Union College of Law

The University of Chicago and the Northwestern University.

Joint Board of Management.

• Thomas Hoyne, Chairman.
• Grant Goodrich.
• Wirt Dexter.
• Chas. H. Fowler.
• Lemuel Moss.
• Robert Queal.
• Joseph F. Bonfield.
• V. B. Denslow, Secretary.
• Philip Myers, Treasurer.

Faculty.

• Hon. Judge Henry Booth, LL.D.,

  Dean of the Law School and Professor of the Law of Property and Pleading.

• Hon. Lyman Trumbull, LL.D.,

  Professor of Constitutional and Statute Law, and Practice in the U. S. Courts.

• Hon. James R. Doolittle, LL.D.,

  Professor of Equity Jurisprudence and Pleading and Evidence.

• Van Buren Denslow, Esq.,

  Professor of Contracts and Civil and Criminal Practice.

• Philip Myers, M.A., Esq.,

  Professor of Commercial Law.

• Hon. J. B. Bradwell,

  Lecturer on Wills and Probate.

• N. S. Davis, M.D.,

  Lecturer on Medical Jurisprudence.

History.

The Trustees of the two Universities have long felt the demand for a Law School in Illinois that should be worthy of the State and the Northwest. Since the above school passed under the energetic joint management of the University of Chicago and the Northwestern University, it has become one of the leading schools of legal study in the country. It enters upon its second year with upwards of eighty students, and promises within a brief period to equal any other in numbers, as it is already second to none in its thoroughness and variety of instruction.

Importance.

The advantages afforded by a College of Law for instruction in the science and practice of Law are appreciated by both the Bar and the public. A systematic course of study, under eminent living teachers, is quite as valuable to the legal student as to the medical or theological. For laying the foundation of a thorough knowledge of the Law, the advantages of the Law College far exceed those of an office. In an office it is seldom that the student receives the attention his best interests demand. In the College the professors are specially charged with this work. The value of this instruction is indicated by the fact that about one hundred students had, prior to the establishment of this College, gone yearly from the State of Illinois to the schools of other Stales, even though these schools do not teach our system of practice, nor the statutes and decisions of our State. It is believed this demand for systematic instruction will be fully met hereafter in our College of Law.

Conditions of Admission.

Students entering the Junior class are expected to have at least a good common school education. It is greatly to the interest of the student to advance in general scholarship as far as practicable. A knowledge of Latin is, however, of so much service in handling law terms, that a class in Law Latin is formed and has become one of the regular classes of the School. It is believed that the Law Course as a Professional course should be a post-graduate course. Such preparation is recommended, not required.

Advanced Standing.

Students who have attended another Law College one year, or spent one year in the study of law in the office of an attorney, may apply for standing in the Senior class, and may enter it if found competent on examination by the Faculty.

Plan of Instruction.

There are three terms in each year, the first beginning on the fifteenth of September and ending on the twenty-fifth of December, fourteen weeks; the page 33 second beginning on the first Monday in January, and ending on the Friday last but one before the first Monday in April, twelve weeks; and the third term beginning on the first Monday in April, and ending at the expiration of ten weeks. There are two years in the Course. Our plan of teaching begins in the Junior year, with the study of text-books, in which the students are daily drilled by question and answer. From thence it passes, in the Senior year, to lectures on specific topics or principles of the law, with the statutes and decisions bearing on them; concluding with the study of leading cases—the lectures alternating with examinations. The following programme of study for the two years embraces four hours per day for six days in the week, for thirty-six weeks. Seniors may be present at Junior recitations, and vice versa; but are not examined at the latter. Indeed, it is preferred that each class should attend the instruction given to the other, thereby securing four hours of tuition each day without being overworke I by an excessive amount of reading: