LGST 2100 Profession of Law CLASS NOTES WEEK 2

Notes and Questions

THE LEGAL PROFESSION HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
THE LEGAL PROFESSION TODAY

THE TENOR OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION IN:

• 1. THE COLONIAL PERIOD
• 2. THE POST REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD
• 3. THE ANTEBELLUM PERIOD

WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THREE ISSUES:

• I. How were lawyers trained or educated?
• 2. What was the level of sophistication within the legal system?
• 3. Who regulated the supply of lawyers?

OTHER CONCERNS INCLUDE:

What  elements  of  British substantive law  and  procedure  were incorporated into the American legal system?

What  accounts for the hostility of the Puritans and the  Quakers towards  lawyers?  Why were members of the Planter class  in  the South hostile to lawyers?

What was the significance of Blackstone's Commentary?

What  features  of  the  American legal  system  were  unique  or original?

What  factors  account for the relatively late emergence  of  Bar societies and structured legal education?

What  was  the  influence of Westward expansion  upon  the  legal profession in the United States?

How were lawyers trained during the colonial period and the post- revolutionary period?

What is the significance of Litchfield College?

Why would a modern lawyer regard the legal structure of  colonial America  as being primitive? What features of an advanced  legal system were absent?

Is there any relationship between the rise of maritime trade  and the rise of the legal profession in the United States?

Internet Resources

DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN LAW IN THE POST-REVOLUTIONARY AND ANTE-BELLUM PERIODS