Browse by Tags

Law Schools in Connecticut, 1782-1843: Suggestions for Further Reading

Baldwin, Simeon E. “Zephaniah Swift.” In Great American Lawyers (William Draper Lewis; ed.; Philadelphia: John C. Winston Company, 1907-1909). Fisher, Samuel H. Litchfield Law School 1774-1833: Biographical Catalogue of Students . Yale Law Library Publications, no. 11. New Haven: Yale University...

Posted to Yale Law Library - Rare Books Blog (Weblog) by Mike Widener on 02-09-2013
Law Schools in Connecticut, 1782-1843: From Four to One

Affiliation with Yale helped to insure the continuity of Hitchcock and Daggett’s school. The others did not survive. Gilbert closed his school in Hebron around 1818. We’re not sure why, but he was probably responding to a combination of professional obligations, including his term in the...

Posted to Yale Law Library - Rare Books Blog (Weblog) by Mike Widener on 02-09-2013
Law Schools in Connecticut, 1782-1843: Yale Law School

A handful of college and college-affiliated law schools existed in the early decades of the nineteenth century. The College of William & Mary established a law department in 1790, which granted America’s first LL.B. in 1793. Others schools followed, such as Transylvania University (1799-1861...

Posted to Yale Law Library - Rare Books Blog (Weblog) by Mike Widener on 02-09-2013
Law Schools in Connecticut, 1782-1843: Americanizing the Common Law

In Connecticut and elsewhere, instructors in the proprietary schools played a crucial and self-conscious role in the Americanization of the common law. Applying practical experience, political beliefs, and the ideology of the American Revolution, they revised it to suit local circumstances and showed...

Posted to Yale Law Library - Rare Books Blog (Weblog) by Mike Widener on 02-09-2013
Law Schools in Connecticut, 1782-1843: Blackstone

Sir William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765-1769) was based on a course of undergraduate lectures that Blackstone delivered at Oxford University. Intended for future members of England’s ruling class, it was the first truly comprehensive synopsis of the common law and...

Posted to Yale Law Library - Rare Books Blog (Weblog) by Mike Widener on 02-09-2013
Law Schools in Connecticut, 1782-1843: The Textbook-Lecture Method

In the first quarter of the nineteenth century law books became widely available at affordable prices, thanks to the growth of the American publishing industry and improved communications. Instruction shifted gradually to the textbook-lecture method. In this system, still used today, students are assigned...

Posted to Yale Law Library - Rare Books Blog (Weblog) by Mike Widener on 02-09-2013
Law Schools in Connecticut, 1782-1843: The Lecture Method

Reeve, Gilbert, Gould, and Swift taught their students through lectures. This was the most common pedagogical system of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. The lectures presented a synopsis and interpretation of a given topic, along with case summaries and references to authorities. Students...

Posted to Yale Law Library - Rare Books Blog (Weblog) by Mike Widener on 02-09-2013
Law Schools in Connecticut, 1782-1843: The Proprietors

Tapping Reeve (1744-1823) B.A., Princeton, 1763, M.A., 1766. Read law in Hartford under Judge Jesse Root, later chief justice of Connecticut. Judge of the Connecticut Superior Court, 1798-1815, chief judge, 1815-1816. Author of The Law of Baron and Femme (1816) and A Treatise on the Law of Descents in...

Posted to Yale Law Library - Rare Books Blog (Weblog) by Mike Widener on 02-09-2013
Law Schools in Connecticut, 1782-1843: Recruiting Students

“Advertisement.” In Catalogue of the Litchfield Law School, from 1793 to 1827 inclusive (Litchfield, Conn.: S. S. Smith, 1828). [Image cropped.] Rare Book Collection, Lillian Goldman Law Library. For the most part, Connecticut law schools attracted students through the reputation of their...

Posted to Yale Law Library - Rare Books Blog (Weblog) by Mike Widener on 02-09-2013
Law Schools in Connecticut, 1782-1843: Introduction

Until the end of the nineteenth century most students prepared for the bar through an apprenticeship or self-study. These methods were often criticized by elite lawyers, who believed legal education would be more rigorous and thorough if it was taught in a classroom. By the late-eighteenth century a...

Posted to Yale Law Library - Rare Books Blog (Weblog) by Mike Widener on 02-09-2013

Page 1 of 2 (20 items) 1 2 Next >