202 HARVARD LAW REVIEW. the General Term. On the other hand, no complete history of the progress of the efforts to establish thorough examinations for ad- mission to the bar will admit an acknowledgment of the debt that the community owes to the Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the First Judicial Department. Other judges throughout the State have given their influence to the same end, but the very fact that, of the applicants for admis- sion to the bar, probably more than half the entire number applied in the city of New York, made the attitude of the Presiding Justice in the First Department of controlling importance. A history of the struggle out of which has come the present system would be interesting, but my principal object is to give a statement of the system, the methods which the Board of Law Examiners has adopted, and the results that, thus far, have been obtained. The system, which owes its existence largely to the untiring efforts of the New York State Bar Association, was made possible by an act of the Legislature (Chap. 760, Laws of 1894) which authorized the Court of Appeals to appoint a State Board of Law Examiners, to consist of three members. The term of office was fixed at three years, and the court was authorized to fix the compensation of the members, such compensation to be paid out of a fund to arise from the payment made by each applicant of the sum of fifteen dollars, entitling the applicant to three examinations if necessary. In October, 1894, the Court of Appeals appointed William P. Goodelle, of Syracuse, ex-Judge Franklin M. Danaher, of Albany, and the writer of this paper. In order to entitle an applicant to an examination he must prove by his affidavit that he is a citizen of the United States, a resident of New York, twenty-one years of age, and that he has studied law three years, " except that if the applicant be a graduate of any college or university his period of study may be two years instead of three." — Rule IV. The course of study must be followed after the age of eighteen years, and may consist of serving a clerkship in an office, or in attendance at " an incorporated law school, or a law school con- nected with an incorporated college or university, having a law department organized with competent instructors and professors, in which instruction is regularly given," or in part by attendance at such law school, and in part by serving such clerkship. — Rule V. Subdivision I.
