Iowa Code of 1873. Recently he has prepared an edition of Blackstone, which is now in press for publication.
The degree of LLD. was conferred on him by Iowa College in 1870, and by Amherst College, his alma mater, in 1877.
As a law lecturer Dr. Hammond has been eminently successful. He rests his system of instruction on broader grounds than the rule of stare decisis. Recognizing that mere "case-law" produces infinite variety and indefinite uncertainty, he grounds the student upon the broad, fundamental principles of the law.
In an able address entitled "American Law Schools in the Past and in the Future," he has clearly defined the status of the student in these words:—
"The law student of to-day must train himself for processes, the result of which will depend almost entirely upon his own skill. He has simple, not to say rude, tools to work with. His hand and eye and mind must be actively employed in every motion he makes. He must have a clear vision, not only of the result he wishes to produce, but of all the methods by which, under varying circumstances, he may find it possible and expedient to produce it. Above all, he must know the reason of everything he is to do, the principles which underlie all parts of his employment. His future success will depend less upon his knowledge of many forms than upon the mental strength and skill and suppleness with which he uses the simplest ones."
Under Dr. Hammond's energetic administration the Law School has greatly prospered; its curriculum and system of instruction have been enlarged, and its material resources largely increased. Its students now number more than eighty.
Its present corps of instructors is composed of the Dean, Dr. Hammond, Henry Hitchcock, George A. Madill, Gustavus A. Finkelnburg, Charles Nagel, Rochester Ford, Edward C. Eliot, and P. Taylor Bryan Mr Nagel, Mr. Ford, Mr. Eliot, and Mr Bryan are all graduates of the school, and are peculiarly fitted by aptitude and acquirements for their respective departments.
There are three classes in all. Two years of study are required for graduation.
In the Junior year the course of study is intended for students who are beginning the study of law; and its principal objects are to ground them thoroughly in Elementary Law, and to familiarize them with the methods and habits of thought with which legal questions are resolved in actual practice.
The subjects of the first year include,—
Pleading is taught in its simpler or code form by recitations from Bliss on Code Pleading, Part II., and frequent exercises in connection with the lessons in legal doctrine.
In the Senior Year Pleading is taught in its more elaborate and technical forms of Common Law (Stephen), and Equity Pleading (Tyler's Mitford) and practice in the various kinds of Special Proceedings are added to that in actions of all forms.
The instruction in doctrinal law this year includes,—
Agency, Partnership, | not strictly belonging to the Law of Persons, but analogous to it. |
Negotiable Paper, concluded. Insurance. Suretyship and Guaranty.