Langdell on Contracts and Legal Reasoning: Correcting the Holmesian Caricature

2007 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 345-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce A. Kimball
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Legal Reasoning ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law School ◽  
Case Method ◽  
American Law ◽  
Anglo American

During the first decade of his tenure as dean of Harvard Law School (HLS) from 1870 to 1895, Christopher C. Langdell (1826–1906) produced closely related works on contracts and sales that exercised great influence pedagogically and jurisprudentially. Pedagogically, the casebooks on contracts and sales introduced case method teaching into American legal education. In jurisprudential terms, these works placed Langdell with Frederick Pollock and William R. Anson in England and Oliver W. Holmes, Jr., in the United States, as the leading theorists of contract during its “golden age” of “overwhelming predominance” in Anglo-American law.

The Proliferation of Case Method Teaching in American Law Schools: Mr. Langdell's Emblematic “Abomination,” 1890-1915

2006 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce A. Kimball
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law School ◽  
Case Method ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
American Higher Education ◽  
American Law ◽  
Law Professors

Case method teaching was first introduced into American higher education in 1870 by Christopher C. Langdell (1826-1906) of Harvard Law School (HLS), where it became closely associated with—and emblematic of—a set of academic meritocratic reforms. Though regnant today, “the ultimate triumph of [Langdell's] system was not apparent” for many years. The vast majority of students, alumni, and law professors initially derided it as an “abomination,” and for two decades case method and the associated reforms were largely confined to Harvard. During the subsequent twenty-five years between 1890 and 1915, a national controversy ensued as to whether case method teaching—and the concomitant meritocratic reforms—would predominate in legal education and, ultimately, professional education in the United States.

AALS Panel – Global Legal Education – Can American Law Schools Respond to the Opportunities?

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry Bakken
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law School ◽  
Law Students ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
Foreign Law ◽  
American Law ◽  
Foreign Governments ◽  
Simultaneous Movement

During the past decade many American law schools have identified and responded to the opportunity and necessity of training law students and lawyers for the challenges created by globalization. Opportunities are certainly available to schools with strong business, international trade and human rights programs. Opportunities are, however, also available to schools with interests and strengths in the newer disciplines such as conflict resolution, intellectual property and environment protection. Law schools which have ventured into global oriented training have recognized that the market is not simply a one-way-street for domestic students but also includes training of foreign law students and lawyers. Private foundations in the United States and abroad, foreign governments and our national government have helped finance foreign lawyer visits and training events throughout America. When international lawyers visit the United States, domestic law schools are involved as hosts, training sites, and sources of professional expertise. There has also been a simultaneous movement of domestic lawyers and law students through foreign law school programs and other study abroad opportunities. When all these international experiences are taken together one realizes the need for law schools to become more involved in the development and implementation of training and development of globally oriented legal education.

Rediscovering Blackstone: wpływ Williama Blackstone’a na rozwój amerykańskiej nauki prawa w recepcji Alberta W. Alschulera

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-185
Author(s):  
Edyta Sokalska
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Common Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law School ◽  
Large Measure ◽  
American Colonies ◽  
Late 18Th Century ◽  
American Law ◽  
The Common

The reception of common law in the United States was stimulated by a very popular and influential treatise Commentaries on the Laws of England by Sir William Blackstone, published in the late 18th century. The work of Blackstone strengthened the continued reception of the common law from the American colonies into the constituent states. Because of the large measure of sovereignty of the states, common law had not exactly developed in the same way in every state. Despite the fact that a single common law was originally exported from England to America, a great variety of factors had led to the development of different common law rules in different states. Albert W. Alschuler from University of Chicago Law School is one of the contemporary American professors of law. The part of his works can be assumed as academic historical-legal narrations, especially those concerning Blackstone: Rediscovering Blackstone and Sir William Blackstone and the Shaping of American Law. Alschuler argues that Blackstone’s Commentaries inspired the evolution of American and British law. He introduces not only the profile of William Blackstone, but also examines to which extent the concepts of Blackstone have become the basis for the development of the American legal thought.

scholarly journals An American Looks at Legal Education in New Zealand

1999 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 419
Author(s):  
Allison Dunham
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law School ◽  
Admission Process ◽  
Office Practice

This article undertakes an informal comparison between legal education in the United States and in New Zealand. Dunham compares the admission process, the content taught at law school, the methods of instruction, law office practice for students, and the student makeup. The author concludes that no system of legal education is best, and that it is important to continue to ask how legal education can be improved. 

scholarly journals The Law of Obligations

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Lobban
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Tort Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Contract Law ◽  
Public Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
American Law ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
Unifying Principles

The Anglo-American law of obligations was profoundly reshaped in the two centuries after 1800, driven by social and economic changes, and changes in legal institutions and doctrines. In contract law, nineteenth-century jurists increasingly sought to put the rules of law into a coherent rational framework (inspired by continental models resting on will theory), though they soon found that this theory could not explain many contractual doctrines. In tort law, jurists were also divided over whether unifying principles underlying tort could be uncovered, with formalist efforts to find such principles being challenged by Realists who argued that tort was in effect ‘public law in disguise’. The quest for underlying principles was also pursued by scholars of unjust enrichment, first in the United States and subsequently in England; though as in the other areas of obligations, by the end of the twentieth century, there was no consensus on whether this was possible.

scholarly journals How Should We Assess Interviewing and Counseling Skills?

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence Grosberg
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law School ◽  
First Century ◽  
Counseling Skills ◽  
Gold Standard Method ◽  
American Law ◽  
Student’S Performance ◽  
Method Of Assessment ◽  
Law Professors

<p>The need to teach interviewing and counseling skills has long been established among clinical legal educators. Even among our non-clinical colleagues, these skills are recognized as integral to competent lawyering. While there remains considerable difference of opinion within the United States as to whether teaching such skills should be in a required course or simply be available as an elective, there is no doubt that a twenty-first century American law school must include the teaching of these skills in its curricular array.</p><p>This paper first briefly describes the structure of legal education in the United States (insofar as clinical and skills teaching is concerned) and the almost total absence of any bar admission training or apprenticeship requirements. If the law schools are not required to fully train all future lawyers and the bar admission authorities likewise disavow responsibility for doing so, should clinical law professors assume the burden? I then go on to discuss the primary clinical evaluation technique of directly observing the student's performance, sometimes referred to as the gold standard method of assessment. Against the backdrop of the assertion that it is beneficial to use multiple methods of assessment, I then describe the several methods I have used to address the question of how best to assess interviewing and counseling skills. As an aside, it becomes clear that much more empirical analysis is in order.</p>

Possible Reform for Legal Education in Taiwan: A Refined “J.D. System”?

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Chang-fa Lo
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Education ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law School ◽  
Graduate Degree ◽  
Current Discussion

AbstractThis focus of this brief paper is on the current discussion in Taiwan concerning the introduction of the United States “J.D. System” where law is studied as a graduate degree. The author sees the advantages of such a programme over the existing primarily undergraduate legal education, but argues that, in addition to a full fledged J.D. system, another “track” of undergraduate students transferring to law school after 2 years of undergraduate education would be a more suitable compromise for Taiwan.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Amanda L. Tyler
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Common Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Habeas Corpus ◽  
American Law ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
Anglo American

The Introduction provides an overview of the history of the writ of habeas corpus and an overview of the book, which tells the story of what is sometimes known as “the Great Writ” as it has unfolded in Anglo-American law. The primary jurisdictions explored are Great Britain and the United States, yet many aspects of this story will ring familiar to those in other countries with a robust habeas tradition. The book chronicles the longstanding role of the common law writ of habeas corpus as a vehicle for reviewing detentions for conformity with underlying law, as well as the profound influence of the English Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 on Anglo-American law. The Introduction highlights how the writ has at times failed to live up to its glorification by Blackstone and others, while noting that at other times it has proven invaluable to protection of liberty, including as a vehicle for freeing slaves and persons confined solely based on a King’s whim.

scholarly journals WIĘCEJ TEORII I WIĘCEJ PRAKTYKI? KSZTAŁCENIE INTERDYSCYPLINARNE I NIEDOGMATYCZNE W PROGRAMACH STUDIÓW PRAWNICZYCH AMERYKAŃSKICH UCZELNI

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Tymoteusz Zych
Keyword(s):  
Legal Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law School ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
American Law ◽  
Bar Association ◽  
Polish Law ◽  
Interdisciplinary Courses ◽  
School Curricula

More Theory, more Practice? Interdisciplinary and NonDogmatic Education in American Law School CurriculaSummaryWhile American legal education is very often invoked as a modelfor Polish law faculties, the actual role of interdisciplinary and non--dogmatic courses in the curricula of American law schools has not beencoherently analysed yet. The American example shows that the conceptof legal education has a significant impact on the development of thelegal system. Interdisciplinary courses have been present in the curricula of university law schools since the beginning of American history.Currently the American Bar Association requires law schools to includenon-dogmatic contents in their curricula to obtain accreditation. Thewidest range of non-dogmatic courses is offered by the most prestigiouslaw schools. Leading American legal thinkers of all currents emphasisethe importance of interdisciplinary and non-dogmatic subjects in theeducational process. The paper concludes with a comparative analysisof the role of interdisciplinary subjects in law school curricula in Polandand in the United States.

scholarly journals Clinical Legal Education in the Law University: Goals and Challenges

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Barry
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law School ◽  
Law Students ◽  
Global Alliance ◽  
Education In India ◽  
Model Law ◽  
Education Conference

<p>Calls for reform of legal education in India have focused on preparation and relevance. The route to achieving both has consistently been linked to clinical legal education. In 1999, I heard one of the leaders of legal education in India, Dr. Madhava Menon, discuss his goals for clinical legal education in at the first Global Alliance for Justice Education Conference in Trivandrum. I learned at the time that he had been invited to lead a new law school in the country, and he made it clear that clinical legal education would be central to the new law school model that he intended to pursue, a model based on recommendations that grew out of prior assessments of legal education in India. Under this model, law students would be trained to be productive members of a community of lawyers that had refined the skills needed to develop and implement creative  strategies for addressing the pressing demand for social justice in the country. The approach reflected a connection between responsibility for the underserved and goals for clinical legal education in India that dates back to collaboration with academics from the United States in the late 1960’s.</p>

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