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than were those who took the freshman and sophomore work in resident attendance. Whether the foregoing statement is absolutely correct I cannot say; but I can very well believe, from my experience, that the statement in the form. given is absolutely true.

Admitting that the correspondence method of instruction is good in some ways, the question may be raised: Can the law be successfully taught by correspondence? Seventeen or eighteen

years ago the asking of such a question might have been justified. To-day, however, that is not the case, for the reason that the experience of the various Correspondence Law Schools and of thousands of students who have studied in these schools has conclusively proved that the law can be successfully taught by correspondence, as is proved by the fact that those same students have taken the State Bar Examinations and have succeeded-passing them almost without exception. After all is said and done, it is results that count. It was stated in a magazine article, some time ago that 25 per cent. of the graduates of the resident law schools fail on the bar examinations, and that 60 per cent. of the law office students fail on bar examinations. The records of the leading Correspondence Law Schools show that less than 1 per cent. of the graduates of these schools who take the bar examinations fail to pass. While I do not mean to claim by

this statement any superiority for the Correspondence Law Schools over the resident schools, for in both cases the result depends largely on the student, the above record is at least high tribute to the students of the correspondence schools, to their earnestness, their persistence, and their ability, and it proves conclusively that a man can learn the law by correspondence and that he can learn it thoroughly and well.

As has been stated, a man cannot go through a correspondence course in law except he wants to learn. Study by correspondence is harder than at the resident schools, for it has none of the adventitious attractions that university life offers, and no one takes a correspondence course merely because father can afford it and it is a nice way to spend a few years, which is the spirit with which so many boys go to college.

Results are what should be sought, and that, if a man has learned the law and knows it, he is entitled to the fullest consideration, opportunity, and respect, and that neither courts nor schools should throw in his way rules or requirements or obstacles that can be overcome only by circumstances and opportunities, and against which brains and knowledge alone are of no avail. The question, it seems to me, therefore, should be, in all bar examinations and in all tests: What and how much do you know? not in any sense, where or how did you learn it?

Marking an Epoch.

By FREDERICK G. STUTZ, LL. M.

Assistant Managing Editor, West Publishing Company.

A

N epoch in the history of American legal bibliography is marked by the publication of the Decennial Digest, the first volume of which is announced for June next. It is published as a grand division of the American Digest System, and in order to arrive at a better understanding of its significance it is interesting to review briefly the history of the work of adequately digesting the mass of American law reports and the development of a comprehensive standard system.

The success of the Federal Reporter and of the Northwestern Reporter had clearly demonstrated the utility of the "Reporter plan" of grouping into one publication the opinions of the courts of several states and of publishing promptly, in weekly advance sheets, opinions which heretofore had only been available through the official reports, which, as a rule, did not make their appearance until two or three years after the cases had been decided. The completion of the National Reporter System in 1887, by increasing the number of Reporters so as to include the courts of the entire country, soon emphasized the necessity of a system of digesting which would be correspondingly prompt, accurate, economical, and which would cover the whole field.

At this time the United States Digest was practically the only publication which was national in its scope. It was started in the late 40's by the publication of three volumes covering the law and

admiralty cases, and was followed by a two-volume supplement in 1847, by a table of cases, and by two volumes of equity cases.

This compilation was followed by the first attempt at an annual digest, annual continuations being published from 1847 to 1869.

About 1870, Benjamin Vaughn Abbott undertook the recompilation of these annuals (which we now know as "United States Digest, Old Series"), supplementing the recompilation with a new series of Annuals, beginning with 1870. Abbott's recompilation is now known as the "United States Digest, First Series," and the Annuals from 1870 are known as the "United States Digest, New Series." The New Series Annuals continued until 1888.

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The prompt publication of cases through the Reporters, however, soon developed a state of affairs which made. the New Series Annuals antiquated, digesting, as they did, cases only after they had been reported in the State Reports and which were therefore from two to five years old. The need for a modern up-to-date digest was so urgent that three new series of digests were announced during 1887, the American Digest, the General Digest, and the Complete Digest. Of these the Complete Digest lasted but three or four years, and the General for ten or twelve years. The American Annual survived, and around it has been built up the American Digest System. This digest system has been

the natural outgrowth of a logical and rational attempt to meet the digest needs of the lawyers of the entire country.

Beginning in 1887, the American Annuals, reporting the decisions of all of the courts of last resort of the whole country, were issued in one series until 1896. At this point a compilation of all American cases from 1658 to date was undertaken, to be known as the "Century Edition of the American Digest." The publication of this compilation was the greatest law-book enterprise of modern times, and was successfully concluded by the publication of Vol. 50 in 1904.

For the purposes of this digest, the scheme of classification which had been used throughout the American Annuals up to this time was carefully enlarged and adjusted so as to meet the needs of a 50-volume publication, covering over a million legal propositions. This plan of classification, known as the "American Digest Classification," is now everywhere recognized as the standard, and has been recommended by the American Bar Association. It has been strictly adhered to in all of the annual and semiannual editions of the American Digest down to the present time.

The real work of developing a uniform system of digesting dates from the publication of the Century, and with the efforts which were made to provide, by means of the subsequent American Digest Annuals, an effective current supplement, uniform with the main compila

covering the period from 1896 to 1906, marks the second great epoch in the development of the American System of Digests.

The Decennial Edition of the American Digest, as this new compilation is designated, or the Decennial, "for short," is compiled, of course, upon the standard American Digest Classification, and, like the Century, is a comprehensive annotated digest, completely covering a given period of time. The Decennial Digest is supplemented by the Annual Edition, or, to be more accurate, by semiannual volumes, designated for convenience as "A" and "B" of a given year, as "1907A," "1907B."

The publication of the Decennial Digest marks a new epoch in the development of the American Digest System. The necessity that the Decennial should continue without change the Century Edition, and should in turn be kept strictly down to date and currently supplemented by the current volumes of the American Digest, has led to the elaboration of several distinctly new and important features of great practical importance to the lawyer. One feature of prime importance is the system of annotations to the Century Digest, by which a direct reference is made from the minute subdivisions of the topics in the Decennial to the exact place in the Century Digest where all previous authorities are collected. The form of this annotation has been so carefully thought out that it not

tion and containing various editorial fea-only provides a reference to the Century tures tending to unify the plan and simplify the lawyer's work of investigating the authorities.

In 1906, after the publication of 18 issues of the American Annual and Semiannual, the necessity of a new compilation, under one topical arrangement, of the cases contained in these volumes, became urgent. This new compilation,

Digest, but also resolves itself into an effective working annotation from the Century to the Decennial itself, so that, whether the lawyer begins with the Century and follows up his search by the Decennial, or begins with the later cases in the Decennial and traces the authorities back through the Century, he is provided with a direct system of anno

In

tations which will carry him, without topical research, to the earlier or later authorities, as the case may be. This digest annotation feature has been further elaborated so as to also cover the entire National Reporter System. the current volumes of Reporters practically every case is provided with these annotations, which take the lawyer directly to the exact place in the Digests where every prior case in point is to be found. This annotation feature, joining together, as it does, a great system of reports with a great system of digests, is perhaps the best single reference feature ever provided in any series of legal or other reference works. Another matter of extraordinary importance is the plan devised for giving the lawyer a quick and exact reference. from the Decennial to the current American Digests, or from one volume of the current digest to each of the other volumes. This is the system of identical section numbering. The American Digest plan of classification has been so elaborated and systematized, and its efficiency so well demonstrated, that it is now possible to permanently designate each of the 44,000 black letter sections. of the classification plan by a permanent section number. Each sectional division of each topic is given its permanent number in the Decennial Digest, and whenever matter appears in a subsequent volume of the current American, which calls for the use of this classification unit, the section line will appear with the same number as it was given in the Decennial. The enormous value of this feature will be readily seen, for it makes it possible to turn immediately from the Decennial to the exact section and page in each of the current volumes of the American where the later cases will be found, or, if the investigation is begun with the last volume of the current American, to turn

at once to the earlier volumes of the American, and from them to the exact place in the Decennial, without the necessity of investigating in any way the topical divisions and subdivisions of the classification plan.

Of course, in the current American Digests we will have the novel feature of a series of section numbers in which certain numbers do not appear; in other words, many numbers are "skipped." The absence of any number, however, indicates at once that there is no matter in the volume under that particular subsection of the topic, and indicates to the lawyer that no time need be wasted in studying the classification in order to reassure himself that he has turned to the right place in the digest for the authorities for which he is seeking.

The two features above referred to bind together into one great whole the several units of the American Digest Sys

tem.

This is still further accomplished, and an independent feature of supreme practical importance is provided, by the publication in the last volumes of the Decen

nial Digest of a Complete Table of American Cases from 1658 to 1906, inclusive. This table shows, in addition to the title of the case, the state in which it was decided, the place where each point of the case is digested in the Century or Decennial Editions of the American Digest, and, furthermore, contains a reference to the volume and page of the State Reports, the Reporters, and all other general series of reports where each case is to be found. Many uses to which the lawyer may put this table Having readily suggest themselves. found one case in point, he can by means of the table go directly to the digests for a complete collection of all authorities in point. By its use he can bring down to

date every text-book, encyclopædia, state digest, or other legal reference book which he may have in his library. The table in effect provides a complete note or annotation for every reported case. It also serves as a complete citation table. The lawyer, cited to a case in a series. of reports which he does not own, can, by turning to the table, ascertain at once the volume and page in which the case appears in the series of reports which he owns or has access to. While these various uses readily suggest themselves,

the practical use of the table itself will doubtless develop many other valuable ways in which the lawyer will derive assistance in briefing his authorities, some of which may not have been foreseen by the compilers.

Enough can be seen, however, of the great value which the Decennial Digest will be to the busy lawyer to justify the assertion that its publication marks a distinct epoch in the growth and development of the work of adequately digesting American case law.

Law School Credits.

By MARTIN P. BURKS,

Dean of the Washington and Lee University Law School.

HE word "credit," as used in this

THE

connection, is somewhat ambiguous. It may refer merely to the time of residence required for a degree, or to work successfully completed in another school, or to a course of lectures attended. If only the time of residence required for a degree is shortened, but the student is required to be examined on all subjects necessary for a degree, then he is simply accorded "advanced standing," and this is not usually spoken of as a credit. If work successfully accomplished at one school is accepted as final and satisfactory by another, without examination or other test, and credited by the latter on the required course for a degree, then the credit is transferred to the latter, and the student may, in fact, be said to get "credit" for work done elsewhere. This is really the only case which can properly be called a "credit." Sometimes a student

has had a satisfactory course of lectures on one or more subjects, but for some reason, such as sickness of himself or family, has been unable to stand the required examinations. Here he may be excused from attending another series of lectures on the same subject, but is required to take the examinations. This is in the nature of an advanced standing, and is in no true sense a credit, and need not be again referred to. We are only interested to know what number of schools accord "advanced standing" only, and what number give "credit" in the sense above mentioned.

At Washington and Lee we have been "feeling our way" on the subject of credits for the past two years, unaided by the experience of others, and without any accurate information as to what was being done elsewhere. Recently, at the instance of the editor of the American Law School Review, we

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