wise their use and application would not be recognized. The sort of knowledge to which I refer is largely to be found in the statute-book, and that, however much despised, is a book which ought always to be within the student's reach. It should be his vade mecum, not to the exclusion of scientific text books, but as an adjunct and interpreter of them. The statute-book exhibits the actual institutions and regulations prevailing in the State at the present time.

One of the advantages of studying law in the office of a practitioner is the acquisition, to some extent, of the kind of knowledge to which I have referred. The student is there brought in contact with the business world, and the practical application of the law to actual cases. He copies deeds, agreements, documents of every kind, as well as legal papers, and is often charged with business transactions that increase his general knowledge.

I do not underrate the study of law by scientific methods, as it is pursued in this and other schools. This method of study is of the greatest value. It makes scientific lawyers. It gives general and harmonious views of the law. It awakens an interest for its profound depths. But whilst the science is studied here, its application to the status, the exigencies and the wants of society may be learned, and best learned, by a study of the living subject itself— civil society-and the transactions that prevail in it; everything that exists and every thing that passes about one in the social state.

I have urged this view upon your attention because I have often seen young men settle down into mere book worms of the law, losing their interest in passing

events and what is going on around them, and thereby becoming unadapted to the active professional duties of the lawyer, which exhibit him in his most useful character, and bring him the richest rewards.

THE LAWYER'S STUDIES FIT HIM TO TAKE A LEADING PART IN THE STATE.

These considerations lead us to another interesting view of our profession. The subject of the lawyer's studies necessarily makes him intimately acquainted with all the duties of the magistrate, as well as all the duties of the citizen; with the rules of conduct that actually prevail, and with the wants and necessities of the body politic requiring any change or modification of these rules. Of course with this species of study and training, no class of the community is so well qualified as the lawyer to take a leading part in the affairs of the community, in the making and in the administration of its laws, and in the execution of the powers of government. It is the legitimate and proper result of his studies and training. This is only true, however, when the lawyer takes a broad and liberal view of his profession, and regards it, as it should be regarded, as ancillary to the promotion of justice and right amongst men, and the general good of the State. The merely technical pettifogger, the leguleius cautus, is more unfitted than other men to counsel and govern the State, because the narrow and incorrect views which he takes of his profession rather lead him astray, to the promotion of mischievous devices and expedients, than to wise and prudent He knows both too much and too little;

measures.

as a

et that

too much to be modest, prudent and conservative, too little to take wise and enlightened views. Hence it often happens, as the result of such unfortunate examples, that a popular jealousy and distrust of lawyers prevails in keeping them out of places of public trust.

How important, therefore, it is to themselves as a class, as well as to society at large, that the students of justice and right, should be imbued with the principles of justice and right, so that the profession may take that high and noble position in the community which, when it is faithful to itself, is its just preroga

tive.

CONCLUSION.

The few suggestions that I have made with regard to the range of inquiry desirable in the study of law must not be taken as complete. In a single lecture I can only set forth a few things to be acquired or done that strike me as important, and that may not be obvious to the student. There are, of course, many others which I cannot dwell upon, such as general history, the history of the law, legal biography, political philosophy, political economy, and many more, which the student must in time acquire, in order to become an accomplished lawyer. To sum up all in one word, in order to be an accomplished lawyer, it is necessary, besides having a knowledge of the law, to be an accomplished man, graced with at least a general knowledge of history, of science, of philosophy, of the useful arts, of the modes of business, and of everything that concerns the well-being and intercourse of men in society. He ought to be a man

of large understanding; he must be a man of large acquirements and rich in general information; for, he is a priest of the law, which is the bond and support of civil society, and which extends to and regulates every relation of one man to another in that society, and every transaction that takes place in it.

Trained in such a profession, and having these acquirements, and two things more (which can never be omitted from the category of qualifications), incorruptible integrity and a high sense of honor, the true lawyer cannot but be the highest style of a man, fit for any position of trust, public or private; one to whom the community can look up as to a leader and guide; fit to judge and to rule in the highest places of magistracy and government; an honor to himself, an honor to his kind.

T

A

PROCEEDINGS AT THE ORGANIZATION

OF THE

UNITED STATES

CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE

THIRD CIRCUIT,

AT PHILADELPHIA,

ON TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 1891,

AT 12 O'CLOCK, NOON.

The following Judges were on the bench:

MR. JUSTICE BRADLEY, of the Supreme Court of the United States. HON. MARCUS W. ACHESON, Judge of the United States Circuit Court for the Third Circuit.

HON. WILLIAM BUTLER, Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

HON. LEONARD E. WALES, Judge of the United States District Court for Delaware.

HON. EDWARD T. GREEN, Judge of the United States District Court for New Jersey.

HON. JAMES H. REED, Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

A large number of the members of the Bar of the Circuit were present.

MR. JUSTICE BRADLEY SPOKE AS FOLLOWS:

This being the day appointed for the first meeting of the Circuit Court of Appeals, we have met for the purpose of organizing the Court. According to the Act of Congress, the Court is to consist of three Judges-the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, together with a Circuit Court Judge and such District Judge as may be assigned for the purpose.

We have agreed upon a general order, which I will read and which will be adopted by the Court.