Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 01.pdf/232

There was a problem when proofreading this page.
Michigan University Law School.
197

When the Law Department was established, the announcement made as to the requirements for admission was as follows: "That the candidate shall be eighteen years of age, and be furnished with a certificate giving satisfactory evidence of good moral character." This statement continued in the Calendar of the University until 1877, when an additional statement was made declaring that it was "expected that all students will be well grounded in at least a good English education, and capable of making use of the English language with accuracy and propriety." If the reader is here disposed to criticise, let him remember that the other law schools throughout the country were then no more stringent in their requirements governing the admission of students than the above statement indicates, and that the most of them are little better now in this respect than they were then. But the Michigan Law School has established a very different standard in recent years, as will be seen from the following statement taken from its annual announcement:—

"Graduates of colleges, and students who have honorably completed an academical or high-school course, and who present a certificate or diploma from the academy or high school, will be admitted without preliminary examination. No student who does not present such certificate or diploma will be admitted as a candidate for a degree, until he

HENRY WADE ROGERS

has passed a satisfactory examination in Arithmetic, Geography, Orthography, English Composition, and the outlines of the History of the United States and of England. The examination will be conducted in writing, and the papers submitted by the applicants must evince a competent knowledge of English Grammar."

The students in the Law School are drawn from every part of the United States, as well as from foreign countries, Japan alone this year sending to it twelve students. This year's University Calendar shows the following States represented in the Law Department: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The following Territories are represented: Arizona, Dakota, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Washington. In addition, Japan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Province of Quebec, and the Province of Ontario contribute their quota. Students come from San Francisco in the west and Boston in the east, from Minnesota in the north, and Arkansas in the south. Out of the four hundred students one hundred and two come from Michigan.

The following table shows the number of students in attendance since the Law School