THE CONSTITUTION AND THE SUPREME COURT (Continued from page 4) right of nullification. The very which they had thus needexistence of the country was lessly sustained? The hardship of this situation was such that the Attorney General took the unusual, but in this case justifiable, course of suspending the law until the Supreme Court Dean M.R.Kirkwood. at stake. Alexander Hamilton, About a century ago, the Court for the first and only time in its history gave an advisory opinion. The question at issue was the power of the Federal Government to make appropriations for improvements wholly within a State. President Monroe was of the opinion that it lacked Close Contact With the Is it quite so clear, as we have hitherto assumed, that the Court should not thus cooperate with the other de our governmental 1c. Paid Brooklyn, N. Y. Permit No. 358 Leland Stanford Univ. Law School the Court should decline its BOOK REVIEWS whole, a thoroughly interest In A Selection of Cases on the The well a ing and readable book. Cases and Other Authorities Let me cite another case. aid cannot be questioned. I At the end of the Spanish- recognize that if a bare maAmerican War the American jority of Congress could thus Law of Insurance, by Edwin nation found itself confronted drag the Supreme Court into H. Woodruff, Professor of on Equity, volume 3, by Walwith the novel problem of co- any current political contro- Law in the College of Law, ter Wheeler Cook, Professor lonial dependencies. It was versy its prestige would be in Cornell University, 2d edition of Law, Yale University, xix impracticable to retain them danger; but if Congressmen revised and enlarged, xix and and 1048 pages-West Pubif the provisions of the Con- of both parties, sincerely dubi- 735 pages-Baker, Voorhis & lishing Company, St. Paul, such power. stitution, which requires that ous of their power to pass a Company, New York City, Minn., 1924. resolution 1924. Congress had under con- all taxes be uniform, applied law, could by a This third volume of ProProfessor Woodruff in his fessor Cook's Cases on Equity sideration the Cumberland to the Philippines and Porto passed by a largely preponderTurnpike Bill, President Rico. Whether the Constitu- ating majority of Congress casebook on Insurance illus- combines the material usually Monroe turned to the Su- tion in all respects followed say two-thirds-and signed by trates difficult and presented in advanced equity preme Court for an opinion, the flag was a very novel and the President, request such ad- highly technical subject. In courses dealing with reformaand that Court for the first doubtful question. If Congress vice, I am not so clear as many Part I cases illustrating the tion, rescission, and restitution and only time in its history before taking a leap in the others that such an advisory general principles of the in- with that contained in the surance contract are given, course commonly called quasi authorized one of the Justices dark could have asked an ad- opinion, under great and exto advise the President as to visory opinion of the Supreme ceptional circumstances, and and in Part II cases illustrat- contracts. It was Professor their views, which in this case Court it could have avoided a resting solely in the discretion ing the legal effect of particu- Cook's experience a number favored the power that was in possible injustice; but under of the Court, would be pre-lar terms of such a contract. of years ago that to a very method, judicial either to the Govern- By the use of thin paper and large extent the courses on dispute. due to the Montesquieu doc- ment or to the Court. To give a semi-flexible fabrikoid bind- such subjects dealt with the trine, Congress could only pass such an opinion would rest in ing the volume has been kept same or at least very similar the law and await develop- the sound discretion of the within handy size and weight. situations; and after experiments. Hundreds of millions Court, which could refuse, exof dollars worth of merchan- cept where a clear question of dise were imported on the power was involved in a confaith that the law was valid. crete case and the proposed Some years later the Supreme law was not a political issue in partments of the Government Court, with most of the the partisan sense. and thus be brought into clos- judges disagreeing as to reasMassachusetts, Maine, er contact with the people? ons, sustained the validity of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, At present, all our constitu- the law in a case that involved Florida, Colorado and South tional questions study deter- the importance by an indi- Dakota the Courts aid the mined in litigation. This, un-vidual of some lemons. As Mr. Government by advisory opindoubtedly, has advantages, but Dooley said, after the Judges ions and this is true of many it has very great disadvan- had rendered their individual European States. tages. opinions, the plaintiff was obThe most striking illustra served to arise and say: "May tion of the latter was the Mis- it please your Honors, do I souri Compromise. get my lemons back?" If the Congress in 1820 had passed law had been declared invalid, a law limiting slavery to cer- think of the irreparable injury tain portions of the Territor- to thousands of business men! ies. It was a great political. Now that the danger of the settlement. Both parties ac- La Follette attack on the Suquiesced in it. Thirty-seven preme Court is happily passed, years later, in the case of a is it not a good time to deterfugitive slave named Dred mine whether in this and in Scott, the Missouri Compro- other respects the Court can- I cannot conclude without mise was nullified by the Su- not be brought into more har- saying that I vield to no one preme Court. No single cause monious cooperation with the here in my deep respect and for that great did more to precipitate the other departments of the Gov-admiration most fratricidal war in his- ernmen and into closer con- Court, with which I have been tory than the Dred Scott de- tact with the people? Our in- connected as an advisory for cision. stitutions are not static. They twenty-eight years, and in Take, for example, the more are always in process of de- which I have argued more recent case of the so-called velopment. The founders of than 100 cases. It has always Commodities Law. Congress the Republic did not claim for seemed to me as a great lighthad passed a law which re- themselves infallibility, and house, and through a the quired the railroads that we, their successors, can prof- storm and stress of political owned coal mines to sell them. itably be as modest. The last strife its grea: lamp, like that! Suppose, fearful that its valid- word on constitutional devel- of another Pharos, has illum-¡ ity might be sustained, the opment has not been spoken. ined with its benignant rays are ment he determined that a Constitution of the combined course was an imUnited States by James M. provement over the two sepBeck, LL. D., Solicitor Gen- arate courses. In the caseeral of the United States, xix book at hand the combination and 362 pages-George H. has been extended to cover Doran Company, New York the other topics commonly City, 1924. grouped under quasi contracts Solicitor General Beck's, and as a rule having correof Constitution sponding doctrines in equity. yesterday, to-day, and to-morAlthough this jointure row, originally published in perhaps somewhat in the na1922, now appears in a revised ture of an experiment, neverPresident Washington, who edition. In it law students will theless this casebook worthipresided over the Constitu- find a succinct relation of the ly completes the treatment of tional Convention, and was its formation of the instrument, the broad subject of Equity greatest inspiration, was the a statement as to its present Jurisprudence begun and confirst to request such an advis-condition, and some specula- tinued in volumes 1 and 2 of ory opinion, and it is signifi- tions as to its future. On the the same series. cant that the propriety of his request never occurred to him until Chief Justice Jay declined to give the opinion. Possibly Washington and not Jay was right. mental operations, and perform BROOKLYN, NEW YORK It is said of a man that he has the legal mind, sometimes Having disposed of the legal by way of compliment, and mind as a conceit of the lawsometimes of disparagement. yers, we may more profitably On occasion we hear of "the consider what are the capacibest type of legal mind"; or ties of the mind which, disagain of the "pettifogging at- played in the practice of the law, lead us to admire a man. torney mind"; according as the We would put first the abilspeaker is an admiring biog-ity to see a matter as a whole, rapher or a disgruntled suitor. to mark off its boundaries from The dispassionate student of the vast inane in which lesser minds will go astray; and then human affairs, however, recog- to see to the heart of the matnizes that the legal mind is an ter, to discover the real point invention of the lawyers, a word at issue. in praise of themselves, and that its impolite description is but the retort of those who have suffered by the law. Every order of men has the illusion that their own task calls for a higher order of intellect than any other human activity. The "scientific mind" is boasted by learned professors many of whom fall into fallacies which the common sense of the common man priest will admit in few laymen the mental powers necessary for the understanding and elaboration of theological doc Next, the lawyer's mind should be able to grasp and apply principle. This involves the ability to discover real difference beneath superficial resemblance and true identity underimplies the power to marshal lying apparent unlikeness. It facts; to build up from facts of experience what Vinogradoff has happily called facts-in-law, the final and determining findings which permit of the application of the law itself. The minds of many lawyers have a substantial defect. They LAWYERS WHO WOULD NOT GIVE UP III William McKinley (1843-1901) APRIL 1, 1925 NEWS OF THE SCHOOLS University of Mississippi. The law school is offering an enlarged course on Contracts. The general counsel of the I. C. R. R. Co., Judge R. V. Fletcher, of Chicago, Ill., delivered a most interesting lecture to the School of Law on December 5th, 1924, his subject being "The Pioneer Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court." He will later deliver several lectures, two of which will include the Interstate Commerce Act and the Esch-Cummings Act. Hon. Webb Venable, former congressman from Mississippi, will address the law school during the second semester. University of Wisconsin Law Maryland University Law Forced by illness to discon- was completed. Admitted to lof of the University of Wiswould reject unhesitatingly. The cannot see the other side of the tinue his college course, Wil- the bar at twenty-four, he consin Law School faculty, who case. This, while it sometimes liam McKinley soon learned practiced law at Canton. Three has been teaching at the Uniyears later he was elected versity of Chicago Law School increases their power as advo- that he must make his way prosecuting attorney. during the first semester in the cates, detracts from them as without aid, and, just after he Popular and successful, he place of Professor H. A. Bigethinking men, and ruins them for judicial positions. It is not had begun to earn money to married at twenty-eight. Two low, absent on leave, has reyears later, his baby girl died. turned to Wisconsin. infrequently a source of weak- continue his studies, war came. The death of the second daughtrine, and himself finds "no ness even with a jury, for it Born in a modest little home ter three years later, combined end, in wandering mazes lost." leads to a mistaken estimate of in the then village of Niles, with other griefs, rendered The lawyer regards himself as the strength of the opposing Ohio, he was nine when his Mrs. McKinley an invalid for possessing a powerful mental case, and may result in an unvision which, in the common pleasant awakening when their father, a foundryman, moved life, and through all his life her husband cared for her dephrase, can "see through a own is beyond salvation. the family to nearby Poland, votedly. brick wall," but which often is A good intellect will rapidly where the boy attended public not acute enough to appreciate adjust itself to its task and school and the Poland Acadan elementary distinction. The work with such smoothness that limit of folly was reached when its owner seems to possess an emy. the notion entered the head of added sense rather than a piece James the Pedant that only persons of royal blood could understand "kingcraft." Soon after entering Alle- In This Issue Page In truth, though we would not deny specific qualities to various types of intellect, the main and controlling difference is simply one of degree. A firstclass intellect is a universal tool. Its possessor may indeed have a predilection for turning School News it more to one use than another, and by so using it de- George W. Allen.... velop a special skill in that di- Bar Examination Statistics. rection. The passage of the Student's Reports years may render it less elasBar Requirements. tic and adaptable, mainly because memory will no longer Bar Questions charge itself with the a b c of Student's Digest a new art. But a Bacon, or, to Cases of Interest. take a modern instance, a Legal Ethics Fletcher Moulton, can use his Legal Oddities intellect for the most diverse Bar Quizzer When that his father was financially embarrassed. By teaching school at $25 a month, and clerking in the post office, he prepared to return to college. Then the Civil War broke out and he enlisted. Entering as a private, he took part in many battles and was a brevet major when peace was pro8 claimed. 1 3 3 4 4 10 Resuming his studies, he read Baltimore, Md. The Alumni Association of Elected to congress at thirty- the Law School of the Univerfour, he served four years, ran sity of Maryland at its eighth again, and his election was suc- annual meeting on January cessfully contested. Successful 27th, 1925, elected as its presitwo years later, he served four dent, Andrew H. Mettee, hiyears, then was defeated, fol- brarian of the Library Comlowing the adoption of the pany of the Baltimore bar, and McKinley Tariff Bill, prepared ex-president of the American by him after years of study. Association of Law Libraries. Soon after his election as governor of Ohio, he was in demand for tariff speeches. Nominated for president in 1896 on a "protection" platform, he fought Bryan and "free silver." As president he advocated the Dingley Tariff Bill. Then came the Cuban 15th we troubles and the Spanish- University School of Law, New Reelected by Orleans, La., was admitted to a vote that set a record, he had membership in the Association served only six months when of American Law Schools at he was assassinated. its meeting in Chicago late in December. This notice was in error, Loyola University School of Law, Chicago, Ill., having been the school admitted. Editor ..Free No. 5 "The Law Student" is published at intervals of six weeks from October 1st to May 15th during the law school year. This is the fifth number of the school year 1924-1925. The next number will be published May 15th. In the first issue of "The Law Student," published October 1st, 1923, the first paragraph of the editorial column read as follows: "We have emphasized elsewhere in this issue our main purpose and reason for being-namely, to assist law students to meet successfully the first serious test of their professional career, the bar examination. We desire to emphasize here our general attitude toward you as students of the law, which is one of complete friendliness and a desire to assist in every possible way. We have available, to help us help you, one of the most complete law libraries in the country, the advisory and consultant services of a very large staff of skilled law writers, also a general equipment enabling us to answer all and any inquiries from pure questions of law to practical questions, as, for instance, regarding a desirable location in which to build up a practice. Our latch string is always out, either to a caller in person, to the postman's knock, or to the telephone bell. We want you to make use of us to the fullest extent, and shall estimate our success solely in proportion to the extent to which you and your fellow students avail yourselves of what we offer." CAN YOU RING THE BELL? SUGGESTIONS AND We desire now to reextend the invitation just reprinted In particular we shall always be pleased to hear from you with criticisms of this paper and concrete suggestions for its betterment. It goes without saying that our willingness, even eagerness, to receive such suggestions, extends also to those emanating from members of law school faculties. I am a student in the Jeffer- Forrest D. Short, Editor of The Law Student: I have this day had placed in my hands Vol. 2, No. 1, of "The Law Student," from which I have derived a great deal of pleasure, information, and valuable knowledge. As a member of the Canadian Bar Association, it is very gratifying to me to know that cess the future holds a secret. Dean, University of Georgia Athens, Ga. Editor of The Law Student : Kindly enter my name on your mailing list of "The Law Student." I am a member of the freshman class at Temple University Law School, Philadelphia, Pa. I have read the last two isThank you for the copies of sues of "The Law Student" and the January issue of "The Law can say that the editorials really Student." I will take pleasure inspire incentives. The state in distributing them. bar examination questions bring forth real discussion among the students, especially those pertaining to the courses of study. I am particularly interested in the sketch of Benjamin. I frequently mention his career I would greatly appreciate a in discussing allegiance. It is not mentioned that he was copy of your free book, "PrinQueen's Counsel, an office none ciples and Practice of Legal but a natural born British sub- Research," if it is still availject could hold. He owed alle- able, as I know it will be a giance, at different times, to great aid in my present and three sovereigns. future studies. The preparation of concise, court is returning to the prinWe heartily congratulate you on the splendid examination clear, and correct pleadings, is ciple, established years agoyou have passed, and now wel- a subject which the practitioner and later abandoned-by Chief come you as members of the must understand. Likewise he must be able to make or write Justice Marshall, of ruling on bar and officers of the court. short and convincing briefs not only the letter of laws You have become full-fledged and arguments which are not passed by congress, but on the lawyers, each having the same only favorable to his client but motive of congress in passing authority to wield the profes- also fair to the court, helping a law, Solicitor General James it, as it desires, to arrive at sional scepter as that possessed the truth, in order that the de- M. Beck said in February beby other members of the bar. cision or judgment may be fore the Bar Association of You have come to face the just. obligations and responsibilities which fall upon all attorneys at law. New York. The those extending of Mr. Beck, principal speaker proper courtesies due from the at a dinner given in his honor court to counsel, to parties, to jurors, to witnesses, is an art by the association at No. 43 In pursuing the study of the the judges have to study. To West 44th Street, declared the law to the extent whereby you possess one's self with that court should pass on congress' became qualified for, and en- composure of mind and pa- motives as well as its acts, so titled to, admission to the bar, tience essential to the mainte Solicitor General Beck on July '24 13 39 Ariz. May '24 13 59 Cal. June '24 178 49 Dec. '24 10 45 Colo. July '24 13 15 Conn. 47 Ga. June '24 24 30 July '24 Nov. '24 you have solved perhaps the nance of the proper, unosten- as to prevent passage of legis- fact ought to give you that conndence in yourselves which is necessary to bring success. You should now have no fears of your ability to find and apply the law to any state of facts presented to you. The administration of justice on the part of the judges, the lawyers, and other officers of We are all disposed to take the court, should be conducted life and its burdens too seri- in such a manner as to meet ously and to begin the dis- the commendation of good concharge of any duty with a fear science. This is a subject which of inability to accomplish it ef- every one connected with a ficiently. Such a disposition court should consider. weakens the effort. Avoid May each of you go forth in doubt and fear. Have faith the practice of your profession and courage in everything you with a brave heart. May your undertake, and difficulties will confidence in yourselves indiminish and be more easily crease, and may you have firm convictions of right. overcome. inevitable effect and the his- Vt. WOMEN ON TEXAS SUPREME COURT BENCH Serve under Special Appointment by Governor The court room was filled "I am not suggesting that the court make inquiry as to what individual members of congress thought or said when they We each are willing to con- In the faithful discharge of voted for a law. But if confess and acknowledge our duty under the obligation you gress passes a law, even though faults. It's much easier to each have taken, may you ob- it be in the nominal exercise of teach by precept than by ex- tain the confidence and respect a delegated power, and if the ample. Anything worth while of the courts, of your asso- court from text of the law, its requires close application and ciates at the bar, and of your diligent effort. Some examples clients. might be noticed. It is the wish and hope of To impart one's thoughts or each member of this court that information to others in a you may deserve and attain manner to be readily under- that degree of success in your stood is an art that should be profession which your youthful Mr. Beck urged that only cultivated. minds and hearts properly de- cases of utmost "public imporFor the first time in the his- case was argued before the You as lawyers should culti-sire. With a firm conviction tance" should be placed before the United States vate the power to distinguish of right doing, let your consupreme tory of any state women sat as same women members of the between right and wrong, ob- duct be an example worthy of court. He cited the growth of chief justice and associate jus- court January 20th. serving the distinctions, how- emulation and of benefit to so- the court's docket from about tices of the supreme court at ever slight or delicate they ciety. twenty-five cases a year origi- | Austin, Texas, January 8th. with lawyers and women when may be. In the exercise of this May I not be deemed en- nally to about 1,500 prior to faculty, do the right thing, and croaching on personal privilege the creation of the circuit court The distinguished honor of be- the special judges took their first conferred with Governor discharge that which good con- in advising, as soon as con- of appeals, and to nearly 900 ing chief justice was conferred seats upon the bench. They upon Mrs. Hortense Ward, of Neff in his office, where they science enjoins as a duty. Such venient and as the rules of ad- cases annually now. their commissions, a course will be consistent with, mission permit, that each of "The Court cannot handle Houston. The associate jus- received and largely fulfill, the ethics of you join the local and state such a docket," he said. "The tices were Miss Ruth Brazzil, which were adorned with the the profession. Court should not be asked to of Galveston, and Miss Hattie gold seal of the state. bar associations. I feel sure Chief Justice Cureton of the May it please my brother that you will find it of benefit fritter away its great energies Henenberg, of Dallas. The women served by spe- supreme court administered the judges, the writing of apt and in cultivating an acquaintance in petty private litigation which It is the short opinions, which I believe and closer relations with fel- has no continuing influence on cial appointment of Governor oath to the women. is commendable and desired by low members of the bar. These the future of America. Its en- Pat M. Neff, the regular mem- same oath Mrs. Miriam A. Ferthe profession, is an art which associations are beneficial in ergies should be restricted to bers of the court being disqual- guson as governor took, and judges of appellate courts have promoting social relations, fra- questions of great public im- ified in the case to be heard. It provides that the official must involved title to property held swear that she has never to study. Judges of all courts ternal feeling, good fellowship portance." by the Woodmen of the World. fought a duel. None of the have to be above and beyond among all, and in elevating the The hearing was in the nature women raised her right hand, prejudices of every kind or standards of the profession. I of an application for writ of as is customary among men character in order that even think it would be well for all error, and it took only a few taking an other of office. They justice may be meted out to members of the bar who do each individual and class. This not now belong to become so minutes to dispose of the case. did not seem to be flurried by The writ was granted, and the the experience. takes effort. associated. The true university in these days is a collection of books. Thomas Carlyle. THE LAW STUDENT'S REPORTS People ex rel. Chicago Bar minded people would conclude Ass'n v. Baker. (No. 14596) that it is not honorable, it must necessarily be unprofessional. (Supreme Court of Illinois, The grounds upon which Feb. 19, 1924.) (142 N. E. 554), counsel for relator base their Farmer, C.J.....The ground argument that respondent's upon which respondent's dis- conduct was dishonorable or barment is asked is that his unprofessional is the claim that he did not aid in guarding conduct in holding quiz courses against the admission to the is unethical and unprofessional. profession of candidates, "unExactly what acts or conduct fit or unqualified because demeasure up to the standard of ficient in either moral character or education" (canon 29, being ethical is not always easy Canons of Ethics adopted by to define. Lexicographers de- the American and Illinois State fine the term as meaning the Bar Associations), and that respondent's conduct of quiz philosophy of morals or percourses involved disloyalty to taining to morals. Some con- the law (canon 32). What reduct may be of a character to spondent did had no connecshow such moral obtuseness tion with the moral fitness of that all would say it was im- the applicant. That is required to be determined by a commit- || moral or unethical, but the ditee on character and fitness apvision line that distinguishes pointed by this court, and rethe ethical and unethical is spondent had no connection often so indistinct as to cause with that committee and never did anything to influence its ac-a contrariety of opinion as to tions. The charge that rewhether acts were or were not spondent violated canon 29 in ethical. It seems, however, as not aiding to protect the bar used by the commissioner, "un- against the admission of appliethical" is substantially synony- cants deficient in education we mous with unprofessional, for do not think is sustained by the there was nothing immoral in commissioner's report. As we conducting the quiz courses by have said, the respondent did respondent. What, then, char- not aid his students in meeting acterizes it as unprofessional? the requirements of rule 39 It should be borne in mind that either as to preliminary educathe quiz courses were inde- tion of law study, with the expendent of and had no con- ception above noticed, as to nection with respondent's rela- students who had failed to pass tions with his clients. His the examination. His classes classes were not clients who were composed only of stusought his services in the transaction of business, and he did not solicit clients to become members of his classes. He did not pretend to aid members No doubt respondent repreof his classes in their prelimi- sented to his students that such nary qualifications to enable a course as he conducted would them to take the examination. be of great aid in enabling They were composed of men them to successfully pass the who had already qualified by examination, and there is no preliminary education and by doubt that was the object of study of the law to be admit- the students in taking the ten ted by the board to take the weeks' course under his tuition. examination for admission to Does that render respondent's the bar. For ten weeks he conduct unprofessional to such conducted a quiz course of in- an extent as to justify revokstruction or review of the sub- ing his license to practice law? jects which the students had It does not appear before this already studied in their law time to have been so regarded course, and upon which the by the bar or the courts. The rule of this court required them commissioner reports that to be examined, to better pre- other attorneys at law in Chipare them for the examination. cago are doing the same kind Respondent should not and of work, and, after a somemust not advertise or represent what extensive investigation, that he can or will furnish his we have been unable to find a students with a question or decision of any court upon the questions which will be used by question. No one would conthe board of law examiners in tend that a lawyer should be the examination of students for disbarred who, instead of openadmission to the bar. Such ad- ing an office and practicing his vertising is wholly improper. profession, devoted all his time The commissioner reports the to teaching law. Many very work respondent was doing able and well-known lawyers was of the same nature as that have done that very thing, and carried on by several other per- many well-known lawyers desons in Chicago, some of whom vote a part of their time to are attorneys at law. What teaching in law schools. There we have said on the subject of is this difference in that kind what conduct is unethical is of teaching and respondent's equally applicable to what is or teaching: That in law schools what is not unprofessional. covering the period a student Where the conduct of an at- is required to study law the obtorney is such that all right- (Continued page 5, col. 1) dents who had previously completed the requirements of the rule to be admitted to take the examination. BAR ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS Educational Requirements for Admission to the Bar In Effect for Those Beginning to Study Law in the Autumn of 1924 Alabama Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Dist. of Columbia Georgia Illinois Indiana Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Michigan Minnesota Montana Mississippi to taking bar examination fair knowledge of civil gov ment ernment, literature, and his tory, prior to taking bar ex amination prior to taking bar examina tion 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 Three years 3 0 Two years 0 Three years for college graduates, four years for others 4 0 Two years 0 Three years in the day classes of a law school or in a law office 0 0 High school education, prior to Three years in a full-time law school. beginning law study Equivalent of high school, prior to taking bar examination Evidence satisfactory to the board, prior to taking bar examination Three years |