tenant for life and remainder-man, and do not extend to buildings of a permanent character, and intended for the beneficial use and enjoyment of the property.

6. And the recent decisions lay little stress, in any of these cases, except where the erection is obviously a mere chattel, upon the mode of attachment to the soil, and more upon the relation of the parties, the intention with which the buildings are erected, and the uses to which they are put.

W. F. COOPER.

About the Profession and Practice of the Law.

The legal profession holds out greater allurements than any other to the aspiring youth of our country. Success in this profession promises not only material emolument, but influence, distinction and prominence for political advancement besides. The lawyers are our ruling class. One of the departments of government, and the one which, in the language of Lord Bacon, especially comes home to the business and bosom of the citizen-the judiciary-belongs to them exclusively. The entire administration of justice is in their hands. And their profession is the broad avenue to the honors of the other two departments of government.

Of our sixteen Presidents, all except Washington, Harrison, Taylor, Johnson and Grant, studied law. All the rest except Madison and Monroe, practiced law; and except Jackson, owed their careers indiretly to their legal studies, which brought them into connection with public affairs. Our Heads of departments have generally been lawyers. So have most of our State Governors, and so, notoriously, have the great majority of our legislators, state and national, so that it may safely be affirmed that the law of the country-not only the application, but also the making of it-is in the hands of the legal profession.

*

De Tocqueville regarded the lawyers as constituting the aristocracy of America. "In America," said he, "there are no nobles or literary men, and the people are apt to mistrust the wealthy. Lawyers consequently, form the highest political class and the most cultivated circles of society. * * If I were asked where I placed the American aristocracy, I should without hesitation, reply that it is not composed of the rich, who are united together by no common tie, but that it occupies the Bench and the Bar." In another place he says: "As the lawyers constitute the only enlightened class which the people do not mistrust, they are naturally called upon to occupy most of the public stations. They fill the Legislative Assemblies; they conduct the administration."

As might be expected, the legal profession is a good deal overstocked. Some embrace it as a stepping-stone to political life; some on account of its social respectability. Many become lawyers because their fathers or relatives are such, and can introduce them into practice. And some college-educated young men enroll themselves in the legal ranks because, having no capital to embark with in any business, and shrinking from the dull routine of a clerk's existence, they see no other resource except a profession, and law appears less distasteful than preaching, or teaching, or medicine. To this illustrious category belongs the writer.

Last summer, being struck with the number of legal signs in one of the large eastern cities, we inquired of a very intelligent and observant young legal friend, how many of these signs signified sure enough lawyers-men who actually made a living at the law. He replied, about one-third. An older lawyer, who happened to be present, said that he thought about one-half. But this gentleman shortly afterwards leaving the room, the other remarked that he would be apt to overstate this proportion, as he had, from the outset of his career, by means of family connections among bankers and merchants, succeeded in obtaining a good practice, and his associations had been among the more prosperous section of the fraternity.

Let any one take the catalogue of the Bar in any city and frequent the Courts, and he will probably be surprised to see how few comparatively of the priesthood of Themis appear to officiate at her altars. However, the conclusions of such an observer would stand in need of some correction. For a good deal of the most desirable sort of business makes little stir in the court-room. Taking judgments on unlitigated claims, or decrees to enforce vendors' liens, or to foreclose mortgages or deeds of trust, or decrees, looking to the laying off of dower, or granting partition, etc.,—all this may be done so quietly as to attract little or no notice, but the noiseless current does not fail to leave its deposit in the professional pocket. And then a good deal of business is done by lawyers outside of the courtroom, such as making collections where no suit is brought, compromising suits, which thus never get tried, drawing wills, conveyances, and other instruments, investigating titles to land, etc.,-all of which contributes to the support of the legal host. Still, after making every allowance, the truth remains, that a very large proportion of those who hang out legal shingles, fail to justify the wisdom of their

adoption of the law as their vocation. It may be said here, as it has been with reference to another class, that many are called, but few chosen. That is, comparatively few. For after deducting the large body of merely nominal lawyers, a numerous band yet remains behind.

It is generally supposed that almost all even of the lawyers who succeed, have to undergo a preliminary starvation period. But while it is undoubtedly true that very few at the commencement of their full-fledged lawyer existence are overwhelmed with business, yet we think that the popular idea of the starvation period is much exaggerated. What we read about the English lawyers has contributed to this. But in England, a different state of things exists from that here. There the profession is subdivided. The attorney and the counsellor are different persons, and the same counsel rarely practices at the same time in the courts of law and equity. And then, there are conveyancers, etc., who confine themselves to their respective specialties. Now it is the counsellor who has had to walk through the valley of starvation in England. The explanation of this is simple. His employment had to come through the attorneys. His province was exclusively in the higher walks of the profession, to conduct litigation in the courts and sometimes to give opinions. The young counsellor would not often be called upon to give opinions, of course; and until he could inspire the attorneys, a shrewd and cautious class of judges, with confidence in his possession of that assemblage of equalities which constitutes the able nisi prius advocate, including not only book-learning, but dexterity in the practice of the courts, quickness of apprehension, self-possession, sufficient skill in what Dr. Johnson called "the quart and tierce of forensic digladiation," knowledge of men, tact, etc., etc.,-how could he hope to compete with veterans of proved efficiency. Some of these qualities are ordinarily the fruits only of considerable experience, and these would not be apt to be credited to the neophyte. Even if he actually possessed the requisite combination of gifts and acquirements, it took practice to show this, and practice he could only hope for through a reputation itself only to be earned by practice. A vicious circle had to be surmounted. Practice was necessary to obtain practice. And meantime the counsellor was debarred from resorting to any part of that large field of business for which his competence would have been unquestionable, because this was the exclusive province of lower

grades of the profession, and might not be invaded by him. But in America, without losing caste, the lawyer may do anything which in England only the attorney or conveyancer, or special pleader, was liable to be called upon to do. And then, here the lawyer comes into direct contact with the client, and not, as in England, through an attorney, a lawyer of lower grade; and thus the business proper of the counsellor is in the hands of less critical judges, and is more rashly bestowed. So that in America, a lawyer does not have to linger unemployed anything like so long as in England.

We believe that almost anywhere in the United States a young man of good education, who applies himself energetically to the law, with a determination to succeed, may, provided his character is unexceptionable, and his manners and address ordinarily pleasing, contrive to support himself with economy almost from the very outset of his admission to the Bar. Older lawyers would generally be glad to get rid of, by turning over to him, with a division of fees, a good deal of the cheaper and more troublesome business hanging heavily upon their hands, as well as to obtain his assistance in much of the drudgery incidental to the more desirable part of their practice,— such as taking depositions, looking up proof, making searches among records, etc., etc. Our young practitioner would have to make it clear that he would work,-would conscientiously do "up to the very handle," to use a slang expression, whatever he undertook. But his reputation in this respect once established, our word for it, at least his bread and butter would be safe. And if he was competent for higher service, he would not be long in emerging into a higher professional stratum.

But many young lawyers are unwilling to apply themselves, at first, to the dregs of practice. They have adopted the law as a gentlemanly calling. They want to enjoy at once the prestige of the profession; to appear in the public eye; to act as counsellors, and to flourish in damage suits and criminal trials. Many of them interest themselves too early in politics, the Delilah of lawyers. In a word they are amateurs, and amateurs never succeed. It is not only the kingdom of heaven which must be taken by violence, - that is, by vehement, ardent pursuit. The law is well worthy of this. It is for those who by natural fitness and by acquirements and capacity for labor and perseverance, are qualified for success, upon the whole an attractive calling. "Unless," said Rufus Choate, "one takes hold of