also been made
of late years; the establishment of the special degree of J.D. (Juris
Doctor) for exceptional students, and particularly the addition of an
optional sixth year of special studies for those who wished to carry
their work further, leading to the degree of Master of Laws.

With these changes in the requirements has come also a revolution in
methods of teaching and even in the fundamental policies of the School.
There are three methods ordinarily applied in teaching law; the lecture,
the textbook, and the study of selected cases. The early courses were
almost entirely lectures, textbooks not appearing until 1879, while the
study of cases, used somewhat even at the very first, has now become the
principal method of establishing legal principles. The question is
largely one of the aim of a school, whether to make the student
familiar with the actual rules and practice in the different parts of
the country so that he will be able to take up his profession, if only
in a limited way, at once; or whether to emphasize fundamental
principles and the evolutionary character of the law, which can best be
discovered from the study of decisions and cases, in order to prepare
for the far more significant and useful career open to one who has the
background, as well as the ordinary rules of law, upon which to base his
actions. President Hutchins, when Dean of the Law School, emphasized
this when he said: "The Law School of today should teach and should
encourage the study of law in its larger sense." This policy has been
consistently developed by the present Dean, Henry M. Bates, '90, who not
only insists on the higher mission of the Law School in this regard but
also believes it "must not only train men to be effective lawyers
adhering steadfastly to high ethical standards, but it must also instil
into them a strong sense of responsibility to the community, and those
ideals of service which are among the oldest and finest but, perhaps,
sometimes forgotten traditions of the bar."

The Faculty of the Law School has always remained relatively small in
proportion to the numbers of students--largely because of the methods of
teaching, and the absence, inherent in the subject, of any laboratory
save the practice court. A fourth professorship was created in 1866 and
named after the Hon. Richard Fletcher of Boston, who had given his legal
library to the University. This was occupied in 1868 by Charles A. Kent,
Vermont, '52, who w