logue states that it "is the only leading law school in the whole South for the education of colored attorneys." The school was organized in 1877 as the law department of Central Tennessee College and in 1900 the name was changed to Walden University. It is established at Nashville. Applicants for admission must give evidence of good moral character and that they have attended some reputable high school, academy, normal or college preparatory school for at least two years.

The law school of Cumberland University at Lebanon has a course of one year for the degree of LL. B. This is one of oldest schools in the country, having been established in 1847. It has no entrance requirements and publicly advertises the fact in the newspapers. The result is that it enrolls more students than any other school in the state. The catalogue for 1906 does not show that a single student was enrolled who possessed an academic degree. The total enrollment was 118, and of this number 27 are credited with "taking a partial course." The law school of the University of Tennessee enrolled 62, Grant University 60, Vanderbilt University 46, the University of the South 18, and Walden University 4. The law school of the University of Tennessee requires all applicants to have had a high school education. That of the University of the South states "that the requirements for admission to the university apply to law students; yet, for entry to the junior class students of mature age and earnest purpose may not be held to rigid examination." Vanderbilt University announces that applicants are "not required to undergo a special examination, but must satisfy the faculty of their fitness to undertake the work." Grant University says that applicants "will be expected to furnish satisfactory evidence of at least a fair education in the common branches." It adds that students who have no diplomas from a college, academy or high school, but "who are able to pass an examination testing ability to read law books intelligently and comprehend law lectures will be admitted."

The law school connected with the University of Tennessee has been a member of this Association until the present year, when its membership is forfeited under the constitutional provision which now makes a three years' course essential to membership in this body. It is a source of regret that the University of Tennessee has not seen it possible as yet to place its law school upon the three years' basis. The dean of that school, who is so well known to all of us, is anxious for a three years' course, as is the dean of the law school of Vanderbilt University. They have the best wishes of this Association for the speedy realization of their ambition. We hope that it will not be long before the representatives of each of these schools will be sitting in the councils of this Association.

Texas has two schools. The law school of the University of Texas is a member of this Association and is the largest school in the South, having 247 students enrolled. It has a three years' course, adopted three years ago. Candidates for admission must have had a high school education. The change from a two years' to a three years' basis did not, after the first year, decrease attendance. A law school was established in 1893 in connection with Fort Worth University. Its catalogue fails to show that any students were in attendance during the past year. It also fails to show the length of the course and the nature of the examination of applicants for admission.

Virginia has three schools, that of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, of the Washington and Lee University at Lexington, and the College of Law at Richmond. The law school of the University of Virginia was opened in 1826, the year after that of Yale University. The school connected with that of Washington and Lee University was founded in 1849. The Richmond College of Law was established in 1870 and existed until 1882, when it was discontinued. It was re-established in All three of these schools now have a two years' The University of Virginia has had such a course for

1890.

course.

a number of years. But the two year rule goes into effect at the Washington and Lee University with the academic year 1906-07. And the Richmond College of Law has also just established the two years' course. Students who enter the law school of the University of Virginia must have had a high school education. The law school of Washington and Lee University announces that "no entrance examinations are required for admission into the law school, but it is expected that all students applying for entrance shall have had at least the advantages of a good English education." The Richmond College of Law states that "each applicant for admission must give evidence of fair general education."

The law school of Washington and Lee University asserts in its catalogue that inasmuch as each class is given "about" fifteen hours of lectures each week the amount of work prescribed "nearly or quite equals that required in those institutions which allow three years to their courses." But there are a number of three year schools, of which Yale is one, which prescribe fifteen hours of work for each of the three years. It will not do to attach too great importance to the fact that one school prescribes ten hours of work, as at Harvard, or fifteen hours, as at Yale, if only the course be a three years' course with due opportunity for reflection and assimilation. Threeyears of ten hours of prescribed work in each year is certainly far more valuable to the student than two years of fifteen hours of prescribed work. That fact should never be lost sight of either by instructor or student. The catalogue of the Richmond College of Law makes a strange misstatement: it announces that there is no law school in the South, except two colored schools, which is eligible for membership in the Association of American Law Schools, as there is none having a three years' course. The law school of the University of Virginia has 200 students enrolled, and is the second in size. in the South. Washington and Lee has 75 and the law school at Richmond 34.

West Virginia has but one law school, that of the State

University at Morgantown. This school has a two years' course. Its admission requirements are the same as those prescribed for admission to the College of Arts and Sciences. It confers the degree of LL. B. only upon those who have had two years of a college course. To all others it grants simply a diploma. Its last catalogue shows that forty-three students were candidates for a degree and twenty-four for a diploma. Not only does the diploma or degree of the school admit to the Bar of the state, but the faculty is constituted a state commission to examine all applicants for admission to the Bar. No other state entrusts to the faculty of a law school the right to pass upon all applicants. The objection to such a provision is that a faculty might be inclined to favor its own students and admit them to the Bar with too little of preparation, while at the same time it excluded others whose knowledge of the law might, at least, equal that possessed by some of those to whom the license is granted. This Association and the American Bar Association has several times gone on record as opposed to candidates being admitted to the Bar on a law school diploma. The practice is a vicious one, and tends to low standards in the schools. The West Virginia idea goes a step farther and gives a law faculty not only the power to admit its own students, but, in addition the right to exclude those who are not. No law faculty should possess any such authority. It seems to be indefensible from any point of view.

To summarize results, there are in the states south of the Potomac thirty law schools which had during the past year a total attendance of about 1542 students. These states, according to the census of 1900, had a population of 22,081,639. The population of the whole country was 76,303,387. If we assume that the number of law schools in the United States was approximately 125, and that the total of students in law. schools was about 15,000, it will be seen that these states have less than a proportionate share of the law schools of the country, and that the number of students in the schools is proportionately much less in these states than in the states of the North.

Indeed, the small number of students in the law schools of the South as compared with the number in the schools of the rest of the country is a fact of no little significance.

That there should be in these states only five law schools having a three years' course of study for the bachelor's degree, and that two of the five should be schools for the colored race, are facts which also are not without significance.

That a number of the schools have recently abandoned a one year course and come to the two years' basis is a subject for congratulation. That there are even two or three schools left which persist in maintaining a one year course for the degree is a surprising, and I may add with truth, humiliating fact.

Another striking fact in connection with the law schools of the South is that in so few of them is attention paid to the preliminary education of students seeking admission to the schools.

If we examine the rules which govern the admission of students to the Bar in the states of the South, we shall find some explanation of the fact that there are so few students in Southern law schools.

No definite period of law study is prescribed in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas or Virginia.

Two years are prescribed in North Carolina, South Carolina. and West Virginia.

any

The prevalent theory in the South is that justice requires that an applicant for admission should be allowed to show at time that he is qualified to pass the examination, and that as a bright man can prepare himself in less time than a dull one, he should not be shut out by any fixed rule as to time. This theory has long been rejected in the Northern States. It has been repudiated by the American Bar Association, which has gone on record in favor of a three years' requirement. The Southern rule fails to recognize the fact that while a student may in a comparatively short