LAW LECTURES.
INTRODUCTORY LECTURE BY PROFESSOR AMOS, AT THE LONDON UNIVERSITY. INTRODUCTORY LECTURE BY MR. G. H. MANSEL, AT FURNIVAL'S IN HALL.
WE attended the introductory lecture of the Law course for the present session of the London University. The Theatre, which is very capacious, was nearly filled ; and we observed several eminent practitioners of the law, and a great number of other lawyers, both students and men in practice. An introductory lecture affords little scope to estimate the qualifications of a Professor for the general purpose of his undertaking. In the present instance, the topics were judiciously selected ; the progress of the law was traced, and its present condition vindicated from indiscriminate censure, by a candid exposition of its real defects, and the merits which attach even to its iudefiniteness and seeming uncertainty. The Professor very ably demonstrated that the legislation of the Senate was greatly inferior to that of our Courts, whose interpretations had supplied the better partthat the opinions of *dodges, acted upon by the prevalent manners and opinions of their day, had te:'-iettrand modified the sterner enactments of Parliaments, whose labours hadftten dictated by the most arbitrary tyranny, or the narrowest views of poltWe were gratified by the impartial and considerate views of the Professcir, hie!! were untinctured either by a presumptuous disposition to innovate, or a servile admiration of the fictions, the abuses, and the incongruities of the law.
Having explained the present state of the law, and the causes which had given rise to it, he proceeded to the proper subject of the introductory lecture,-to point out the method and design of his course. of instruction.
The Lecture-room is open to all persons, whether students or strangers during the delivery of the lectures ; and afterwards the pupils retire Nlial the Professor to the Law Library adjoining, where they enter into foniliar discussion on the topics of the lectures, and the Professor resolves the doubts and difficultie: of his pupils. They area's° encouraged to take notes, and refer to the authorities upon the subject at another season. By these means, the impressions which are wrought by the lecture are retained and confirmed. and the conceptions of the pupil are put to the test by a comparison with the impressions and judgments of others ;-an object particularly desirable in legal education, since the single workings or an, unassisted mind tend to misaporehension on the doctrines of the law, which, we have observed, are created and modi1ied by the ever-varyino nature of the wants, the temper, opinions, and manners of the people,-anethat not by the force of individual' character, but Inthe strength and tendency of the mass of popular intelliaence. In fact, the law is less fitted, for aequirement in solitaryktudy, than in the busy haunts of men, 1,-; an observation alive to its operation on their concerns, mid to the notions which at the time govern the decisions of the Courts.
The manner of Professor Amos is favourable to his design ; it is elegant and impressive, and seems to address itself to each individual so as to engage and fix his attention as in personal conversation. The number of students during the last session was nearly one hundred and fifty ; and we may safely predict increased success to the exertians of the University-, if they continue to be sustained by able professma, notwithstanding the very common prejudice among lawyers on the inefficacy of lectures as a medium of instruction. On this subject we shall direct our attention hereafter, and especially as it is applicable to the attorney and solicitor.
Before we quit the University, we cannot but lament that the good sense and propriety of this institution should be outraged by the reiterated clapping of the
audience. It is offensive to the dignity of Professor, whose character and ability should be self-sustaining, and should neat no vulgar testimony. As in the theatres, we found this note of admiration affixed to passages of the least worth, and that an unusual emphasis by the lecturer produced an unusual outcry by the hearer. We saw some mischievous rogues, energetically labouring their plaudits, with their faces concealed to hide their eujosment of the humbug. Such a mode of approbation, in such a place, should be reserved for rare occaaions ; it should be the spontaneous expression of irrepressible feeling, acting (as it frequently does) simultaneously on popular assemblies. We cannot but think, that in such a theatre, approval and satisfaction are best displayed by a patient and uninterrupted attention, wrapt up in the subject.
From the London University we proceeded to Furnivars Inn Hall, to hear the introductory lecture of Mr. MANSEL. It was principally on the subject of legal education ; and we grieve to record our entire disapprobation of the mode in which that subject was treated.
The audience was numerous, and composed of persons of every rank and age in the profession ; the greater number we recognized to belong to the more practical departments. The lecture was a tissue of facts compiled from the history of law in all nations upon the earth-of anecdotes wholly unimportant -of hard names, of more uncouth sound than the doggrel law Latin-of quotations from Scripture, and of apothgems and wise sayings of sages and kings,mingled with a multitude of dates and classical allusions : and time object of this elaborate compilation was to prove that the wisest of tnett hail been lecturers, and that the law had been taught orally from the beginning of the world to the present time. It Was" the work and labour done" of a special pleader-a "collection or approved forms" of ideas from the best authors, misappropriately tinselled with Latin, Greek, and French quotations, which few of his hearers could understand -for few could hear them distinctly.
On the subject of law education as propounded by Mr..MAN■EL, we will not venture farAn intimate acquaintance with the arts and sciences bodily agility-personal address-music, and the society of females-were recommended ; and what .CICERO, and the GRACCIII, and QUINTILIAN, and Lord Hata, and Lord BACON, and other great men have practised, the lecturer earnestly exhorted the modern lawyer to adopt ; and vet these acquisitions were insufficient lithe lawyer had not travelled throuzh Europe and every part of the great continent of law.
It would not be right to prejudge the merits of Mr.MaNanes course of lectures, which we understand will consist of the practice :Ind pleadings of the Common Law; a subject with which he is in all probability sufficiently conversant to be the instructor of others, as it is the department of the profession to which his attention has been more especially devoted. 13nt WO cannot avoid the expression of a wish that he would pay a more attentive regard to his manlier, and even the management of his voice, and gauge the value of his exertions by their effect on his auditors. Professor Amos, in his lecture, told a pretty story, which may serve to illustrate this suggestion. Dr. ADAM Smint, the author of the Weald& of IViaions, observed, in the course of one of his lectures as a Professor at Glasgow, that a young man, who hind previously manifested the greatest attention, suddenly threw himself back in his seat : the Doctor instantly felt that he had failed to communicate his own ideas to his hearer, or had lost a link in the chain of his reaioning ; and proceeded to illustrate the subject with the best expressions and the aptest views he could command: in a short time the pupil returned to his allegiance, and his attention was fixed to the end of the lecture.
Let Mr. MANSEL take a lesson. Several in our neighbourhood slept, and we found it a difficult and laborious aim to keep alive our own faculties, oppressed as they were by the dulness of the discourse and the overpowering tones of the orator. The lecture, nominally of "one hour," extended nearly to two hours. 0.
[Since the above was in print, we have received from another friend an account of Mr. MaNsvit.'s introductory lecture ; and we think it but fair to add, that in his opinion some of Mr. Maxssta.'s sins against good taste were to be imputed to his youth ; and that the excessive enthusiasm which lie displ.iyed, is to he ascribed to love of his profession. It should not be forgotten that an introductory lecture, which must necessarily he discursive, may not be at all it sample of the course. Mr. MaNsotes days of lecturing arc Monday and Friday.]
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