17 NOVEMBER 1849, Page 13

THE SPURIOUS LAW SCHOOLS OF ENGLAND. SOME three years ago,

we hailed the proposal to establish a Fa- culty of Law in London, founded, and supported by the Inns of Gout: in the House of Commons last session, the Attorney-Ge- neral stated that the law classes were to be discontinued, as they had2not been well attended, except in the Real Property branch. theinstitutMn set up in 1896 is abandoned in 1849; we shall Peesestlytnieel.why. The failure revives, the question of a Law Sedinolotlisoussect this week at the meeting of, the- Law Amend- anent Societiyi on the motion of Mr. JamesStewart. - IiItiis,proposed that the school should 'be entirely practical ; to comprise .classes, in which the main 'object should be to teach Particular branches of the law, in lectures, with such aids in the Way. of.oratilinstrations,,,written papers, examinations, and free conversations, as to the professor may seem desirable. 'If the law cermet .be'llearnabini.rhis way, it must' be, something very mysterious,--farntsitinyiterions. for the community who are pre- sluaed tmlolow Itrandrarenntiled Upon to obey it.. • But ths,atqumulatedleiperience of many countries and many generationatavourti thestesehing in this fashion, especially in the caseof testpilyiso abstruse and dry, that it needs the vitality of the livang toague soikeett alive the attention of the oppressed and w0worttatult5-i ''There is not the mesmeric influence in books taint:these-lislin: the •guide of flesh and blood. Of all studies, thfsnaftlren4sity,.is the last to form an exception ; yet by our prac- fitlstriScianiade so—the sole exception. In other sciences, among. °Yr/Olney werteachly lecture, as. in divinity, medicine,' and all the-iibinaloartland, even. in military seieneesheGreat Captain aillsalagtf the iiicistr praetinal.of men, 'ha s recently Sanctioned Ptufeessmhipts biEolusteer societies mimes the) like initru'mentality iliterarynaisoeialiarity mechanics', ' Isistku tea. In other countries the law takes its place with the rest—on the Continent, in Ireland, and even in the Northern part of our own island, Scotland. The petty judge for India must pass his examination at Hayliebury. Nay, English, law itself is so taught—across the Atlantic; and the academical instruction is graced by such names as those of Story and Greenleaf. One fact alone might illustrate the vitalizing influence of this plan: Story's works are standard law-books with us—they were compiled with the aid of his sine dents. It is therefore quite possible to teach law in thia faablens and best to do so.

And the authorities of the law know that it is. A Committee of the House of Commons, in 1846, collected valuable evidenee on the subject, and recommended, inter alia, the appointment of the lectureships, &c., now discontinued. Mr. Bethell's pro- rosition to that effect was formally adopted by the " Par- liament" of the Middle Temple, after mature and repeated deliberation, in several stages. It was resolved to institute professorships and lectures, with annual examinations, hono- rary distinctions, money prizes, and exhibitions, as inducements to the study ; and the other Inns of Court were invited to follow the example. We are but stating facts formally registered among the records of the society. But in this scheme something more was contemplated than mere lectures ; and when we hear that the institution has been given up, we ask whether it was ever fairly created—whether it Ever attained to a real existence ? It did not. All that was done was to appoint professors ; the examinations, distinctions, prizes, exhibitions—these were but nitre. No in- ducement being held out, the Attorney. General merely stated the fact that the lectures were not well attended. Why should they be ? Young men prefer other things to lectures—unless there be compulsion or inducement.

So much has it been the reverse not only in the Middle Tem- ple, but also in Lincoln's Inn, which professed to follow the ex- ample, that an intimation was given to the students not to attend. Mr. Spence, the eminent Chancery barrister, began to lecture on Equity at Easter 1848; in January 1849 a notice was put up in the Hall, running thus- " Resolved, that it be not deemed compulsory on the students of this society to attend the lectures delivered by any of the professors."

In spite of this intimation, some eight or nine pupils remained with Mr. Spence, volunteers in hard study ; and at the meeting the other night, the Equity Professor vouched for their being equal in attainments to the ordinary barristers of five years standing. They disregarded the obliging intimation of the Benchers that they need not attend, and they will reap the benefit of their superior intelligence. So will the public; since it is not the really sound and accomplished lawyers who have brought about the terrible "uncertainty of the law."

For, after all, the largest interest concerned is that of the pub- lic. It is the public that has the most reason to ask why, after showing that they knew better and formally recording their knowledge, the Benchers are about to restore the old abuse, and make the sole authorized test of law-study the obsolescent art of the Alderman—the eating of dinners. So that the law student eats, the " Parliament" cares not that he studies. The lectures are not compulsory ; the eating is. It is possible that the Benchers might not be very solicitous about any reality in the projected lectures, nor even a certain category of the students. Many students begin the business of eating to qualify themselves., not for law practice, but for offices reserved to barristers of six or seven years' " standing "; and if more eat than attain office, the profession is overwhelmed with lawyers " qualified " tech- nically but not practically. Among the crowd, some few have energy and ambition enough to work at study ; they rise to distinction, and, in the absence of tests to show competency in the younger lawyers, these few monopolize the work. The public pays enormous sums on briefs for the chance of a word from the great barrister ; for attornies will not incur the respon- sibility of angling in shoal, where the multitude are "learned in the law" only by mastication. Of this grandee class are the Benchers; and they may not dislike the system which gives to them and their messmates a virtual monopoly of practice. So the public pays ; and when there is a talk, now and then, of a re- form, the Benchers—by legal fiction held to be the teachers of law—put out the rising flame with the wet blanket of their own mock reform.

Of the proposed real Law School, for students and the public, we shall have other opportunities of speaking.