September 1888: William H. Chamberlain, in an address to the Harvard Law School Association, gave this definition of the chief function and value of law schools: "To learn law is not to learn the practice of law. To learn law is not to learn cases. To learn law is speaking compendiously to learn the principles of law and to learn its principles is to seize them with a firm and unrelaxing hold, to make them familiar to the mind part of our permanent professional furniture and equipment."
100 Years Ago
September 1913: Samuel Wilson, whose official duties in connection with the Anti-Saloon League required him to endeavor to obtain indictments against those engaged in illegal Sunday liquor traffic, reported on his dismal experience with Hudson County grand juries: "Some of the grand jurors interrogated the complaining witness as though he were a criminal. They investigated their private records and asked all manner of impudent questions; but later my experience was they would listen to your story, ask no questions, and then quietly bury the evidence in an official grave."
