through the special efforts of President Eliot, at a cost of $2,000; and from year to year additions have been made, through gifts of books and donations of money, till now, in 1889, the library contains upwards of fifty-seven hundred volumes.
From its inception a high standard was established for the St. Louis Law School. Its founders were determined that the students who obtained its degree of LL.B. should earn it; and that those who went forth from its doors to practise their profession should first pass an examination whose severity should be a voucher of their fitness to enter upon the practice thoroughly grounded in the principles of jurisprudence. Two points were kept specially in view,—practicality and fairness. For the first, they arranged that the body of instructors should be men not only distinguished for their knowledge of the law, but actively engaged in its daily practice, that the students might have the benefit of the experience as well as the learning of their instructors. For the second, in order that every student examined might have the advantage of passing his examination strictly on his merits, and without prejudice of any kind, a board of examiners was chosen from the members of the bar outside of the instructors, who should prepare the papers for examination and grade them, without acquaintance with the students, and without knowing even the names of those examined. The standard established by the Faculty at the beginning has never been lowered, but rather increased.
An image should appear at this position in the text. To use the entire page scan as a placeholder, edit this page and replace "{{missing image}}" with "{{raw image|The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 01.pdf/326}}". Otherwise, if you are able to provide the image then please do so. For guidance, see Wikisource:Image guidelines and Help:Adding images. |  |
HENRY HITCHCOCK.
Class examinations are held each term by the professors, and the severe examinations for the degree, conducted in writing, and usually lasting for six days, constitute a test rarely equalled, and certainly not surpassed, by any law school in the country. They prove the fitness of every one who has passed them to practise law in any court.
The Legislature of Missouri, recognizing this fact, enacted a statute in 1874, which is still in force, permitting any graduate of the school to be enrolled as a member of the bar in any court in the State, upon presentation of his diploma; and the United States Courts have, by comity, extended the same privilege. No lawyer familiar with the lax methods which long obtained in examinations for admission to the bar, by standing committees selected for that purpose, will fail to appreciate the contrast. Nor has this strictness of examination been without its influence outside of the school, in raising the standard of excellence and improving the methods in vogue.
Under a recent statute of Missouri, examinations for admission to the bar, formerly in the hands of committees and held in private, are now conducted by the judges, in open court, in the presence of the bar and of spectators; and in St. Louis at least, where the Circuit judges sit in general term for this purpose, candidates for the bar receive careful and often rigid exami-
