The following Essay was originally published under the title of "A
Compend of Lectures on the Aims and Duties of the Profession of the Law,
delivered before the Law Class of the University of Pennsylvania." A
portion of it had been read by the author as an Introductory Lecture at
the opening of the Fifth Session of the Law Department of that
Institution, October 2d, 1854. The young gentlemen, alumni, and students
of the school, who were present on that occasion, requested a copy for
publication, in order that each of them might possess a memento of their
connection with the Institution. The author preferred to publish the
entire Compend than merely a part of it. He hesitated much in doing so,
because the questions discussed are difficult, and opinions upon them
variant, and he could scarcely hope that he had in every case succeeded
in just discrimination. A review of the matter now, when a second
edition has been called for, has suggested, however, no important change
in the principles advanced, though a few additions have been made, some
inaccuracies corrected, and an introduction upon the importance of the
profession, in a public point of view, prefixed.