The Poet and the Pri
The Dwight method in the hands of its dedicat¬
ed teacher proved a great magnet for students of
law, attracting men like Charles Evans Hughes,
class of 1884. who v\'ent on to the Supreme Court,
and those like Baker, who combined the practice of
law v\'ith other pursuits. By 1871, only a dozen years
after its founding, the Law School had graduated
690 men and was drawing entering classes of more
than 100 students. But how did students regard
their teacher, who placed heavy emphasis on the
historical development of law? They loved him.
Poultney Bigelow, a graduate of the law class of
1882, wrote in his memoirs, Seventy Summers
(London: Longmans, 1925):
We had a notable teacher—the revered and
beloved Theodore Dwight. He was then about
sixty years of age—the veiy embodiment of a
venerable sage come from heaven to illumine
for use the mecliev~al obscurities of Blackstone.
His pupils crowded about him. The laic-comers
occupied uindow-sills or perched about his feet
on the edge of his professional platform. Ever)'
space of standing-room was occupied, and ever)'
word that fell from his golden lips was noted.
Here at last was genuine thirst for knowledge;
our ihirsl was keen, and we recognized in
Theodore Dwight the master who could satisfy
our desires, . . . Eveiy law student knew that he
could here get liis money's worili.
Other students recalled Dv^ight's amazing ability to
know and distinguish his many pupils by name,
sometimes many years after graduation.
Like George Baker, some students presen'ed
their notebooks long after they ceased to serve any
useful function to a lawyer. Baker and liis note¬
books are only a beginning. In addition to the.se,
the Law Library holds notebooks of nineteen stu¬
dents from the time of Theodore Dwight, each
with a story of its own. Among them are the notes
of Samuel Greenbaum, class of 1875, a New York
Slate Supreme Court judge; Henry Morgenthau,
class of 1877, ambassador to Turkey; and Theodore
Roosevelt, class of 1882, who took careful dictation
in pencil, decorated his notes with doodles, but did
not remain lo complete his second year in the Lav\'
School.
Dwight remained warden of the Law School for
thirt)'-three years, although at least two institutions
of higher learning earnestly desired him to
become their president. When he retired from the
School in 1891 at the age of sixt)'-nine, nearly six
thousand men had benefited from his lectures. His
retirement had its painful side, because his succes¬
sor was William Keener of Harvard Law School, a
fiiTn believer in the case method instilled in him at
Han'ard. Dwight's goal of removing legal educa¬
tion from practical training in law offices was not
yet realized. But in the company of the School's
many graduates, Dwight was a powerful intellect
who challenged the bar to reconsider the defini¬
tion and goals of legal education.
Si'(;(;fst)(i\s i^or Fi'ki nhR Rfai^ivc;
Q Robert Stevens. Law School: Legal Education in
America from the 1850s to the 1980s. University of
North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1983.
^ Works by George Augustus Baker:
Point Lace and Diamonds
The Bad Habits of Good Society
West Point: A Comedy in Three Acts
Mrs. Hephaestus and Other Stories
Molly's Prenuptial Flirtation
These are gems of social commentary and are best
found in a secondhand or antiquarian bookstore.
■ 31 ^