BENCH and BAR go go go go go ojo op of of opp LEGAL EDUCATION in the STATE UNIVERSITY As an important factor in the development of the law of this State, the University of California demands special consideration. Hastings Law College had existed since 1878, and attained great influence under such able lawyers and teachers as John Norton Pomeroy, Charles W. Slack, Elisha W. McKinstry and others. But it was felt that in modern life, and particularly in this country, where every citizen takes more or less of an active part in the government of states and municipalities and in the enactment and application of the laws, the study of jurisprudence, at least in its general principles, should not be left to those alone who wish to make the law their profession, or to any particular class such as is still found in other countries, for instance in England, but that it should, and in the course of time must, form part of the education of every well-bred man; for as the light of intelligence and knowledge spreads and extends to the great mass of the voters, it is evident that a government which is to satisfy the entire people must and ultimately will be entrusted to those educated and intelligent citizens who are able to understand the wants of the different callings, occupations, professions or trades, and to do justice to everybody. This cannot be accomplished by any special class of men trained in the law; for the exclusiveness of a purely legal education unfits them, unaided, for a task of such scope and magnitude; and yet, as the law pervades every part of our political life, it will be necessary for every one, without exception, participating in the proposing, framing, enacting or applying of our laws, to fully and clearly comprehend at least the general principles underlying those laws. Moreover, he should have a fair knowledge of the history of this country, and perhaps of other countries, for historical experience is one of the best tests of sound legislation; and the history of the civilized nations of modern times-which becomes more and more important as compared with the history of antiquity—is not, as history was formerly, an account of wars and conquests or the succession of rulers, but a description of the inner progress and of the peculiar manners, customs and laws of each people, together with a comparison of the practical effects thereof shown in each case. These and similar ideas led to a desire to embody in the general courses of a higher education attainable in our State University an instruction in the history and principles of the law which would be accessible to such of the students as were not able or, for any reason, did not wish to follow the lectures at the Hastings College, and also to those, who, before entering upon the more special and exclusive study of the law, might choose to complete their education in other departments of university knowledge. The development of a school of jurisprudence has been in the mind of Mr. William Carey Jones since 1882, when he was appointed instructor in United States history and constitutional law. In the same year he began a course on Roman law. A year or two later he undertook a more comprehensive course in jurisprudence, using Holland's text-book. In 1891 he introduced International Law. By 1892 he had succeeded in bringing into the university curriculum courses in Roman Law, International Law, Constitutional Law and the Principles of Jurisprudence. During the year 1892-93 he was given a leave of absence for study in Europe, having justified the existence and development of legal study in the academic colleges. In recognition of his work and of the value of such a department, the regents in 1894 gave Professor Jones the official title of professor of jurisprudence, and he became the head of what has developed into a new and independent department. Through the untiring and energetic efforts of Professor Jones and the popularity of his courses, the number of students in the new department grew very rapidly; and in 1898 it was resolved by the regents that graduates of the university who had satisfactorily passed certain courses, embracing the most important principles of the laws of real property, contracts, torts and crimes, as well as the history of common law, should, on the recommendation of the Department of Jurisprudence, be admitted to the middle class of the Hastings Law College, thereby shortening their regular term at the latter school by one year. Following out the original idea which led to the organization of the new department, Professor Jones, in conjunction with the board of regents, endeavored to give variety and at the same time a more universal scope to the study by interesting others in the plan. Among those who seemed best qualified to carry the same into further practical execution was Mr. Louis T. Hengstler, then assistant professor of mathematics at the university and assistant professor of law in the Hastings College. The descendant of a family of lawyers in Germany, Mr. Hengstler had received his university education in that country. Not long after his arrival in California, in 1886, he was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court and for several years was engaged in the practice of law at San Francisco. Being a mathematician, however, as well as a lawyer, he accepted a call to the University of California, which at first caused him to devote his entire attention to mathematics. But his love of the law could not be thus extinguished, and having, for a while, divided his time between the mathematical department of the university and the Hastings College of the Law at San Francisco, he was, in 1898, at his own request, assigned to the new department, with the official title of assistant professor of jurisprudence, and given charge of the courses on elementary law, criminal law, torts, and on public and private international law. Next to Professor Jones himself, the success of the latter's enterprise is mainly due to Professor Hengstler's good judgment and industry. The number of students availing themselves of the opportunity for widening their general and special knowledge grew steadily, until it passed the number of 300, enrolled in the various courses. New teachers were then sought and found. Curtis H. Lindley and Gustav Gutsch, both members of the San Franciseo bar, were prevailed on to give weekly lectures at Berkeley. Their engagement was "honorary"-as the university funds were then at ebb tide;-but no amount of pecuniary consideration could have increased the zeal and zest with which each of them devoted himself to his task, and no students ever listened to their teachers more attentively or with greater enthusiasm than those who attended the lectures of these two practical lawyers. Mr. Lindley (the author of the famous work on mines) chose for his principal subjects the public land system, the methods by which the government acquires and disposes of its lands, and the genesis, development and theories of the law of mines and the law of water as applied in Western America; and Mr. Gutsch (who enjoys the distinction of being the only J. U. D., doctor of civil and canon law, of the San Francisco bar) successfully illustrated the idea that nothing is more conducive to a full and critical understanding of our own laws than a comparison with the principles and development of foreign laws by engaging his listeners in a close study of the history of modern European codification and in a comparison of the leading principles of domestic and foreign procedure. With such men at work, and such interest in the new department shown on all sides, the latter is certain to make its influence felt and to aid most materially in raising the scientific standard of the profession throughout the State. GUSTAV GUTSCH. San Francisco, Cal. |
