court will or may be persuaded to decide on a given proposition. The practitioner's art consists in executing legal operations, either in safeguarding his client. in business and corporate dealings, or in the skillful handling of the various phases of litigation.

Law schools, rightly or wrongly, do not attempt to inculcate legal art, the ability to execute legal operations, the power to do legal business, but leave that to be acquired in the office. Let us, then, take them on their own ground and see how their means, namely casebooks, are adapted to the needs of professional training in legal science.

On the very day that the graduate leaves the school and enters an office (besides being commissioned to check his chief's trunk or buy theater tickets for his wife), he will probably be requested to look up the law on some technical and undecided point in his own state. There is nothing in his case-books or notes to help him, and he is turned loose in the maze of codes, statute books, compilations and revisions of statutes annotated, of digests, abridgments, treatises, and encyclopedias. After disheartening hours of labor, struggle, and despondence he finds very little or nothing; perhaps the chief clerk then takes pity on him, and goes for the shelves himself, seizing now the encyclopedias, now the Century Digest, running his eye rapidly through the Annuals, and in less than half an hour has a list of cases covering the point. The graduate, never having settled a legal proposition by finding cases for himself, watches with amazement the chief clerk, who has never been to law school, drag up cases from the reservoirs of the law. He seems to know instinctively under what heading or within the scope of what subject he should find a grouping of similar cases He ex

hausts all the labyrinthine approaches to legal knowledge with the greatest possible ease and precision.

Probably the graduate, like the clerk, will gradually learn how to determine the law for himself, after a fashion, in the office; but, as Mr. Frank B. Gilbert, Librarian New York State Library, says (2 Am. Law School Review, p. 90), the best time to acquire this power is during his student days, and the best place is the law school, having as part of its equipment a complete law library, with competent assistants, whose business it is to teach by actual demonstration how all these books are to be used. It is unreasonable to leave this fundamental matter to chance or inflict it on the overworked lawyer. This practice should be carried on to a greater or less extent in connection with all courses. Permanent scholarly habits cannot be acquired, or the methods of using the mechanism of a great law library inculcated, by a few lectures, moot court cases, or even a course in brief-making and the use of law-books. Most lawyers are guilty of anything but system, and fall into the most slack and slovenly methods of investigation. They have no conception of the way to use every available law tool. What is to be expected of the young graduates who become their clerks and depend upon them for example and training?

The fact that law librarians, who come in daily contact with experienced practitioners, are frequently astonished at their ineptitude in their using digests, tables of cases, and other devices, is pointed out by Mr. Gilbert in the article cited. This ineptitude is a serious handicap to the lawyer, whose time is money both to himself and to his client. Although principles and not precedents are of first importance, nevertheless it is the

case which is sought for. The science of how to find the law is, says Mr. Gilbert, a concomitant part of the science of the law itself. It is the way in which the problem of legal science actually presents itself. The thing to do is to find the case, and to recognize it and use it when you have found it.

In this aspect of legal science our present "case-book system," and the modification suggested by Professor Kales, give little preparation or assistance.

If the object of the three-years course is to equip the graduate for the actual work of his profession, why not substitute for books of pre-selected opinions, books of concrete facts or skeleton cases raising the important and crucial issues of the different topics of the law. Let the student attack these problems on his own initiative, and then verify his conclusions by a search for cases in point, particularly with reference to his own jurisdiction. The student will then see the bearing of his work, and will be afforded an exercise in the application of principles drawn from every source. This will be found far more interesting and instructive, and better calculated to develop his working knowledge and powers of reasoning, of analyzing, distinguishing, and applying cases, than a mechanical dawdling over or underlining of pre-selected case-books, whether they contain the opinions of local or English judges. The way to learn is to do. This would seem indeed a logical carrying out of the Langdell idea, which has already produced splendid results at Harvard and other law schools, and which will be further advanced by forcing the student to go to the sources themselves, by training him to search for the law and use the original authorities as he will have to do in actual practice. Let us illustrate by examples:

Statements of Facts, With Practical
Hints on the Proper Way to
Look up the Law.

Contractor vs. Owner. (From "Brief Making and the Use of Law Books," p. 326-1906.) A contractor agreed to build a house in accordance with plans and specifications furnished by an architect and to the satisfaction of the architect. The materials furnished and services rendered by the contractor were in substantial compliance with the contract, but by mistake slightly wider clapboards were used in the gables of the house than were specified, and some of the boards used in the floors were wider than those called for. The usefulness and value of the house were not diminished thereby, and the difference in cost was less than $50. The last payment, amounting to $1,525, due under the contract, was not made. Can the contractor recover that payment?

11 Century Digest; topic, Contracts; V, Performance or Breach; (J) Substantial Performance; section 1353, Building Contracts; column 1619.

American Digests for 1897 and subsequent years; topic, Contracts; V, Performance or Breach. Bimonthly Advance Sheets, American Digest, issued since publication of last Annual Digest, same topic and subdivision.

9 Cyclopedia of Law and Procedure; topic, Contracts; IX, Discharge; Discharge by Performance; 3, Strict and Substantial Performance; page 601.

Text-books on Contracts, chapters or subdivisions on performance or discharge, and cases cited.

Householder vs. Executor of Plumber. (From Pamphlet "How to Find Cases in Point," p. 8-West Publishing Co.)

In this case A. sued a plumber for so improperly repairing the plumbing in A.'s house that the sewer gas injured his health and poisoned his five children, of whom three died, after protracted illness, subjecting A. to expense. After issue was joined in the suit, defendant died. Did the suit survive as to the claim for damages for expense occasioned by the illness of A.'s children?

Landowner vs. Purchaser from Finder. (From Pamphlet "How to Find Cases in Point," p. 11-West Publishing Co.)

Goddard was the owner of a certain tract of land in W. county, Iowa, which in the year 1890 was leased to E. On May 2, 1890, an aërolite passed over northern and northwestern Iowa, a fragment of which, weighing about 60 pounds, fell on Goddard's land, burying itself in the ground to a depth of about three feet.

The fall of the aërolite was noticed by a member of the family of H. H., the day after the fall, went to the land and dug out the fragment in the presence of the tenant and took it to his house, claiming to own it, for the reason that he had found it and dug it up.

On May 5th H. sold the aërolite to Winchell, who at once took possession thereof. Goddard brings replevin. Can he maintain the action?

The value for teaching purposes and the study of law of such problems is demonstrated by "Law in Daily Life," a collection of legal questions connected with the ordinary events of every day life by the eminent jurist, Rud. Von Ihering, which has passed through more than twelve editions. The questions were framed for students at German Universities and based mainly upon the Roman law, but are capable of being answered by English law, and have been translated into Italian, Hungarian, modern Greek, and recently into English by Mr. Henry Goudy. (Oxford Clarendon Press, 1904.) The questions are of the most practical and interesting character, and require the student to reflect and apply accurately legal principles to concrete problems. No references or solutions. are given.

Law in Daily Life.

"Believing that a passing tramcar is going to the South Station, I get into one for the West Station. Is the mistake here an essential one, and the contract consequently void? Must I pay the fare, supposing that, having immediately discovered the mistake, I get out? Must I pay if I travel with the car to its destination?"

"How, if the conductor gave an affirmative answer to my question-'Is this car for the South Station?' Must I even then pay the fare, or have I not a right on my side to claim damages from him or his employers, and by what action? I can still manage by taking a cab to reach the South Station before the train starts, provided the driver goes very rapidly, and accordingly I promise him double fare if he arrives in time; must the tramway company make good to me this lastmentioned payment, or can it refuse on the plea that no one need pay double fare? Can the cab driver keep this extra payment for himself or must he hand it over to his employer? Does it stand on the same footing as a tip promised to him without any such proposal or bargain?"

"If the conductor, in answering my question as above, intended to play a practical joke on me, may there be yet another kind of ac

tion against him, apart from that arising out of the contract? May actions arise out of jokes? Can this question be answered without regard to the personal relations of the parties to each other? Does a joke played upon a stranger stand on the same footing with that upon an acquaintance? Is the conductor, to whom I am ready to pay the fare, bound to give me change for a five-pound note because I have no small change? What happens when he either cannot or will not do so? May I get off without having paid? Is it enough that I assure him I will return when I have got change? Is a banker again, to whom I have to make a payment, not obliged to give me change? Would his refusal to ac cept payment for the reason above stated involve him in any consequent liability?"

"I am making my way on foot to the station, and, in ignorance whether the train has already started, I ask some one I meet if it has, and upon his answering in the affirmative I turn back. Assuming that the train had not yet started, and that I should have been in time to catch it, can I sue my informant to make good any damage thereby sustained (for example, loss of my ticket already purchased for me by a porter sent on ahead with the luggage)? How, if my informant is free from fault-say he absent-mindedly answered 'Yes,' instead of 'No'? How, if he deliberately told an untruth? Does anything turn on the point whether he knew that I should sustain damage?"

Excellent use has been made of original questions and problems by the late E. W. Huffcut in his book "The Elements of Business Law." Students often take up this method on their own initiative, voluntarily going over together old examination papers, as the best means to test their knowledge.

This method, which might be called the "Fact" or "Briefing System," to contrast it with the "Case-Book System," would seem to meet the need to which Professor Kales calls attention. By giving in case-books skeleton cases. and practical material the student could. learn law at a national law school at the feet of the greatest masters, and yet become familiar with the law in terms of cases of his particular jurisdiction. He could study general law with a definite point of view. It is sufficient that the student be put in touch with local law

in the ordinary professional channels, if he make it a regular and systematic study. No doubt it is useful for scholars to compile their digests, text-books, and abridgments of different branches for professional use, but this is not the function of case-books.

The idea of making the case-book display a true picture of the law in itself seems a reversion to the text book idea. The value of the cases lies in the concrete problems of fact which they present to the student for solution, not in the answers given in the opinions. It would seem to the writer a very dubious thing, in our present system, that we obviate the necessity of solving the problems by providing ready-made answers. How many students consider the facts independently before reading the opinion? What we have in fact in our excellent case-books is a text-book method, merely supplemented by illustrations and by quiz in class; it is not a case system.

In his comment upon Professor Kales' article in the Harvard Law Review, Professor Wambaugh seems satisfied with our present system. He agrees that unquestionably "the successful practitioner must be acquainted with local law." He asserts, however, that the student's systematic work with local statutes and local decisions should be undertaken merely by way of a supplement upon completing each subject, or by way of a comprehensive review of the whole law just before or just after admission to the bar.

Our working knowledge, then, is to be picked up as best we may, when the years set apart for quiet study and preparation have gone by and we are in the struggle of professional work, or else incidentally and hastily at examination time, or when each topic is completed in class, without any regular provision therefor in the law school regime. Profes

sor Kales has demonstrated that in certain subjects this cannot be done; at any rate experience indicates that in large part it practically goes undone. Moreover, we cannot agree with Professor Wambaugh that the majority of students cannot predict where they will spend their professional life, or that they will be dealing largely in business in all parts of the United States. We believe, with Professor Kales, that there are few recent case-book graduates who would not exchange their present incapacity and inferiority in the offices and courts of the jurisdiction where they begin to practice for efficiency and knowledge gained by a systematic study under special supervision of the reports of their own state.

Since the subject-matter of the law and the issues arising thereon are everywhere the same, these could be presented by skeleton cases, adaptable to every law school and every jurisdiction, and a knowledge of the rules actually enforced in a particular jurisdiction might be acquired, even in national law schools, by systematic study from a definite point of view in the regular professional channels. What is proposed, then, is that experts prepare books of abstracts of fact, problems, and points for briefing, so arranged as properly to develop and unfold the various branches of the law, with the proper infusion of references, citations, and other aids such as the needs of the student may dictate.

This method of the "Briefing System" would have many advantages over the "Case-Book" System, beside that of giving opportunity to study the actual rules of law in force in any particular jurisdiction; it would impart the power to go to the bottom of legal problems independently; it would save the time now wasted by the statement in class of cases which all have read and to which none