of case study is unquestionable. Chief among them is the drill and discipline which the student acquires in the fundamental methods of the common law. It can reasonably be insisted that a learner knows better how a thing is done after doing it than by simply being told. Moreover this is akin to the experimental method in science which has produced such marvellous advances in knowledge. The student's interest is kept awakened by the pleasurable excitement of discovery, and a sense of originality in his labors. Nothing in the study or practice of law is so exciting as "running down" the authorities on a particular point, going from case to case bearing upon the question, and thus coming at it from all sides until every difficulty is removed, or until a well marked conflict of views is reached, which may be settled by weighing the considerations urged on one side and the other, and determining the relative importance to be attached to them. This is an exercise, however, in which the student is to be indulged with moderation. There is great danger that he be misled into wasting much time upon side issues, as to which he will get erroneous impressions; and the investigations which he makes for himself are to be looked upon as valuable exercise, rather than the acquisition of reliable knowledge.
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JAMES M. LOVE.
But over against these somewhat dazzling recommendations of the merits of the peculiar system of case study, must be set certain considerations of a different character. The object of the study of law in Law Schools is different from that proposed in the study of the subjects of a collegiate course. Languages, history, philosophy, mathematics, even the sciences (except in scientific schools), are pursued for the discipline to be acquired. The advantages of particular studies, in the profitable information to be obtained, may be urged, but no one will claim that information for practical purposes is the sole object to be borne in mind in selecting or presenting these subjects. The study of law unquestionably affords an excellent mental discipline. In that respect it is inferior to none of the social sciences. It has also a collateral practical value as a preparation for business and for the duties of citizenship, and in a popular government such preparation is exceedingly important. In these two aspects legal studies might well be given a place in the college curriculum, as they are in some colleges and especially in England.
But Law Schools are not maintained primarily for giving this mental discipline, or this preparation for citizenship and general management of business. They are organized and maintained to prepare the students for the practice of law. It will probably not be questioned that nine tenths of those who enroll themselves in such schools expect to practise law as a profession. In the same way the study of medicine is undoubtedly interesting in itself, a source of mental discipline and of a valuable knowledge of things which one may advantageously know, but
