Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 9.djvu/211

UNIVERSITY TEACHING OF ENGLISH LAW. 183 It means several things, (i) Limiting the task of the in- structors. Instead of allotting to a man the whole of the common law, or half a dozen disconnected subjects at once, it means giving him a far more limited field, — one single subject, perhaps ; two or three at most ; if more than one, then, if possible, nearly related subjects ; to the end that his work of instruction may be thor- oughly done, and that as the final outcome of his studies some solid, public, and permanent contribution may be made to the main topic which he has in hand. It means (2) that instructors shall give, substantially, their whole time and strength to the work. In mastering their material and qualifying themselves for their task, they have in hand, say for the next two generations, much formidable labor in exploring the history and chronological development of our law in all its parts. On this, as I have indicated, a brave beginning has been made, and it is already yielding the handsomest fruits. They have also, of course, all the detail of their difficult main work of teaching ; and this, when the work is fitly performed, calls for an amount of time, thought and attention bestowed on the personal side of a man's relation to his students which instructors now can seldom give. It means (3) that the pupils also shall give all their time to the work of legal study while they are about it. There is more than enough in the careful preliminary study of the law to occupy three full years of an able and thoroughly trained young man. It is, I think, a delusion to suppose that this precious seed-time can pro- fitably be employed, in any degree, in attendance upon the courts or in apprenticeship in an office. I do not speak, of course, of an occasional excursion into these regions when some great case is up or some great lawyer is to be heard, or of the occasional con- tinuous use of time in such ways during these long vacations which are generally allowed nowadays. Nor do I mean to deny that attendance upon courts to witness the trial of a case now and then will be a good school exercise. I speak only of systematic attempts to combine attendance at law schools with office-work and with watching the courts. The time for all that comes later, or perhaps in some cases, before. It means (4) that generous libraries shall be collected at the Universities suited to all the ordinary necessities of careful legal research ; and it also means gathering at some one point in the country, or at several points, the best law library that money can possibly buy.