work." By a gift of the Carnegie Corporation, the Institute, whose main task is usually described as that of “the restatement of the law," is assured of an income of $110,000 a year for nearly ten years. The work of the Institute has already begun, with the cooperation of men of recognized competency. So far, the reportorial work in each of the various subjects has been largely entrusted to representatives of the law schools of the country. As a step towards the practical application of the reflections, set forth in "The Passion for Uniformity," on the relation of scientific studies to the development and simplification of the law, I presented to the authorities of Columbia University, in New York, under date of December 3, 1915, a confidential memorandum, which I had privately printed, entitled "Research Courses in Comparative Law." I confess that I have never been in love with the phrase "comparative law," and the thought I had in mind would in reality have been more fully expressed by the word "jurisprudence." But, in view of the recent general use of the phrase "comparative law," and of the existence of the inclination, which more or less prevails in the United States, to suspect that the word "jurisprudence" tends specially to raise the hopes of those who would expound vague and ephemeral philosophies at the expense of exact reasoning and legal erudition, I decided to sacrifice euphonious or linguistic susceptibilities on the altar of public utility. The memorandum afterwards ceased to be confidential through the publication of the substance of it, with expressions of hearty concurrence, by Mr. Harlan F. Stone, then dean of the School of Law of Columbia University, in his annual report of June 30, 1916. The proposals which the memorandum contained have never been fully carried out; but the fact that the recent trend in legal studies and in efforts to improve the law has generally been in the direction which the proposals indicated, would seem to show that they were not devoid of merit. At Columbia University, where it was hoped that the plan might at length become completely operative, great progress has recently been made, under the auspices of a Law Faculty Advisory Committee, of which Mr. Frederick C. Hicks, Law Librarian, is chairman, in building up the law library as a research library for legal scholars as well as a working library for students. Moreover, the trustees of the University, on May 7, 1923, decided to establish the degree of Doctor Juris, or Doctor of Law, for the completion of studies and researches of the same general character as those required of candidates for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. It has been announced that the candidate for the doctorate in law must, in addition to having obtained a first degree in law, be in residence for one academic year or its equivalent; must pursue such work as the Faculty prescribes, including study in "history, economics, government, in public law, legal history, or comparative jurisprudence," and must produce a printed dissertation demonstrating his capacity for legal research and the ability to present the results in satisfactory form. He must, also, before or after submitting his dissertation, pass a general oral examination on the subjects of his study and investigation. In the hope that the proposals of 1915 may yet find full fruition, I have ventured to reproduce them, with such additional observations as the lapse of time has rendered necessary, under the title "Suggestions for a School of Jurisprudence." The volume seems to be fitly concluded with the essay entitled "Relativity." This essay was prepared after the others had been sent to the printer, and without any expectation that it would be published with them. Nevertheless, after it was completed, a survey of its contents served to show that it was intimately related to the earlier discourses; that the currents of thought by which they were pervaded had to a certain extent converged and mingled in it; and that, as a result, it constituted, in a substantial sense, a useful supplement to the previous papers and an interpretation of the philosophy with which they were permeated. It was therefore included in the present collection. I desire to make my acknowledgments to my friends Edwin M. Borchard, Joseph P. Chamberlain, and Julius Goebel, Jr., for aid on various occasions. To Dr. Goebel, however, I am specially indebted for help in gathering and sifting the statistics of earlier wars, the brief summaries, as they appear in the text, indicating little of the labor and care bestowed upon the examination and comparison of the authorities. |
