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CHAPTER IX.

THE LAW DEPARTMENT.

In 1790 a professorship of law was established in the college department. Mr. Justice Wilson, of the Supreme Court of the United States, having been elected the professor, delivered his introductory lecture on December 15 of that year, "in the quaint old fashioned hall of the Academy," in the presence of President Washington and his Cabinet, the Houses of Congress, the Executive and Legislative Departments of the government of the State of Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia, the Judges of the Courts, the members of the Bar, and last, but not least, Mrs. Washington, Mrs. Hamilton, and many other ladies. But Mr. Justice Wilson's course of lectures, though commenced under such brilliant auspices, does not seem to have progressed beyond its first year. No further effort seems to have been made before 1817 to give instruction in law to the students of the University. On March 20, of that year, Charles Willing Hare, esq., of the Philadelphia bar, was elected Professor of Law, and delivered his introductory lecture in the following month. But he, like Mr. Justice Wilson, lectured for but one year. The subject of instruction in the law was again permitted to pass into oblivion, until, on April 2, 1850, the Hon. George Sharswood, then president judge of the district court of Philadelphia, was elected professor of law; and on September 30, of that year, he delivered his introductory lecture. On May 4, 1852, the trustees of the University established a faculty of law, and appointed Judge Sharswood professor of international, constitutional, commercial, and civil law; Peter McCall, esq., professor of practice, pleading, and evidence at law and in equity; and E. Spencer Miller, esq., professor of the law of real estate, conveyancing, and equity jurisprudence. From that day down to the present time the law school has been in active operation. Professor McCall having resigned on June 5, 1860, P. Pemberton Morris, esq., was, in November, 1862, chosen as his successor. In 1868, Judge Sharswood, having been promoted to the bench of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, the Hon. J. I. Clark Hare, his successor as president judge of the district court of Philadelphia (now the Court of Common Pleas, No. 2), was also appointed his successor in the faculty

'Historical sketch of the Department of Law of the University of Pennsylvania, by Hampton L. Carson, esq.

of the law school. Professor Miller having resigned his professorship in 1872, E. Coppée Mitchell, esq., was, in 1873, elected to the chair of real estate and equity jurisprudence. In February, 1874, James Parsons, esq., was elected professor of the law of personal relations and personal property. Professor Morris having resigned in 1880, George Tucker Bispham, esq., was elected the professor of equity pleading and practice. Professor Mitchell having died in 1887, C. Stuart Patterson, esq., was elected professor of real estate and conveyancing, and A. Sydney Biddle, esq., was elected professor of practice, pleading, and evidence at law and criminal law. To the great loss of the school, and to the great regret of his colleagues and of all who have ever had the benefit of his instruction in the law, Judge Hare in the spring of 1889 resigned his professorship, but, fortunately for the administration of justice, he remains upon the bench of the court of common pleas over which he has presided since 1868. In May, 1889, Samuel S. Hollingsworth, esq., was elected professor of the law of contracts, corporations, and pleading at law, and George S. Graham, esq., the district attorney of Philadelphia, was elected professor of criminal law. In April, 1891, Professor Biddle died. Hon. George M. Dallas, now a judge of the circuit court of the United States, was elected as his successor. In addition to the changes in the personnel of the faculty, changes have been made from time to time in the division and arrangement of the subjects of instruction in the school; and at the present time the titles of the several chairs in the Faculty are as follows: 1. A professorship of commercial law, contracts, and decedents' estates.

2. A professorship of equity jurisprudence, including the principles of and pleading in equity and orphans' court practice.

3. A professorship of constitutional law and the law of real property and conveyancing.

4. A professorship of the law of torts, evidence, and practice at law. 5. A professorship of the law of contracts, corporations, and pleading at law.

6. A professorship of criminal law.

The present prosperity of the school is due to the intelligent and selfsacrificing labors of those who have heretofore been its professors and those who were associated with them. It is fitting, therefore, that those who have succeeded them should gratefully record their appreciation of the virtues and abilities of their predecessors.

George Sharswood, the first of the professors, was born in Philadel phia on July 7, 1810. He was graduated from the University in 1828. Having studied law with Hon. Joseph R. Ingersoll, he was admitted to the bar on September 5, 1831. On April 18, 1845, he was raised to the bench of the district court of Philadelphia. In 1848 he became by senior ity the presiding judge of that court. In 1868 he was elected an associate justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, and on January 1,

1880, he became the chief justice of the State. On January 1, 1883, he retired from the bench; and he died in May, 1883. It is unnecessary to remind students of the law or lawyers of his Lectures Introductory to the Study of Law, of his essay upon "Professional ethics," or of his annotations of Blackstone, of Starkie on Evidence, or of Byles on Bills.

Peter McCall, the second of the professors in the order of seniority, was born in New Jersey on August 31, 1809. Having been graduated at the College of New Jersey, he came to the Philadelphia bar on November 1, 1830. He died on November 2, 1880. He was for many years one of the leaders of the Philadelphia bar. Profoundly learned in the law, he was, in his intercourse with all who were brought into contact with him, a model of courtesy.

E. Spencer Miller was born in 1818. He was graduated at the College of New Jersey. After some years of practice in Maryland and afterwards in New Jersey, he was admitted to the Philadelphia bar on May 6, 1843. From then until the day of his sudden death, March 6, 1879, he was engaged in active practice. He was a clear and accurate thinker, untiring in energy, and a very forcible speaker. Professor Mitchell characterized him as the most successful lecturer that the bar of Philadelphia has ever produced.

P. Pemberton Morris was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in 1816. He was graduated at Georgetown College. He studied the law in the office of the Hon. Job R. Tyson, and was admitted to the bar of Philadelphia on February 8, 1840. In 1849 he published a learned treatise on "The law of replevin," which has ever since been regarded as of high authority. In 1856, he annotated Mr. Smith's work on the Law of Landlord and Tenant. He was for many years engaged in active practice, mainly on the equity side of the courts, and those who were so fortunate as to be his clients always found in him a sound and judicious adviser.

Edward Coppée Mitchell was born in Savannah, on the 24th of July, 1836. He was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1855 and came to the bar in 1858. He died in 1887.

He, upon whose weaker shoulders the University has laid the burden of succeeding Professor Mitchell in the Chair of Real Estate Law, may say that every day which he has spent in the performance of his duty as a professor has caused him more and more to appreciate the high character of his predecessor's work, and to realize that Professor Mitchell's untimely death has been an irreparable loss to the University and to the cause of legal education.

Algernon Sydney Biddle, a son of George W. Biddle, one of the leaders of the Philadelphia bar, was born at Philadelphia 11th of October, 1847. He was graduated at Yale College in 1868 with high honor and admitted to the bar of Philadelphia on 27th of January, 1872. He rose rapidly in his profession. He died at Philadelphia on

8th of April, 1891. His learning in the law and his enthusiasm in teaching were remarkable, and in his too brief career he rendered great services to the University.

It need not be said that a school which numbered among its teachers such men as Chief Justice Sharswood, Judge Hare, Mr. McCall, Mr. Miller, Mr. Morris, Mr. Mitchell, and Mr. Biddle, and those who were associated with them, gave thorough instruction in the law. But those professors, in the performance of their duties, labored under disadvantages which have happily been removed from the paths of their successors. The course was in their time limited to two years, each year including two terms of four months each, with an aggregate of ten hours of instruction each week. Now the course has been extended to three years, with a minimum of twenty hours of instruction in each week. Formerly the lectures and examinations have been conducted at the University buildings in West Philadelphia, at a distance from the homes of the students and from the offices of their preceptors. Now, the Law School has obtained commodious quarters in the building of the Girard Trust Company, at Broad and Chestnut streets, in the business center of the city and in convenient proximity to the homes of the students, the offices of their preceptors, and the courts. The sixth floor of that building is occupied by the lecture rooms, library, and the offices of the executive department of the school. Formerly the law school had not a library appropriated to the use of its students, but now, by the liberality of the family of the late George Biddle, esq., a library, containing complete sets of the English Reports, the Federal Reports, and the reports of the courts of last resort of the several States, has been presented to the University as a memorial of that distinguished lawyer, and this library is yearly receiving substantial additions. The curriculum of the school now includes thorough instruction in the following topics of the law: Constitutional Law, Equity Jurisprudence, Contracts, Bailments, Corporations, Carriers, Real and Personal Property, and Conveyancing, Wills and Administration, Torts, Practice, Pleading and Evidence at Law and in Equity, and Criminal Law. It is to be hoped that before long arrangements will be completed for courses of lectures to be delivered by competent instructors in International Law, Admiralty, Patents and Copyrights, and Medical Jurisprudence.

or,

The requisites of admission to the school are

1. A satisfactory degree as Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Sciences;

2. A certificate of preliminary examination from the board of examiners of the bar of Philadelphia; or,

3. A certificate from two or more examiners appointed by the Faculty of Law, setting forth that the student has passed a satisfactory examination in English and American history, the Latin language, and the first two books of Blackstone's Commentaries.

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