On the Battlefield of Merit: Harvard Law School, the First Century

Harvard Law School pioneered educational ideas, including professional legal education within a university, Socratic questioning and case analysis, and the admission and training of students based on academic merit. On the Battlefield of Merit offers a candid account of a unique legal institution during its first century of influence.

Table of Contents:
Cover Title Copyright Dedication Contents Preface Notes Three Radical Ideas Historiography and the Citadel Notes Transatlantic Legal Culture The English Heritage Moots, Bolts, Readings, Yearbooks Educating the “Other” Lawyers: Solicitors and Attorneys The Failure of English Institutional Legal Education Cicero’s Ghost: The Continental Influence Notes The Apprenticeship Controversy Litchfield Law School Other Proprietary Schools American Vinerians Transylvania and David Hoffman Notes Chapter 3. Founding a University Professional School of Law Founders Who Weren’t: Josiah Quincy Jr. and Thomas Pownall Isaac Royall Jr.: Slave Master, Founder Founding the Royall Chair Founding Harvard Law School Isaac Parker and Asahel Stearns “Small, Dingy, Inconvenient” First Students and Course of Study Decline and Betrayal Notes Dane and Story Rebuild the School John Hooker Ashmun: “Obeyer of Duty” Joseph Story’s Vision James Kent Francis Lieber Notes Chapter 5. Joseph Story’s Law School in the Young Republic The New Finances of a University Law School Aggressive National Marketing Curriculum, Scholarship, and Pedagogy Students Notes Chapter 6. The Greenleaf Transition “What Arm Shall Again Bend His Bow?” Greenleaf and Charles River Bridge Greenleaf ’s Progressive Vision Notes Chapter 7. The Gathering Storm Appointing the Triumvirate Gentlemanly Harmony The School Divided Charles Sumner, Abolitionist The Edward Greely Loring Affair Notes Chapter 8. Civil War and Aftermath “Calm and Dispassionate Harmony” within the School Parker and Parsons Engage Students and Alumni in Battle Reconstruction and Anti-Reconstruction Waning Days of the Triumvirate “Battles of Memory” Notes Chapter 9. Dean Langdell, First Casebooks, and Justice Holmes Dean Langdell Casebooks on Contracts, Sales, and Equity, 1870–1878 Langdell, Holmes, and Contracts, 1879–1881 “Legal Formalism” “Paradox of Form and Substance” Notes Chapter 10. Curricular and Pedagogical Revolution Sequencing Coursework “Thorough and Searching” Examinations Inductive Teaching The Beginning of Case Method Inside Langdell’s Classroom, February 1872 February 1872 Course on Contracts, Harvard Law School Inside Langdell’s Classroom, October– November 1875 29 October 1875, Procedure and Jurisdiction in Equity, Harvard Law School Notes Chapter 11. Creating the “New System” of Legal Education “The Teaching of Law as a Career” The Problem of Paying Faculty Academic Merit versus Experience Refining the Hiring Standard, 1890s Instituting Policies of Academic Merit Reforming Grading and Admissions Standards Earning Revenue and Honor Harvard Law School Association, 1886 Notes Chapter 12. The Paths of Four Students Wigglesworth and Jones First Year, 1876–77 Second Year, 1877–78 William Russell, Defector Edmund Parker, the New Generation Choosing the Path to Honor Notes Chapter 13. The “New System,” Triumphant and Invidious Elite Lawyers and Corporate Practice Justice and Meritocracy A Fair Chance for the Girls Confrontation over Coeducation “Scholarly Manliness” “Certain Inferior Colleges” “Protestantism Applied to Education” Notes Chapter 14. Students of Color at Harvard Law School The First Native American and Latino Students Asian Students African American Students, 1870s and 1880s African American Students, Second Generation The Unknown Notes Chapter 15. “Beloved Dean Ames” From Prosperity to “Poverty” Financial Contradictions “A Decided Understatement of the School’s Immediate Needs” “Dignity and Earnestness” of Students Buffers of Anxiety “Sports” and “Swells” Employment Prospects Academic Buffers The End of a Generation Notes Conclusion Notes A. Enrollment and Number of LL.B.s Awarded, 1817–1910 B. Number of LL.B.s Awarded, 1820–1910 Statutes of the Royall Professorship, Voted by the Harvard University Corporation, October 11, 1815 Vote to Establish Harvard Law School, Harvard University Corporation, May 14, 1817 Letter of Joseph Story to the Harvard Corporation, May 19, 1829, Stating Terms of the Dane Professorship Appointments by Year Succession to the Professorships, 1815–1910 Faculty “Periods” E. Annual Expenses, Endowment, and Cash Reserve, 1830–1909 F. Largest Endowments of American Universities, 1875–1930 Antebellum and Civil War (1828–1864) Langdell and Ames (1865–1910) Published Articles Coauthored with Students Acknowledgments Index

Review :
On the Battlefield of Merit surpasses all previous histories of Harvard Law School in the breadth and depth of its research base, giving one confidence in the authenticity of many of its findings. -- G. Edward White Weekly Standard On the Battlefield of Merit: Harvard Law School, The First Century succeeds in crafting a history of the school that is meticulous in its research, lucid in its prose, and, above all, nuanced in its findings...If the authors' forthcoming work on the second century of Harvard Law is as sweeping as On the Battlefield of Merit, together these volumes will stand as the definitive history of the institution for some time to come. -- Andrew Porwancher Law and History Review A deep, detailed, compellingly written, unstintingly transparent view of the school as it was from the fall of 1817 (six students) to the spring of 1910 (765 students). -- Corydon Ireland Harvard Law Bulletin Given the track record of Coquillette and Kimball, it is no surprise that this book, in its depth of research, breadth of coverage, and unbiased analysis, supersedes the standard histories of Harvard Law School. -- R. Kent Newmyer, author of Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story