{"id":8165,"date":"2009-11-25T09:24:41","date_gmt":"2009-11-25T14:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=8165"},"modified":"2020-02-15T21:51:12","modified_gmt":"2020-02-16T03:51:12","slug":"marquette-university-law-school-in-1939","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2009\/11\/marquette-university-law-school-in-1939\/","title":{"rendered":"Marquette University Law School in 1939"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1938, Jim Ghiardi transferred to Marquette University after his sophomore year at Northern State College (now Northern Michigan University) in Marquette, Michigan.\u00a0 A year later, Jim enrolled in the Marquette University Law School under a program that allowed Marquette students to count their first year of law school as the final year of their undergraduate education.\u00a0 Jim received his Ph.B. degree in 1940 and his law degree in 1942. The following is a description of the law school at the time of his initial enrollment in the fall of 1939.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Law School<\/span><\/p>\n

By 1939, Marquette University Law School had been training lawyers in Milwaukee for more than 45 years, and the school had been officially part of Marquette University since 1908.\u00a0 Since 1924, all law school classes had been taught at the Law School Building (now known as Sensenbrenner Hall) which replaced an earlier building on the same site.<\/p>\n

In 1939, the law school boasted an enrollment of 248 students and a faculty of ten, plus four \u201cspecial lecturers\u201d and law librarian Agnes Kendergan. \u00a0In addition, the Rev. Joseph A. Ormsby, S. J., served as the Regent of the Law School. Although the law school had originally offered instruction primarily in the evening, the evening division was terminated in 1924, and the last evening class was offered in 1927.<\/p>\n

As an institution, Marquette University Law School was squarely in the mainstream of American legal education.\u00a0 The school had been admitted to the Association of American Law Schools in 1912, and in 1925, shortly after the American Bar Association began to accredit law schools, it won ABA accreditation.\u00a0 Historically, Marquette Law School graduates were required to take the Wisconsin bar examination to practice law in the state, but in 1933, after a long and sometimes bitter contest with the University of Wisconsin, the \u201cdiploma privilege\u201d was extended to Marquette graduates.<\/p>\n

Admission and Degrees<\/span><\/p>\n

To secure admission to the law school, applicants had to be 18 years of age and must have completed three years of college.\u00a0 There is no evidence that anyone who met these qualifications was turned down in 1939, but this was true for virtually every American law school before the Second World War.<\/p>\n

Marquette students in 1939 had the option of pursuing two different types of law degrees\u2014the bachelor of laws and the juris doctor.\u00a0\u00a0 Marquette was one of several American law schools that used this distinction to provide recognition for students who entered law school with college degrees (which were required only at a handful of schools) and who performed extremely well while in law school.\u00a0 This two law degree program had been adopted at Marquette during the 1925-26 academic year.<\/p>\n

The standard law degree was the bachelor of laws (LL.B.), which was the equivalent of today\u2019s J.D. degree.\u00a0 To earn this degree students had to complete 85 hours of law courses, including 4 hours of Office Practice and 4 hours of Moot Court, with an average grade of 77.\u00a0 (In 1939, the law school was in the process of changing its grading system.\u00a0 The school had previously used the traditional letter system, but beginning with the class that entered in 1938, students were graded on a numerical basis ranging from 60 to 100.\u00a0 Ninety-three or better was considered an A, and cumulative averages of 71 and 74 were required to continue after the first and second years, respectively.)<\/p>\n

The second degree was the juris doctor, or J.D., degree.\u00a0 For it, students were required to have entered law school with an undergraduate degree, to complete the requirements for the LL.B. with an average grade of 88 (which was in the middle of the B range), and to prepare and submit an acceptable thesis by May 1 of their final year.\u00a0 The thesis, if accepted, became \u201cthe property of the School and at the direction of the Dean [could] be published.\u201d\u00a0 By 1940, the J.D. was clearly passing out of fashion among Marquette law students.\u00a0 Although the degree was awarded to 67 students between 1926 and 1937, no one earned the degree in 1938, and the last two recipients received the degree in 1939.\u00a0 The J.D. degree remained on the books for several more years but was eventually discontinued sometime between 1942 and 1945.<\/p>\n

The Academic Calendar<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1939, the academic year started and ended much later than it does today.\u00a0 Law School classes did not begin until September 26, and the first semester examinations did not end until February 2, 1940.\u00a0 The second semester began on February 6 with graduation on June 12.<\/p>\n

Tuition for the regular academic year was $230 \u2014 although those who opted for payment on the installment plan had to pay an additional four dollars \u2014 and board and lodging could be found in the vicinity of the law school for an estimated $7.50 per week.\u00a0 Third year students who were also candidates for the law degree had to pay an additional $12.50 diploma fee.<\/p>\n

The Student Body in 1939<\/span><\/p>\n

The 248 students enrolled at the law school during the 1939-40 academic year included 76 Seniors (third-year students), 72 Juniors, 97 Freshmen, and 3 Special Students.\u00a0 (Special students were enrolled in classes but were not candidates for degrees.)<\/p>\n

All 97 students in the 1939 freshman class were male, although this was something of an aberration as there were two women in the senior class and three in the junior.<\/p>\n

Eighty-seven of the 97 freshmen students were from Wisconsin, and 58 were from Milwaukee proper.\u00a0 \u00a0Nine of the 10 out-of-state students were from the Midwest, including Jim Ghiardi, who was from Negaunee, Michigan.\u00a0 The only student with a hometown outside the Midwest was Jim\u2019s future faculty colleague Ray Aiken, whose parents lived in Jacksonville, Florida.\u00a0 Only 18 members of the class were listed as having earned undergraduate degrees prior to beginning law school, although several, like Jim, earned their bachelor\u2019s degree at the end of their first year of law school.<\/p>\n

The Law School Curriculum<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The University Bulletin for 1939-40 described the law school\u2019s method of instruction as the \u201ccase method,\u201d which it asserted \u201cinculcates habits of accurate reasoning.\u201d\u00a0 However, the same document also emphasized that the faculty neglected \u201cneither the purely scientific nor the practical element of legal education\u201d and noted that special attention was given to Wisconsin law.<\/p>\n

To earn the law degree students had to pass 85 credit hours of courses, most of which were required.\u00a0 All of the first-year classes\u2014which included four year-long courses and five that lasted one semester\u2014were required and counted for 34 of the 85 credit hours.\u00a0 Each class was taught in a single section.<\/p>\n

Students in the fall of 1939 had Dean Francis X. Swietlik for Contracts, Professor Otto Reis for Torts and for Agency, Prof. J. Walter McKenna for Criminal Law and Procedure, Prof. Francis A. Darnieder for Introduction to Law, Prof. Willis E. Lang for Personal Property, and the Rev. Joseph A. Ormsby, S.J., for Natural Law and Jurisprudence.\u00a0 In the spring, Contracts, Torts, Criminal Law and Procedure, and Natural Law and Jurisprudence continued with the same instructors, but Lang\u2019s Personal Property course was replaced by one on Domestic Relations (also taught by Lang).\u00a0 The final spring semester course was Domestic Relations taught by Prof. Carl Zollman.\u00a0 All of the professors, except for Rev. Ormsby, were full-time law professors.\u00a0 The first-year curriculum is set out below:<\/p>\n

Semester 1<\/span><\/p>\n

Contracts (3 hrs)<\/p>\n

Torts (3 hrs.)<\/p>\n

Criminal Law and Procedure (2 hrs.)<\/p>\n

Natural Law and Jurisprudence (2 hrs.)<\/p>\n

Introduction to Law (3 hrs.)<\/p>\n

Personal Property (2 hrs.)<\/p>\n

Agency (2 hrs.)<\/p>\n

Semester 2<\/span><\/p>\n

Contracts (3 hrs.)<\/p>\n

Torts (3 hrs.)<\/p>\n

Criminal Law and Procedure (2 hrs.)<\/p>\n

Natural Law and Jurisprudence (2 hrs.)<\/p>\n

Domestic Relations (3 hrs.)<\/p>\n

Sales (2 hrs.)<\/p>\n

Eleven additional courses\u2014eight of which were year-long courses\u2014were mandated for Second and Third Year students, for a total of 42 credit hours.\u00a0 Altogether, the required courses counted for 74 of the 85 credit hours necessary for the degree.\u00a0 The remaining hours could be obtaining by choosing among 12 elective courses.\u00a0 The 1939-40 upper level curriculum is set out below:<\/p>\n

Upper Level Required Courses<\/span><\/p>\n

Bills and Notes<\/p>\n

Real Property (2 sem.)<\/p>\n

Constitutional Law (2 sem.)<\/p>\n

Trusts<\/p>\n

Equity (2 sem.)<\/p>\n

Wills and Probate (2 sem.)<\/p>\n

Evidence (2 sem.)<\/p>\n

Office Practice (2 sem.)<\/p>\n

Legal Ethics<\/p>\n

Moot Court (2 sem.)<\/p>\n

Business Associations (2 sem.)<\/p>\n

Elective Courses<\/span><\/p>\n

Administrative Law<\/p>\n

Future Interests<\/p>\n

Code Pleading (2 sem.)<\/p>\n

Insurance<\/p>\n

Code Practice (2 sem.)<\/p>\n

*Municipal Corporations<\/p>\n

*Conflict of Laws<\/p>\n

Quasi-Contracts<\/p>\n

Creditors\u2019 Rights<\/p>\n

Security (Suretyship) (2 sem.)<\/p>\n

Federal Jurisdiction<\/p>\n

Taxation<\/p>\n

* Offered every other year.\u00a0 Note:\u00a0 Code Pleading and Code Practice became required courses in 1940-41.<\/p>\n

The Faculty<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The law faculty in 1939 consisted of the six full-time professors mentioned above (including Dean Swietlik) and four part-time instructors:\u00a0 Rev. Ormsby, who also taught in the Philosophy Department, Thomas P. Whelan, who was also an instructor in the English Department, and Milwaukee lawyers E. Harold Hallows and Carl B. Rix.\u00a0 (Hallows was a future chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court and Rix, a future president of the American Bar Association.)\u00a0 All but Ormsby were law school graduates who had spent time practicing law in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

The University Bulletin described the members of the law faculty in 1939 as \u201cmen who not only take high rank at the bar, but who have been trained in the best universities and law schools of the country.\u00a0 Such men possess not only the wide empirical knowledge of the practical lawyer in a large city, but also the broad, comprehensive basis of theory and method which is indispensable to the successful teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several of the full-time faculty members carried extraordinarily heavy course loads, at least by modern standards.\u00a0 Swietlik, who had been dean since 1935, taught seven required courses for a total of 15 credit hours.\u00a0 \u00a0The real workhorse of the faculty in 1939-40, however, was J. Walter McKenna who taught ten courses (four of which were required).\u00a0 Francis Darnieder and Willis Lang each taught seven courses; Otto Reis taught five; and Carl Zollman, the best known scholar on the faculty, taught only four.<\/p>\n

The part-time faculty members carried much lighter loads.\u00a0 E. Harold Hallows taught three classes and Rev. Ormsby taught two.\u00a0 Carl B. Rix taught only a single course, but it was the course devoted to future interests and the Rule Against Perpetuities.\u00a0 Francis Whalen was listed in the 1939 catalog as a law professor but actually taught no courses that year.<\/p>\n

Student Life<\/span><\/p>\n

The only law school-specific activity listed in the Law School Announcement was the Marquette Law Review.\u00a0 However, law students were encouraged to take active interest in the University Band, the University Choir, the University Chorus, the University Symphony Orchestra, intramural sports, and the various social, dramatic, literary, debating, and religious organizations.\u00a0 In a report to University President Raphael McCarthy, S. J., in 1939, Dean Swietlik noted that the law school was concerned about the social life of its students and thus regularly sponsored \u201csmokers,\u201d annual dances including the Barristers Ball, and an end-of-the-year banquet for the law students, the faculty, the Milwaukee bar, and the Wisconsin judiciary.<\/p>\n

Legal fraternities also played an important role in the social life of the law school.\u00a0 Fraternities in 1939 included Delta Theta Phi, which had its own building, Phi Delta Phi, and Tau Epsilon Rho, a fraternity for Jewish law students.<\/p>\n

According to the University yearbook, the Hilltop, \u201cextracurricular activities [were] prominent in the law school,\u201d and students were encouraged to participate \u201cin organized religious and social movements for the common welfare of their fellows.\u201d \u00a0While the law school acknowledged the importance of \u201cthe development of the social side of the student\u2019s character,\u201d its official publication cautioned: \u201cNo student activity is allowed to interfere with study.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Subsequent Law School Experiences of the Class of 1942<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In spite of the reportedly grueling nature of the first year of law school at Marquette, ninety percent (88 of the 97) freshmen students in 1939-40 returned for their second year in the fall of 1940. \u00a0A similar percentage of second-year students (79 of 88) returned for the third year of law school in 1941.<\/p>\n

It was during a three-day break for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception during the fall semester of 1941 that Marquette law students learned of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.\u00a0 The likelihood of military call ups prompted Marquette to accelerate its Spring 1942 schedule, and in May, 69 members of the class received law degrees.\u00a0 (Two of the 69 had actually finished even earlier so that they could enter military service.)<\/p>\n

The law school awards announced at the 1942 Commencement were dominated by future Marquette law professors Ray Aiken, who received the award for the highest three-year grade average, and Jim Ghiardi, who received the award for the best performance during the third year of law school.<\/p>\n

Sources:\u00a0 Miscellaneous files, Marquette University Archives; Francis X. Swietlik, \u201cHistory of Marquette University Law School\u201d (unpublished manuscript, 1939); Marquette University Bulletin: Announcement of the Law School for the Session 1939-40; 1940-41; 1941-42; 1942-43; Interview with Prof. James A. Ghiardi, May 2007.\u00a0 This essay was originally written for the 2007 program honoring Jim Ghiardi\u2019s 61 years on the Marquette Law School faculty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1938, Jim Ghiardi transferred to Marquette University after his sophomore year at Northern State College (now Northern Michigan University) in Marquette, Michigan.\u00a0 A year later, Jim enrolled in the Marquette University Law School under a program that allowed Marquette students to count their first year of law school as the final year of their 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