States and of Massachusetts, and the early legal history of New England. In 1827 Chief Justice Parker resigned his professor ship, and in 1829 his withdrawal from the school was followed by that of Mr. Stearns. The method of instruction adopted at Cam bridge during this period appears to have resembled that which prevailed at Litchfield and Northampton. Mr. Stearns's treatise on "Real Actions," once widely known, embod ies a course of lectures read by him to the students. Besides, there were less formal lectures, recitations, and Moot Courts. In spite of the learning of Mr. Stearns and the eminent ability of Chief Justice Parker, the Harvard Law School was not successful during the early years of its existence. The belief in school instruction was still limited to a few, and most of those were attracted to Litchfield and Northampton. The former enjoyed a national reputation, and the lat ter, being situated within a hundred miles of Cambridge, was a dangerous rival. Thus the Harvard Law School, notwithstanding the zeal of its professors and its connection with a college then already widely known, re ceived but few students. The largest num ber until 1829 was eighteen, and the average attendance was only eight. The year 1829 marks a new era in the life of the Harvard Law School. In that year Nathan Dane, a lawyer of Beverly, Mass., author of the once famous " Abridgment of American Law," and the alleged draughts man of the never-to-be-forgotten Ordinance of 1787 for the government of the Northwest Territory, following the example of Viner, gave to the school the profits of his Abridgment. This gift secured for Harvard the services of Joseph Story, and for the world his epoch-making treatises on the law. In laying the foundation for the professorship which bears his name, Mr. Dane prescribed that " it shall be the duty of the professor to prepare and deliver and to revise for pub lication a course of lectures on the five follow ing branches of Law and Equity equally in force in all parts of our Federal Republic, —
namely, The Law of Nature, The Law of Na tions, Commercial and Maritime Law, Fed eral 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 said Corpora tion shall think proper;" and "as the Hon. Joseph Story is by study and practice emi nently qualified to teach the said branches both in Law and Equity, it is my request that he may be appointed the first pro fessor on this foundation if he will ac cept the same; and in case he shall accept the same it is to be understood that the course of his lectures will be made to con form to his duties as one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States; and further, that time shall be allowed him to complete, in manner aforesaid, a course of lectures on the said five branches, prob ably making four or more octavo volumes, and that all the lectures and teachings of him and every professor so to be appointed shall be calculated to assist and serve in a special manner law students and lawyers in practice, sound and useful law being the ob ject." The amount given was ten thousand dollars; and the fund was increased by a bequest of five thousand dollars upon Mr. Dane's death, a few years later. Joseph Story became Dane Professor, John Hooker Ashmun was appointed Royall Pro fessor, and the school entered upon a period of great prosperity. At the time Story as sumed the duties of instructor at Cam bridge, he was fifty years old. He had been for- eighteen years Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, a position which he held until his death. This was a period during which the attention of the public was perhaps more generally fixed upon that tribunal than at any other in our history. The learning and the lucid exposition displayed in Story's ju dicial opinions had won the admiration of the bar throughout the land, and the opportunity
