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FTER the average student has earnestly struggled in the field of legal learning for half of his allotted period of preparation, dark hours of reflection and introspection come to him as he ponders over how small his knowledge of the law really is. Those who have gone before give, by way of comfort and encouragement, the assurance that the successful lawyer does not know all the law, but knows where and how to find the law. How satisfactory this comfort is depends on whether the lawyer in process of construction follows a step farther and asks himself whether he is learning how to find the law. Necessity seldom calls the student's attention to this phase of the situation. If he is aware of his own complete ignorance of the repositories of the law, the all too natural inclination is to hide this lack of information from the instructors, who are rather likely to be regarded as taskmasters to be satisfied, rather than helpers on the way to a complete legal training. Thus the student's lack of information as to the practical utilization of the tools of the trade is likely to escape the notice of the faculty.

It cannot be safely taken for granted that students possess knowledge of the practical details of the use of legal works of reference. When the average person enters upon the study of the law in a modern law school, he is entering a field entirely strange to him. Some of the men may have seen the inside of a law office. Some may have looked within a law book, but the great majority

Even

come from high school or college, without the slightest knowledge of the work they are to undertake. Higher education is coming to be rather a matter of habit than of effort and aspiration on the part of the individual. The student has come to college for the same reason his father has sent him-because "it is the thing to do." Everything has been done for him in the past, and he comes to expect that all that is to be learned is to be brought to his attention. though the student realize that there are things to be learned outside the curriculum, his energies are so completely taxed by the work that is placed before him that he has little inclination to go into the library and search for further lore. when no particular occasion or inspiration offers. If he does push ahead of his own initiative, the search for information must be an aimless one, as he is upon entirely strange ground, where the signposts are unfamiliar and the directions written thereon in unintelligible phrases. He does not even know what he seeks.

Regarding the matter from the student viewpoint, it cannot be too strongly emphasized that it cannot be safely assumed that the ordinary law student has, or can secure for himself, any practical details that are not taught as part of or involved in the regular school work. The student lacks knowledge of even the most general character of the arrangement of legal works. If legal information and authority are desired that are not in a text-book that has been studied,

the student does not know just what set of works holds the knowledge he seeks, nor in what volume and chapter it is to be found; nor does he know how to ascertain these things. I knew of a student of more than usual intelligence and preparation, a candidate for the degree of Juris Doctor, who finished a year's study of the law with excellent marks, yet did not know what "34 Michigan, 254," meant. Aside from the fact that it had something to do with the law and the state of Michigan, the arrangement of figures and letters meant as little as though it were Sanskrit. The mystery was revealed to him while he was solving the problems issued in a course in Legal Bibliography.

The students occupied with the study of the law are in earnest. They take their work seriously, and mean to do it well. In a law school of the highest class, however, the student finds himself driven to the limit of his effective ability. If he spends sixteen hours a week in the recitation room, subject to close quiz work, he must spend two hours in preparation for each of those recitations. This means a total of forty-eight hours a week, or eight hours a day, if he works six days of the week-more than nine, if Saturday is a vacation. Under these circumstances, when he has been led to regard the law course as comprehensive, can he be expected to search out additional information for himself? Can he secure it without proper direction? The students want the information that is to be of use to them in their life work. They want to know how to do the work that is to be expected of them. They wish to be taught how to apply their knowledge.

That the students do desire practical information as to how and where to find the law is shown by the interest with which they attend lectures such as are

given by Roger W. Cooley on "How to Find the Law." At the University of Michigan the work is entirely elective. The students are under no compulsion whatever to attend, and receive no credit of any kind for the work. The course is merely called to their attention, without any complete explanation of its nature or value. Yet so keen is the feeling that work of this nature is invaluable that the attendance is large and the work followed with closest attention. This year the work was given to the juniors, instead of to the senior class as heretofore. The juniors had not yet begun their work in the practice court, and so had not yet felt the necessity of information as to where and how to seek for legal principles and authorities. They were also bearing an increased burden of work, another subject having been added to the course as given in years past. Beside this, the lectures were given at the time when spring was beginning to appear, and sunshine and warm breezes furnish little inspiration for added tasks. Yet under these circumstances the students showed their desire for and appreciation of such work in no uncertain fashion.

In the ordinary courses that comprise the bulk of the work in the law school, the student is given a casebook, or a text-book, or both. The process through which he goes in familiarizing himself with the law by the study of these books is very different from the one he knows he will be called upon to go through in solving the problems that arise in actual practice. The theory of the law is mastered, the principles are learned, but the selection, classification, and solution of the problem have all been accomplished. The cases studied and the questions which arise are at least within the particular subject under consideration, the rules of which are at hand. The student

knows that entirely different work will be required of him when he seeks to earn his livelihood as a practitioner. A client will come into his office with a statement of facts, probably varied and involved. These must be sifted, the point determined, and the solution arrived at. Naturally the lawyer expects to be able to turn to his books for aid and support. If the stress of college life has not forced him to dispose of the books he studied, he may be able to locate the principle governing the case in question in a text-book. He cannot quote that text to the tribunal which is to determine his client's case with the assurance with which he stated it to his professor in the classroom. He must know how to find cases to support the rule of the text. He should know how to use those cases as keys to others to bring the investigation down to date. The judicial history of each case to be cited is to be examined, and the most expeditious method of accomplishing this task is information of the most valuable kind.

If information covering the exact controversy cannot be found in an available text, or it fails to cite authority that can be applied to this particular case in this jurisdiction, he must turn to digests and reports. How to locate the subject in the volumes at his disposal is the first problem. In the course given by Mr. Cooley the descriptive word method is taught as one means of locating the question in the digests. Some particular word in the statement of facts will prob

ably act as a key to open the entire maze. By searching in the digests for headings corresponding to the words that seem to be descriptive of important elements in the controversy or remedy sought, a case can probably be found involving a similar principle and laying down a rule of law that aids in deciding the problem at hand. Thus reference is had to a case that is a source of information and an authority. How to find other cases is still another problem. Lacking training, a haphazard search is the method most likely to be employed. Instruction in the organization and arrangement of reference and source books discloses short cuts and cross-references, by means of which other authorities may be found and the entire case law on the subject completely exhausted. Even though this might have been done without special drill, that drill discloses time and labor saving methods that are of the greatest practical utility to both student and practitioner. Though the student may be able to find his way around in the reports, he is likely to be in entire ignorance of parallel tables, citators, and other aids and search works. A course that discloses the hidden mysteries is eagerly welcomed by the thoughtful student. The course recently given, brief though it was, has done much to train the students in the practical work they will be called upon to accomplish. They can enter the work of the practice court with some understanding of how to reach. what the library contains.

Pleading and Practice and Evidence

1. A. sold and delivered a horse to B., for which B. paid the agreed price of $500. A. expressly warranted the horse to be sound, and the price paid was predicated thereon. Draw a complaint in an action in the Supreme Court brought by B. against A. for damages for a breach of the warranty; B. not returning or offering to return the horse. Omit verification.

2. What must be shown to procure a warrant of attachment?

3. X. consulted you, and stated that he was a police officer of the city of X., and that he had been unjustly retired from the force and placed on a pension, based on wrong and false findings and certificates of the police surgeons, which were not conclusive, that he was disabled physically so as to be unfitted and unable to perform full police duty. The police surgeons had jurisdiction to retire police officers for disability.

What proceeding would you take, if any, to procure his reinstatement? State your reasons for your answer.

4. In an action for damages sustained by plaintiff through defendant's negligence, the complaint alleged that the injury complained of was occasioned by defendant's negligence, but it failed to allege absence of contributory negligence on the part of plaintiff. Question arises as to the sufficiency of the complaint in that regard. What do you say? State your reasons.

5. A physician sued his patient for services rendered in setting and treating his patient's broken leg, and duly recovered a judgment therefor by default for fifty dollars. Thereupon the patient brought an action against him for malpractice and for negligence and want of skill in setting and treating the aforesaid broken leg, and claimed damages in the sum of five hundred dollars.

The physician consults you as to the effect of his judgment, if any, on the cause of action set forth in his patient's complaint. What would be your advice, and why?

6. On the trial of an action with a jury, both parties requested the court to direct a verdict in his favor. The court directed a verdict against the defendant, who then and there excepted, and asked the court to be allowed to go to the jury and submit certain questions of fact concededly disputed.

The court refused the request, to which defendant excepted. The verdict was then entered, upon which plaintiff subsequently entered judgment, from which defendant appeals upon the exception above taken. Judgment on appeal affirmed or reversed, and why?

7. A. sued B. for services rendered under an express contract to pay him $1,000 therefor. The answer was a general denial and a special agreement to render the services for $100. On the trial plaintiff offered testimony to prove the value of his services, to which objection was made. What should the ruling of the court be, and why?

8. A. contracted in and by a writing, absolute on its face, which he delivered to B., to sell and deliver to B., for $5,000 in cash, a celebrated running horse. It was orally agreed at the time that the agreement was not to become a binding contract unless X. consented to the sale. B. sues A. for not delivering the horse. On the trial A. offers parol evidence (a) of the above condition, and (b) that X. refused consent to the sale.

Objection is made to the evidence by B. What should the ruling of the court be, and why?

9. A. was a broker, and was sued by B., a customer, for converting a United States bond for $10,000, plaintiff's property. A., in discussing at home, alone with his wife, his financial affairs and difficulties and the high cost of living, told her in the conversation, in confidence, that he was indebted to B. in the sum of $10.000, the value of a United States bond of B.'s, which he had sold without right.

On the trial of the action, the wife was subpoenaed as a witness on the part of the plaintiff, and was asked to give evidence of the above conversation, to which the husband's attorney objected, on the ground that the wife could not be compelled to disclose

a confidential communication made to her by her husband during marriage, and that the conversation was inadmissible under section 831 of the Code.

What should the ruling of the court be, and why?

10. A. was a traveling salesman in the employ of B., and, as such, he sold a bill of goods to X. with an express warranty of quality, which he was authorized to make. X. has sued B. for damages for breach of warranty. On the trial of the action, X. calls Y. as a witness to testify to a conversation had by him with A. while A. was working for another firm, subsequent to the transaction in question, in which A. stated that both he and B. knew at the time of the sale that the goods were not according to the warranty, and that he had been instructed by B. to make the warranty notwithstanding. Question arises as to the admissibility of the evidence. What do you say, and why? 11. On the trial of an action in this state, it becomes essential to prove the law of Massachusetts on the question at issue. There is no written law on the subject in Massachusetts. What would you do under

the circumstances?

12. A. was indicted for the crime of receiving stolen property, knowing the same to have been stolen. The property was found in his possession at the time of his arrest. On the trial, he swore that he had purchased the property in question from one X., and offered to prove what X. had said to him at the time he claimed to have bought it as to the mode of obtaining the property by X. This was objected to as hearsay, irrelevant, and incompetent. What should be the ruling of the court, and why?

Substantive Law

13. X. wishes to engage in the business of manufacturing automobiles. He purchases from Y. a factory building which is supplied with steam boilers and engines with shafting for driving machinery built into the building. He completes his plant by purchasing from Z. lathes and other machines to be driven by belts from this shafting, which are screwed to the floor in order to keep them in place while running, and each of which is removable from the factory without injury thereto or to any other machine. X. gave his promissory note to Z. for the lathes and other machines purchased from Z., secured by a chattel mortgage on the same and upon the steam boilers and engines and gearing, which Z. caused to be duly filed. Later X. executed and delivered to W. a real estate mortgage upon the factory and all the machinery of every nature therein, which is duly recorded. Z. and W. foreclose their respective mortgages, each claiming to hold a lien upon all the machinery in the build

ing. How is the controversy decided? Answer fully, and give your reasons.

14. X. held real property under an imperfect title. He conveys the same to Y. for a valuable consideration by deed, with covenants of warranty, and Y. enters into possession of the land. Subsequently X. purchases a judgment for value which is a lien on the land, and assigns the same to Z., who causes the sheriff to levy upon and advertise the land for sale under execution. What are the rights of Y. and Z., respectively? Answer fully, with your reasons.

15. X. executed and delivered to Y. a deed of conveyance of certain real estate, which deed contained the following condition:

"Provided always and this indenture is made upon the condition that the grantee, his heirs or assigns, shall not at any time manufacture or sell, to be used as a beverage, any intoxicating liquor on the premises hereby conveyed, and that if the grantee, his heirs or assigns, shall violate the condition aforesaid, or permit any violation thereof, then this indenture shall be void. and the said premises shall revert to and become the absolute property of the grantor, his heirs or assigns, who may enter into possession thereof and eject the grantee, his heirs or assigns, or any person holding under him or them therefrom."

Y. entered into possession of the premises under said deed, and subsequently, while in possession thereof, sold intoxicating liquors, to be used as a beverage, on said premises. X. thereupon brings an action for ejectment to recover the possession of the land on account of the breach of said condition in said deed from X. to Y. Y. defends on the ground that the deed conveyed a fee and the condition was invalid. Judgment for whom. and why?

16. A., by a covenant in a contract between A. and B., agreed to pay money to C. It was stated in the contract that said promise by A. was solely for the benefit of B. A. defaulted upon his covenant, and C. brought an action on the covenant against A. to recover the amount which he therein agreed to pay to C. Judgment for whom, and why?

B.

17. A., a wagon maker, sold to B. a wagon. and delivered it before the payment of the whole amount of the purchase price. sold the wagon to C. C. discovered certain defects and returned the wagon to A. to Inake the repairs. The repairs were made by A. and paid for by C. A. then refused to deliver the wagon until paid the balance due therefor from B. B. thereupon writes A. that he will pay the same in ten days, provided the wagon is delivered to C., and C. promises in writing to see that this is done. B. does not pay, and A. sues C. on his promise. Can he recover? Give your reasons.

18. John Doe, desiring to undertake the business of manufacturing automobiles, en