law. The moot court is presided over by Professor Thompson, to whom the subject of equity belongs. In causes where students from the State of Michigan appear as solicitors the proceedings are governed by the rules in chancery of the circuit courts of that State; in those cases where the solicitors are students from other States, the proceedings are governed by the rules in chancery of the United States Circuit Courts. There is a Register in Chancery, and the records of the court are carefully and systematically kept, and all the proceedings made to conform strictly to like proceedings and causes in a United States circuit court, or a circuit court in Michigan sitting in Chancery.
This plan involves the hearing of from seventy-five to one hundred distinct causes in Chancery; and it is believed, since each student is personally interested in at least two of the cases, and necessarily hears arguments upon a great variety of motions and other interlocutory proceedings, as well as arguments upon demurrers, pleas, and bills and answers, that he acquires a more comprehensive, critical, and practical knowledge of equity pleading, procedure, and jurisdiction than he could obtain during the same time in any law office.
Provision is also made in the Law School for instruction in elocution and oratory, under the direction of Thomas C. Trueblood, A.M. It is thought to be a mistake to suppose that excellency in speaking is simply a gift of nature, and not the result of patient and persistent labor and study.
From the time the Law School was established until 1884, the period of instruction included two terms of six months each, commencing in October and ending in March. It was determined in 1883 to extend the period to two terms of nine months each, the change going into effect, as we have said, in the following year. There has been more or less difference of opinion as to the time which should be spent in a law school in the study of law. The mode of teaching pursued in the law schools of the Roman Empire covered a period of five years. In the University of Italy the law curriculum covers a period of four years, about a thousand students being made Doctors of Law each year. But in this country, at the time the Michigan Law School opened its doors, it was the prevalent opinion that two terms of six months each was all the time needed for the preparation which a law school should undertake to impart. Experience demonstrated that this period was too short for the work to be accomplished, and the time was accordingly extended. Some of the law schools of the country have already decided that this time is also too short for the proper performance of their work, and have accordingly lengthened their course to three years. Such a change is now under consideration in connection with the Michigan Law School. If it is decided to make the change, and to give the degree of Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) only after a period of three years of study, it is not unlikely that the degree of Bachelor of Law (B.L.) will be conferred at the end of two years of study. It is not known that such a degree has ever been conferred by an American Law School, but it is conferred in the University of Edinburgh on those who pursue a course of law study for two years, and no reason is perceived why a plan that has worked admirably there should not be adopted here. The LL.B. degree is there conferred after three years of study of law, a degree in arts having been previously obtained. But in the United States a degree in arts or science is nowhere a condition precedent to the taking of a degree in law. As many students are unable to remain more than two years in a law school, and much valuable knowledge is acquired in that time, justice seems to require that where a course is lengthened to three years, some degree inferior to the LL.B. degree should be given at the end of the second year of study to those who choose to take it.
