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Home > Journals > Michigan Law Review > MLR > Volume 5 > Issue 1 (1906)

 

Abstract

It is only where there is law that there is liberty, and where there is law there must be lawyers. In the countries where the lawyers are the fewest liberty is at the lowest ebb, an the dignity of the individual least regarded. Even if the modern industrial system should undergo a change, and the dream of the socialist were to be fulfilled, there would still be a demand for the legal arbiter, interpreter and counsellor, for socialism in its last analysis is merely a system under which human conduct and activity is everywhere sought to be controlled and regulated by law. There can be no doubt, therefore, that the proper education of our judges, and of our lawyers is a matter of state concern, and one in which a State University can well be engaged. There can be no doubt that competent and high-minded lawyers create a respect for the law, and for government, and in this way perform a great governmental service; that the more of ability and honesty there is in both the bench and the bar, the less of anarchy there will be; that under our peculiar American system; where every law must bear the test of the constitutions, and the courts alone apply that test, the lawyer and the judge are of all public servants those in whose training the public should take the greatest interest. But is the training of practicing lawyers the only or indeed the main function of the State University Law School? Must the State Law School be merely a "Lawyer Incubator?" If this is its only mission, have we not already lawyers enough, and is there any need for the majority of the State Law Schools at all? Cannot the older established schools of the East, and especially those which are privately endowed, fully supply the demand; and where private individuals are willing to bear the expense, and where there are already lawyers enough, why should the State concern itself in the matter?

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