The case of Bussey v. Barnett, 9 M. & W. 312, is an authority in
favor of the position here taken. In Bussey v. Barnett the defendant
was allowed, under a plea of never indebted, to prove payment, on the
ground that the sale being for ready money, there was no promise to
pay, but immediate payment. So in the case supposed there was not
a promise to sell, but an immediate sale.
CORRESPONDENCE.
COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL.
In speaking of the work of the Columbia Law School I shall attempt to describe, in a general way, the subject-matter taught there, and to say a few words of the manner in which it is taught.
The instruction given in the school is divided into prescribed and optional work. The prescribed work embraces lectures on municipal law, which includes contracts, real property, torts, evidence, equity jurisprudence, and pleading and practice. The optional work includes lectures on constitutional law, criminal law, and medical jurisprudence. To obtain a degree of LL.B. no optional work need be done. It is sufficient if the course on municipal law is taken. However, by taking a certain amount of optional work, the degree of LL.B. cum laude may be obtained, and graduates of colleges are also eligible to a degree of A.M., provided they do a certain portion of the work of the school of political science, of which the lectures on Roman law, constitutional law, and constitutional history form a part.
Two years of study at the law school are necessary for a degree. The first year is set apart for the study of the law of contracts and of real property. For the purpose of introducing the student to the law of contracts, such parts of “Blackstone’s Commentaries” as relate to the consideration of law in general, the elementary laws of contract, and the definition and discussion of the nature of rights and wrongs, are first put before the student. All the rest of the first half-year is devoted to “Parsons on Contracts.” The general law of contracts, together with the law relating to the subject-matter of contracts, including sales, agency, partnership, bills and notes, insurance and shipping, is thus considered. The last half·year is devoted to the law of real property; and the second book of “Blackstone’s Commentaries,” together with Washburn’s “Treatise on Real Property,” are the text-books used for this purpose. This ends the work of the first or junior year.
The second year opens with the study of torts. Addison’s “Torts” is put before the student; after that comes Greenleaf’s and Stephen’s treatises on the law of evidence. Those men who purpose to practise in New York then take up the “New York Code of Civil Procedure,” while those who intend to practise in other States study “Stephen’s Pleading” and a short course on equity pleading. The year winds up with Bispham’s “Equity Jurisprudence” and a general review of the work of the two years.
