VIII. THE TREATY IN THE SENATE. PAPER REPRINTED FROM AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN THE NEW YORK TIMES OF IX. WHAT IS TO BE DONE WITH OUR RAILROADS? RE- X. RECALL OF DECISIONS, A MODERN PHASE OF IMPATIENCE OF CONSTITUTIONAL RESTRAINTS. PAPER READ AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION HELD IN UTICA, N. Y., JANUARY 24-25, XV. ADDRESS AT THE DINNER TO JUDGE O'BRIEN. REMARKS OF MR. TAFT, TOASTMASTER, AT THE ANNUAL Bar DINNER OF THE NEW YORK COUNTY LAWYERS' ASSO- CIATION, GIVEN IN HONOR OF HON. MORGAN J. XVI. SPEECH OF MR. HENRY W. TAFT DELIVERED BEFORE I ADDRESS TO THE HARVARD LAW SCHOOL STUDENTS 1 GENTLEMEN OF THE HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: BEFORE passing to the main subject of my address, I wish to make a few observations upon the work of this school and, from the standpoint of a practitioner trained under another system, to point out the good which it and others like it are doing for the profession. In the United States, almost to the middle of the nineteenth century, methods for the study of law were crude and unscientific. A knowledge of the law was supposed to be picked up in lawyers' offices, with little systematic instruction. The modern American law school has been a development from this haphazard method. The earliest law lectures in this country were delivered by James Wilson at Philadelphia, and the first of the series was listened to by President Washington and all of his cabinet; but they would be found by students of to-day too general to be of practical benefit. The earliest law school of the modern type was the one at Litchfield, Connecticut, which became famous in the early part of the nineteenth century. The Harvard Law School was founded, I believe, in 1817. It did not, however, become a serious institution until 1829, when Story became the Dane professor at law. Other law schools followed, but it was not until thirty years ago that the idea was generally accepted that a thorough, systematic training in a law school was essential to a proper legal education. There are now in existence in this country more than 1 Delivered in 1908. one hundred of such schools; and in not less than eighteen states of the Union three years' preparatory work is required for admission to the bar. When it is considered that the science and history of our jurisprudence have been developing and its literature increasing for hundreds of years, it is clear that its study should be systematic. If the law is to retain its character as a learned profession, it must be studied as a science, its relation to the social fabric must be understood, and its ancient ideals regarded with veneration. You will hear, and it cannot be denied, that a practical knowledge of the law can only be obtained by experience in a law office; but only in an institution dedicated to scientific study and removed from the distractions of active practice can the general principles of our jurisprudence be mastered; and without a sympathetic grasp of these, no man, whatever his gifts, will imbibe the true spirit of the noble science which we profess. It would be foreign to the main purpose of this address to enter upon a discussion of the admirable system of instruction applied in this school; but I cannot refrain from mentioning one thing which I understand has become a feature. That is the tendency of your professors to give credit to the student not so much for the correctness of his view of any particular proposition, as to the character of his reasons for holding it. This is justified by practical experience. Much of the time of every practicing lawyer is occupied in supporting views which are ultimately declared by the court to be untenable. Why, then, should a student be expected always to be found on the right side? It is true that many general principles of the law are definitely settled; but concrete cases rarely come within these principles, for in the complexity of |