School, but did not graduate. She married, and I have not been able to learn her name or address. In 1877 Miss Mary Dinan Sturgess, of Mansfield, Ohio, was enrolled as a student. She did not graduate, and has never been admitted to the bar nor prac tised, but she writes me that her legal train ing is of great advantage to her in the management of her estate. In the following year, 1878, the writer of this paper entered the school, took the regular three years' course, and graduated with the usual degree in 1881. About the time of graduation she duly applied for examination for admission to the bar; but her application was referred to the Supreme Court, before whom the question was submit ted on briefs. The following November the rescript came down, holding that under the statute a woman could not be admitted to the bar.1 Shortly afterward the Legislature passed a unanimous bill permitting women to practise law on the same conditions as men.2 She then took the examination, and was admitted to Suffolk County Bar in June, 1882. The next year the Legislature ex tended the powers of women attorneys by authorizing their appointment to a newly created office termed special commissioner, which enabled them to administer oaths, take depositions, affidavits, and acknowledg ments.8 This act was made necessary by the decision of our Supreme Court that a woman could not be appointed a Justice of the Peace.4 This act was further extended last year, the powers of a special commis sioner being more fully defined, and the authority to issue summonses for witnesses added.6 Since her admission to the bar she has been in constant practice in Boston, with the exception of the time that she practised in Seattle, Wash., during which she had the remarkable experience of trying cases before 1 Robinson's Case, 131 Mass. 376. a Acts of 1882, c. 139.
- Acts of 1883, c. 252.
- Opinion of the Justices, 107 Mass. 604.
- Acts of 1889, c. 197.
mixed juries of men and women, and some time also which was spent in the preparation and publication of a book intended to give rudimentary information on legal subjects to the public at large. The next lady to enter the Boston Law School was Miss Anne C. Southworth, of Stoughton, in this State. She entered in 1882 and remained two years, ranking very high in her class as I have always under stood from the faculty, but dropped the study at this point. Miss Jessie Wright was en rolled as a student in 1884, graduated in 1887, married a classmate, G. H. Whitcomb, Esq., and removed to Topeka, Kan., where she was admitted to the bar in March, 1889, and is now assisting her husband in some of his work. In 1885 Miss Mary A. Greene, of Boston, but formerly of Providence, R I., entered our Law School as a student, and graduated in 1888, ranking number two in a large class of men. The following September she was admitted to the bar of Suffolk County, and has been in practice here in Boston since that time. Last winter she made an ex ceedingly able argument before the Judiciary Committee of the Legislature in support of a petition for the validity of contracts be tween husband and wife in this State; and this argument she has embodied in a paper entitled " Privileged Communications in Suits between Husband and Wife, ' which has been accepted for early publication by the " American Law Review." Miss Greene has been engaged to deliver a course of lectures the coming season before the stu dents of Lasell Seminary, on Business Law for Women. Her reputation for scholarly legal learning and her ability as a lawyer rank very high, and promise the best grade of work from her in the future. There are at present eight women enrolled as students in the Boston University Law School. Two are members of the middle class, — Mrs. E. M. Campbell, of Maplewood, this State; and Miss Lydia Colesworthy, of Boston. The others are juniors. Mrs.
