and I think occasionally in the evening Mr. Woodruff, Mr. Huffcut, Mr. Olmsted and Mr. McCann could be found there."

In 1893 the services of Alexander Hugh Ross Fraser were secured as law librarian. Mr. Fraser graduated from the law school of Dalhousie University in 1890, where his work was of high character and after his graduation he was in charge of the law library of that school. Of Mr. Fraser's work as librarian the President of Dalhousie in a public report said, "I think I express the sentiments of professors and students alike when I say that his painstaking devotion to the duties of his office has doubled the value of the law library." That Mr. Fraser brought high qualifications to his new position at Cornell is shown by the 1897-98 report of the president in which it is said that "the excellent condition of the library is due to the painstaking and arduous labors of the librarian, Mr. A. H. R. Fraser, whose unselfish devotion to the university takes too little account of the need of rest and recreation for himself." In the New York Evening Post of May 20, 1911, under the title "A Librarian's Devotion, Alexander H. R. Fraser, known of all Cornell men," the writer in speaking of the death of Mr. Fraser, which occurred on May 5, 1911, says "He was held in high regard by hundreds of undergraduates and thousands of alumni of Cornell. Much of his success was due to his unusual skill as a collector of books. The difficulty lay in the relatively small amount of money at his disposal, as compared with the sums appropriated for other great libraries. He overcame this handicap to a large extent by his uncommon business acumen and skill as a buyer, and by his personal generosity in buying books out of his own salary All those who knew him were amazed at the intense intellectual activity of the man, at the range and extent of his knowledge and interests." In the hall connecting the two main rooms of the law library may be found a most fitting tablet, erected by the trustees of the University:

ALEXANDER HUGH ROSS FRASER, LL.B.

1866-1911

Librarian of the College of Law

1893-1911

Learned in the bibliography of the law,
Generous and efficient in contributing

to the growth of the library,
His services to all who used it was marked
by wisdom and kindliness.

In September, 1911, the writer was appointed law librarian and the general policy of growth and usefulness has been followed as nearly as conditions would allow. Regardless of the lean years, and the war, which lessened the usual annual accessions, over 10,000 volumes have been added since that time. A few years ago such a number of volumes would have been considered a large library in itself. As is said in the 1896-97 annual report "the bulk of reported adjudications is constantly on the increase, and a good library needs them all." It has also been said that "the larger the library is the faster it must grow." It cannot stand still, as it has achieved a rank which brings with it many responsibilities. Some collections and individual books only come on the market at infrequent intervals and a working capital is necessary to compete with other institutions when opportunities for purchase occur. As a rule the nearer any collection is to completion the more the cost for the necessary items. The working tools of our laboratory must be kept up regardless of the ever increasing cost of legal publications.

A Half Century of Legal Education

BY FRANCIS M. BURDICK!

It is not the purpose of this paper to discuss theories of legal education but to present some reminiscences of law schools since the writer began the study of law fifty years ago.

At that time, the curriculum of Hamilton College provided for the study of Blackstone's Commentaries, of International Law, and of American Constitutional Law as a part of the A.B. course. The professor of law encouraged students who intended to enter the legal profession to pursue an extra course in Municipal Law, and at the same time he conducted a law school which led to admission to the bar. The founder of this system was Theodore W. Dwight, who secured the organization of the Hamilton College Law School in 1848. Under its charter, the head of the School was authorized to apply to a Judge of the Supreme Court of the District for the appointment of two lawyers to be associated with him in examining those who had completed the course of one year's study in the school. Those who were reported by this board to have passed a satisfactory examination, were admitted by the court as attorneys and counsellors. In other words, a single examination, successfully passed, entitled one to the degree of LL.B. and to admission to the bar.

For some years, Professor Dwight carried on this work with the undergraduates of the college and with the attendants upon the law school, with increasing success. The reputation, thus gained, led to his being called to Columbia College in 1858, where he organized and for many years conducted, with but little assistance from others a flourishing school of law. The course of study covered two years, and marked a distinct advance in legal education.

Professor Dwight was a remarkable teacher. English barristers like Mr. Dicey and Mr. Bryce, who visited the school in 1871, were very enthusiastic-the former referring to him as "one of the ablest professors that any school ever possessed," and the latter describing him as "a professor of great legal ability and an extraordinary gift of exposition." He did not lecture, in the ordinary sense of that term. He published very little. He did not follow the example of Gould and Reeve, at Fairfield, of Story, Greenleaf, Parsons and Washburn at Harvard, whose lectures were expanded into treatises. He put these treatises into his students' hands, assigned definite portions for their

'Member of the faculty of the Cornell College of Law from 1887 to 1891. Member of the faculty of Columbia Law School since 1891.