resolution consisted of President Adams, Chairman, Judge Douglas Boardman, Stewart L. Woodford, James Frazer Gluck and George R. Williams. Although the report of this committee was not made until June, 1886, it is evident that the establishment of a law school was regarded as imminent, because in February of that year the Merritt King law library of 4,000 volumes had been purchased by the trustees and was to be stored "until a law department of the university is established." The report of the special committee in June was a carefully considered discussion of the problem presented to it. The committee states that in its opinion there can be no justification of the founding of a law school at Cornell University unless it can be shown: (1) that the matter of education in the law is of great importance; (2) that provisions for such education are not already ample; (3) that education, at least in part, in a law school is better than education procured exclusively in a private office; (4) that Cornell University is so situated as to promise successful results in case a law school is founded; (5) that the establishment of a law school is justified by the fundamental laws of the university; (6) that larger results are likely to come from the school than would be likely to come from the same expenditures in any other way; (7) that the finances of the University will justify the necessary expenditures.3 Each of these points was discussed in detail upon the basis of careful and intelligent investigation and reflection. The first point was hardly arguable. The discussion of the second point revealed that the provisions for legal education in New York state were not ample at that time. There were 47 law schools in the United States and the number of students in existing law schools was 2,686, but the great majority of these schools were proprietary enterprises without endowment. In the eastern states there were found to be only three or four law schools having any important influence on legal education. Turning to New York state, the committee ascertained that outside of the cities of New York, Brooklyn and Albany not more than an estimated number of from 30 to 40 New York state law students were receiving a legal education in the law schools of the state. The portion of the state furnishing this small number of law school students had a population of three and a half million. At that time the vast majority of law students acquired their preparation for the bar in law offices. The committee concluded that there was plenty of room for the creation of a law school to serve a large number of New York state students. Upon the third point, the relative value of study in a law office and study in a law school, the

Report of a Spceial Committee on the Establishment of a Department of Law, Ithaca, 1886.

committee fortified itself with a report upon the superiority of the law school, made in 1879 by a committee of the American Bar Association. Today that superiority is beyond doubt, yet in 1886 it was, as we see, a matter of debate.

Upon the fourth point, the committee decided that Cornell University was favorably situated for the establishment of a law school: "first, it is in the heart of a region abounding in students desiring instruction; secondly, it is in a situation to give the best quality of that instruction which is desired; and thirdly it is in a situation to give this instruction on the easiest terms to the students." The notion that propinquity to the courts in a city is important was dismissed as an advertising device and with a statement that unless a student knows the facts and the questions of law in a case and knows as well the significance of the things that are not done in court, the benefit he derives from sitting around a court-room is negligible. Upon the fifth question, the committee, referring to the Morrill Act, the charter and the original plan of organization prepared by President White, entertained no doubt that the establishment of a law school was compatible with "the letter and spirit of the fundamental laws of the university." It found that the purpose to establish a law department existed at the beginning of the university and that it could be fairly said that the purpose had never been lost sight of, although the necessary financial resources had not been available. The sixth question was answered by considering the relative claims of the proposed law school as against the establishment at Ithaca of a medical department or a mining engineering department, and the conclusion was reached that all things considered, a law department had prior claims upon university funds. Lastly, the committee went into a thorough discussion of the possible budget for the school, the probable income and expenses and expressed the opinion that the financial situation of the university would warrant the venture. As a result the committee unanimously recommended that the law school should be opened in the fall of 1887 and that the public be assured that "the purpose is to establish it upon the basis of such breadth and excellence of scholarship as will recommend it to the immediate favor of the profession."

The trustees thereupon adopted the report and the executive committee of the trustees was instructed to report a plan of organization and did so at the board meeting in October, 1886. The essential features of this plan were: The length of the course was to be two years. This period was adopted because the law schools at Columbia, Michigan and Yale had a two years' course and for the further reason that inasmuch as the rules for admission to the bar in New

York required at least one year of study in a law office, a prescription of three years for a law school degree would compel the student to give four years to his preparation for the bar and would thus tend to deter prospective law students from securing a law school education and degree. They would be seduced into time-saving, unorganized and desultory study in an office rather than follow the organized curriculum of a law school under a staff of instructors. The committee recommended that the requirements for admission be limited to the presentation of a New York Regents' academic diploma or to examinations equivalent thereto. This requirement was substantially the same as for admission to the scientific and technical departments of the university at that time. The instruction recommended by the committee was two lectures a day to each class, in addition to text-book work, with an insistence upon a thorough drill in Blackstone's Commentaries, Kent's Commentaries, and "probably some other text-book." The teaching staff was to consist of three resident professors and several non-resident lecturers. In brief, this combination of instruction by lectures, quizzes and textbook recitations, was the method pursued by the better law schools of that day, except Harvard, where the case-book method of study now the accepted method at Cornell and most law schools, had been introduced, a number of years previously. This plan of the executive committee was adopted by the trustees in October, 1886. At a meeting of the board March 9, 1887, the law school was definitely organized by the appointment of the members of the law faculty.

The beginnings of the school were modest. There was no formal opening function. The three professors and about 50 law students met in a small room on the fourth floor of Morrill Hall on September 26, 1887, and inaugurated the work of the school. Regular exercises were entered upon at once. The Merritt King law library numbering about 4,000 volumes was supplemented by the private collections of the law professors who generously offered the use of their books to the students. The quarters alloted to the school were inconveniently located, poorly ventilated and generally ill-adapted for the purposes of the school. Although the physical equipment was not adequate, nevertheless the school began its activities with promise of a useful and prosperous career. Fifty-five students were enrolled, of whom eleven were admitted to the senior class.5

'It should be noted, however, that from the beginning of the Cornell law school, most courses were in fact presented in part at least by the study of leading cases. "Of the seniors, six were college graduates and one was already a member of the bar. Of the eleven seniors, nine received their degree the following June. Two of the nine in later years became deans of the school and one is a Justice of the New York Supreme Court.-Eds.