being connected by blood and marriage, as well as by political
opinions, with the principal royalists of Massachusetts, forsook the
country with them at the commencement of the Revolution, and died at
Kensington, in England, in October, 1781. Though an exile, he did
not forget the land he had left. Thither before death his "heart
untravelled fondly turned." By his will, recorded at the Probate
Office in Boston, he devised to Medford, in Massachusetts, where he
had resided, certain lands in Granby, for the support of schools. The
residue of his estate in that town, and other lands in the County of
Worcester, he devised to the Overseers and Corporation of Harvard
College, "to be appropriated towards the endowing _a Professor of Laws
in the said College_, or a Professor of Physic and Anatomy, whichever
the said Overseers and Corporation shall judge to be best for the
benefit of the said College." The capital, with its accumulation, from
the property thus devised, is $7,943, yielding an annual income of
about four hundred dollars. It is believed that the University and the
lovers of the law are indebted to the late Hon. JOHN LOWELL,
while a member of the Corporation, for calling these funds--yet
unappropriated to either object of the devise--from their sleep in
the treasury, by procuring the establishment of a professorship of
law, which was ordered, for the present, to bear the name of _Royall_,
in honor of him whose will in this regard was now first executed.
This was in 1815. The residue of the funds for its support have
been supplied by the University, mainly from fees paid by students
of law. The Hon. ISAAC PARKER, late Chief Justice of this
Commonwealth, was the first professor.
In 1817 the Hon. ASAHEL STEARNS was placed upon another
foundation, established by the University. The statutes of this
professorship required him to open and keep a school in Cambridge for
the instruction of graduates and of others prosecuting the study of the
law. Besides prescribing to his pupils a course of study, it was made
his duty to examine and confer with them upon their studies, to read to
them a course of lectures, and generally to act the part of tutor, so
as to improve their minds and assist their acquisitions. From this time
may be dated the establishment of the Law School in the University.
Chief-Justice Parker never resided at Cambridge, but, in the
performance of his duties as professor, every summer read lectures to
the Law School and the senior class of undergraduates. These were of an
elementary nature, adapted to youthful minds,--the audience being for
the most part undergraduates,--and were characterized by that free and
flowing style which marks the judicial opinions of this eminent Judge.
They comprised a view of the Constitutions of the United States and of
Massachusetts, with the early juridical history of New England, and the
origin of its laws and institutions. Professor Stearns, who resided in
Cambridge, was occupied immediately with the duties of instruction. He
was accustomed to hear recitations in the more important text-books, to
preside in moot-courts, and to read lectures on interesting titles of
law. His valuable work on Real Actions, so well known to lawyers, was
prepared in the discharge of his duties as professor, and read to his
pupils in a course of lectures. The first edition was dedicated by the
author "To the Law Students of Harvard University, as a testimony of
his earnest desire to aid them in the honorable and laborious study of
American jurisprudence."
The number of students at this period was small. From 1817 to 1829 the
largest class for any single year was eighteen, and the average annual
number was not more than thirteen. The first important step, however,
was taken. Law was admitted within the circle of University studies,
while, by the learning and reputation of its professors, the cause of
legal education was commended, and the idea of a Law School was shown
to be practicable.
On the resignation of Chief-Justice Parker and Professor Stearns a
new epoch in the history of the School began. The Hon. NATHAN
DANE, in 1829, emulating the example of Viner in England, applied
the profits of his extensive Abridgment and Digest of American Law to
the foundation of a new professorship, still called from his name; and
at his request, the late JOSEPH STORY, then a resident of
Salem, and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, was appointed
the first professor. In his communication to the University, making
this endowment, the venerable founder marked out the proposed duties
as follows: "It shall be the duty of the professor to prepare and
deliver, and to revise for publication, a course of lectures on the
five following branches of law and equity, equally in force in all
parts of our Federal Republic, namely, the Law of Nature, the Law of
Nations, Commercial and Maritime Law, Federal Law, and Federal Equity,
in such wide extent as the same branches now are, and from time to time
shall be, administered in the Courts of the United States, but in such
compressed form as the professor shall deem proper, and so to prepare,
deliver, and revise lectures thereon as often as the said Corporation
shall think proper." The original endowment by Mr. Dane was $10,000,
to which on his death was added $5,000, making the sum-total $15,000.
Mr. Justice Story removed to Cambridge in 1829, commencing his new
career as Dane Professor of Law with an inaugural discourse, where
the honorable nature of legal studies, the arduous labors required in
their pursuit, and the duties upon which he was entering, were reviewed
with singular power and beauty. At the same time, JOHN HOOKER
ASHMUN, Esq., a lawyer of remarkable acuteness and maturity,
who, though young, had shown already the capacity of a jurist, was
associated with him as Royall Professor of Law.
From the exertions of the new professors the Law School received
fresh impulse. The number of students increased, and the fame of the
institution was extended. Professor Story, though much absent in the
discharge of his judicial duties, yet found time for active part in
teaching. He presided in moot-courts and lecture-rooms, and, by earnest
encouragement and profuse instruction, not less than by illustrious
example, raised the classes to unwonted ardor. He continued in this
sphere, giving and receiving happiness, for a period of sixteen years,
when, as age advanced, desiring to lay down some of his cares, he
proposed to resign his seat on the bench, and dedicate the remainder of
his days to his professorship. As he was about to make this change he
was arrested by death, September 10, 1845.
Professor Ashmun had already fallen by his side, much regretted, at
the early age of thirty-three. Besides moot-courts, examinations in
text-books, and oral expositions of the law, this learned teacher
occasionally read written lectures. Among these was a valuable course
on Medical Jurisprudence, Equity, and the Action of Assumpsit.
His place was supplied in 1833 by an eminent jurist, SIMON
GREENLEAF, Esq., who labored for a long period with rare success,
beloved by a large circle of grateful pupils, and by his associates in
instruction, till 1848, when he was compelled by ill-health to resign
his connection with the Law School. Among his distinguished labors,
in the discharge of his duties as professor, is a work on the Law of
Evidence, which is now a manual in the courts of our country, and one
of the classics of the Common Law.
On the death of Professor Story, Professor Greenleaf was made Dane
Professor. Hon. WILLIAM KENT, of New York, occupied for a
year the place of Royall Professor, when he felt constrained, by
circumstances beyond his control, to leave Cambridge. Since then Hon.
THEOPHILUS PARSONS has been Dane Professor, and Hon. JOEL
PARKER, late Chief Justice of New Hampshire, Royall Professor.
Hon. FRANKLIN DEXTER has lectured for a brief period on the
Constitution of the United States and the Law of Nations, and Hon.
LUTHER S. CUSHING on Parliamentary Law and Criminal Law.
Hon. FREDERICK H. ALLEN, late a judge in Maine, at present
University Professor, without any permanent foundation, is coöperating
with Professor Parsons and Professor Parker in the general duties of
instruction.
In reviewing the history of the School, the Committee, while gratefully
remembering all its instructors, are impressed by the long and
important labors of STORY. In the meridian of his fame as
judge, he became a practical teacher of jurisprudence, and lent to the
University the lustre of his name. Through him the Dane Professorship
has acquired a renown placing it on the same elevation with the
Vinerian Professorship at Oxford, to which we are indebted for the
Commentaries of Sir William Blackstone. These "twin stars," each in its
own hemisphere, shine rival glories. Nor is this the only parallel;
for Viner, like our Dane, endowed the professorship which bears his
name from the profits of his immense Abridgment of the Law. In the
performance of his duties, Professor Story prepared and published
the most important series of juridical works which has latterly
appeared in the English language, embracing a comprehensive treatise
on the Constitution of the United States, a masterly exposition of
that portion of International Law known as the Conflict of Laws, and
Commentaries on Equity Jurisprudence, Equity Pleading, and various
branches of Commercial Law.
The extent of his labors, and their influence in building up the
School, appear in an interesting passage of his last will and
testament, bearing date January 2, 1842. After bequeathing to the
University several valuable pictures, busts, and books, he proceeds
as follows: "I ask the President and Fellows of Harvard College
to accept these as memorials of my reverence and respect for that
venerable institution, at which I received my education. I hope it may
not be improper for me here to add, that I have devoted myself, as
Dane Professor, for the last thirteen years,[52] to the labors and
duties of instruction in the Law School, and have always performed
equal duties and to an equal amount with my excellent colleagues, Mr.
Professor Ashmun and Mr. Professor Greenleaf, in the Law School. When I
came to Cambridge, and undertook the duties of my professorship, there
had not been a single law student there for the preceding year. There
was no law library, but a few old and imperfect books being there. The
students have since increased to a large number, and for six years last
past have exceeded one hundred a year. The Law Library now contains
about six thousand volumes, whose value cannot be deemed less than
twenty-five thousand dollars. My own salary has constantly remained
limited to one thousand dollars,--a little more than the interest
of Mr. Dane's donations. I have never asked or desired an increase
thereof, as I was receiving a suitable salary as a Judge of the Supreme
Court of the United States,--while my colleagues have very properly
received a much larger sum, and of late years more than double my own.
Under these circumstances, I cannot but feel that I have contributed
towards the advancement of the Law School a sum out of my earnings,
which, with my moderate means, will be thought to absolve me from
making, what otherwise I certainly should do, a pecuniary legacy to
Harvard College, for the general advancement of literature and learning
therein."
[52] His will being dated three years before his death.
From the books of the Treasurer it appears that the sums received
from students in the Law School during the sixteen years of his
professorship amounted to $105,000. Of this amount, only $47,800 was
disbursed in salaries and current expenses. The balance, amounting to
$57,200, is represented by the following items, namely:--
Books purchased for the Library and for students, including
about $1,950 for binding, and deducting amount received for
books sold $29,000
Enlargement of the Hall, containing the library and
lecture-rooms, in 1844-45 12,700
Fund remaining to the credit of the School in August, 1845
15,500
-------
$57,200
Thus the Law School, at the time of Professor Story's death, actually
possessed, independent of the somewhat scanty donations by Mr. Royall
and Mr. Dane, funds and other property, including a large library and
a commodious edifice, amounting to upwards of _fifty-seven thousand
dollars_, all earned during Professor Story's term of service. As
during this period he declined a larger annual salary than $1,000,
and as his high character and the attraction of his name contributed
to swell the income of the School, it is evident that a considerable
portion of this large sum may justly be regarded as the fruit of his
bountiful labors contributed to the University.
The Committee, while calling attention to the extent of pecuniary
benefaction which the Law School has received from Professor Story,
feel it a duty to urge upon the Government of the University the
recognition of this benefaction in some suitable form. The name of
Royall, given to one of the professorships, keeps alive the memory of
his early generosity. The name of Dane, given to the professorship
on which Story taught, and sometimes also to the edifice containing
the library and lecture-rooms, and then to the Law School itself,
attests, with triple academic voice, a well-rewarded donation. But
the contributions of Royall and Dane combined, important as they
were, and justly worthy of honorable mention, do not equal what was
contributed by Story. At the present moment Story must be regarded
as the largest pecuniary benefactor of the Law School, and one of
the largest pecuniary benefactors of the University. In this respect
he stands before Hollis, Alford, Boylston, Hersey, Bowdoin, Erving,
Eliot, Smith, M'Lean, Perkins, and Fisher. His contributions have this
additional peculiarity, that they were munificently afforded from daily
earnings,--not after death, but during life; so that he became, as
it were, the executor of his own will. In justice to the dead, as an
example to the living, and in conformity with established usage, the
University should enroll his name among its founders, and in some fit
manner inscribe it upon the school which he helped to rear.
Three different courses occur to the Committee. The edifice containing
the library and lecture-rooms may be called after him, _Story Hall_. Or
the branch of the University devoted to law may be called _Story Law
School_, as the other branch of the University devoted to science, in
gratitude to a distinguished benefactor, is called _Lawrence Scientific
School_. Or a new and permanent professorship in the Law School may be
created, with his name.
If the last suggestion should find favor, the Committee recommend
that the professorship be of _Commercial Law and the Law of Nations_.
It is well known to have been the desire of Professor Story, often
expressed, in view of the increasing means of the Law School, and the
corresponding demands for education in the law, that professorships
of both these branches should be established. In his opinion that of
Commercial Law was most needed. His own preëminence in this department
appears in his works, and especially in numerous judicial opinions. His
interest in it was attested in conversation with one of this Committee
only a few days before his death. Hearing that it was proposed by
merchants of Boston, on his resignation of the judicial seat he had
held for nearly thirty-four years, to cause his statue in marble to be
erected, he said: "If Boston merchants wish to do me honor in any way,
on my leaving the bench, let it not be by a statue, but by founding in
the Law School a professorship of Commercial Law." With these generous
words he embraced at once his favorite law and his favorite University.
The subject of Commercial Law is of great and growing importance in
the multiplying relations of mankind. Every new tie of commerce gives
new occasion for its application. Besides the general principles of
the Law of Contracts, it comprehends the Law of Bailments, Agency,
Partnership, Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes, Shipping, and
Insurance,--branches of inexpressible interest to lawyers, merchants,
and indeed to every citizen. The main features of this law are common
to all commercial nations; they are recognized with substantial
uniformity, whether at Boston, London, or Calcutta, at Hamburg,
Marseilles, or Leghorn. In this respect they may be regarded as part of
the _Private_ Law of Nations. They would be associated naturally with
the Public Law of Nations,--embracing, of course, the Law of Admiralty,
and that other branch, which it is hoped will remain forever a dead
letter, the Law of Prize.
The Committee believe that all who become acquainted with this
statement will agree that something should be done to commemorate the
obligations of the University to one of its most eminent professors and
largest pecuniary benefactors. They have ventured suggestions as to
the manner in which this may be accomplished, not with any particular
confidence in their own views, but simply as a mode of opening the
subject, and bringing it to attention. In dwelling on the propriety
of a new and permanent professorship, they would not be understood as
expressing a preference for this form of acknowledgment. It may be a
question, whether the services of Professor Story, important in every
respect, shedding upon the Law School a lasting fame, and securing to
it pecuniary competence, an extensive library, and a commodious hall,
can be commemorated with more appropriate academic honors than by
giving his name to that department in the University of which he was
the truest founder. The world, anticipating all formal action of the
University, has already placed the Law School under the guardianship of
his name. It is by the name of STORY that this seat of legal
education has become known wherever jurisprudence is cultivated as a
science.
For the Committee.