This method has now been described as "one of the most important educational discoveries ever made," with widespread application throughout all the social sciences; but at the time of its introduction it met determined opposition from both Faculty and students. Many of the latter so intensely disliked Langdell's changes that they transfered to Boston University Law School.

The two-pronged opposition to the case method and a subsequent financial crisis because of decreasing receipts from tuitions left the Law School facing the worst crisis in its history.

Hung on Grimly

However, Langdell hung on grimly, and by 1880 he had won approval for his methods. When, in 1882, a flood of donations began to pour in, enabling the school to undertake a program of large scale physical expansion, enrollments shot up, and Langdell had successfully launched the third "golden age."

1886 saw the founding of the Law Review, which was to grow to be one of the most influential journals in the entire legal field. In the same year the Law School Association, an alumni association, was established. This organization maintained a close liaison with the school, and it was a great aid in helping graduates find jobs.

But even with the Law School returned to an even higher esteem than ever in the eyes both of the legal profession and the general public, Langdell did not rest in his efforts to improve scholastic standards, for in 1893 a rule was passed requiring a college degree for admission in all but the most exceptional cases. At the time this was an unprecedented action, and it brought down upon the University the cry of snobbishness and the charge that "Langdell would turn down Lincoln if he applied for admission."

As with other Langdell reforms, this one was widely accepted by the nation's leading law schools within 15 years.

Langdell resigned in 1895 because increasing blindness made it impossible for him to carry on his duties. He left behind him a school that had grown from 136 to 413 students, endowments that had risen from $37,000 to $360,000, and an educational system that had spread throughout the world.

Langdell's successor was James B. Ames, who carried on in the traditions of his predecessor. With Ames at the helm, the Law School saw another major addition to its physical plant with the erection of Langdell Hall in 1905.

Ames died in 1910, and Ezra R. Thayer was named to fill the vacant Deanship. In the first year of his administration an important change was made in Law School life.

This was the establishment of a one-year graduate course leading to the degree of Doctor of Juridical Science. This move was of profound importance, for it meant that the Law School was turning out not only lawyers, but also men trained in legal theory who were specifically prepared to undertake the teaching of law. Thus the legal theories developed at Harvard were diffused even more rapidly than before throughout the United States.

Under Pound in 1916

Under Dean Pound there gradually evolved a whole new concept of the law. Formerly, the law was treated as an isolated field of study. Dean Pound realized that this view left law out of touch with life, and hence he insisted that the law be taught in forms of its relationship with other fields of human endeavor. Thus the law must be thought of as a positive factor in the political and sociological structure of civilization.

It was because of this philosophy that Harvard became the national leader in training men for government service.

Thus, when he retired as Dean in 1955, Dean Pound left the Law School in the midst of its fourth "golden age."

Today, the Law School faces serious problems in the very tight dormitory situation and the usual worry of graduate school eating facilities.

But far more important are the plans being drawn up which deal with the future of the School's methods of legal education. A Committee on Legal Education under Professor Lon L. Fuller has already drawn up "for inside consumption" a preliminary proposal for what Dean Griswold declares will be "evolution, not revolution."

Yale Law School has already presented its program too the years to come in the form of its "sociological theory of law." But Law School officials find no aside for Harvard in this. Their reply is a symbol of the Law School's states in the legal and educational world. "That's nothing new," says Dean Griswold. "We had years ago.