citizen who expects to take any part in the discharge of his public duties. The University of the State ought to provide a place and teachers where this knowledge can be obtained. . . . A plan of general instruction upon all branches of national and municipal law should be devised and carried into execution as soon as the number of pupils should justify, which would require such a number of teachers and such a period of study as to fit the young lawyer for the whole duties of his profession. This should all be done by the State. A faithful discharge of one's lawful obligations is the highest duty of the citizen; and if man is educated for any purpose, it should be for this."
A plan of organization for such a Department was presented by a Committee of the Board to the Legislature at its next session, but it was not until the biennial session following (1868), that an appropriation for that purpose was made to the University.
In the fall of 1865, Judge George G. Wright, of the Supreme Court of Iowa, on removing to Des Moines, the State Capital, had associated with him Judge Chester C. Cole, of the same court, in the organization of the Iowa Law School, the first Law School west of the Mississippi River. Judge Wright had had a number of students in his office during the two or three years preceding; and several applications for a like privilege for the next year suggested the formation of the school, in which, during the first year, twelve students pursued the study of law under the auspices of these two gentlemen, they being the only instructors.
At the opening of the second year William G. Hammond became connected with the school, giving it a constant personal attention which the judicial duties of the other Professors did not permit them to render; and the three carried the enterprise through the two succeeding years with but slight increase in the number of students.
The plan of adding a Law Department to the University was carried out in 1868, by the removal of the Iowa Law School to Iowa City, its instructors becoming Professors in the Department, and the graduates being made Alumni of the University. Dr. Hammond became a resident of Iowa City, and was placed at the head of the school, being for several years the only resident Professor, while Judges Wright and Cole continued to give a portion of their time to its service.
The course of study in the Iowa Law School had been only one year; and although the Trustees of the University in the first provision for a Law Department had specified a course of two years, it was found not feasible to require so long an attendance, and the one-year course was retained.
The sentiment in favor of a two-years course led, however, in 1874, to the experiment of offering an optional post-graduate year; but after a trial of eight years so few had availed themselves of its privileges that it was abandoned.
The condition of the law as to admission to the bar was at this time most deplorable. There were two nisi prius courts in each county which had authority to admit to practise in all the Courts of the State. No term of reading was required, and the examinations, conducted usually by a committee of lawyers appointed for the particular case, were generally little more than a farce. The smallest imaginable amount of reading, with some little experience in an office, was sufficient in most courts to secure the license to practise. The last admission by one of these courts, before its power to admit terminated, was that of the janitor of the Court House, whose knowledge of law was what he had acquired by listening to the Court's proceedings.
It is not surprising, in view of the ease with which a student might be admitted, that few remained for the advanced studies. In the eight years of the existence of the post-graduate course only sixteen students completed the work required therein.
The leading members of the bar in the State, as well as the Professors in the Law Department, hoped for the adoption, through legislative enactment, of a higher standard of preparation for the profession, and con-
