§ MR. EWARTbegged to ask the hon. 1112 and learned Attorney General whether any further proceedings had taken place, on the part of the Inns of Court, in promotion of the question of legal education?
THE ATTORNEY GENERALsaid, he was much obliged to the hon. Gentleman for giving him an opportunity of stating, for the information of the public, a few facts upon a matter of certainly much interest. The benchers of the four Inns of Court had, for a considerable time, devoted the most anxious attention to the subject of legal education, and they had at length unanimously agreed upon a plan which they believed would be highly beneficial both to the profession as well as the public. Professorships or readerships were to be established in the different societies, to be liberally endowed, and lectures were to be given, and classes formed for the purpose of instructing students before they were called to the Bar. It would be necessary hereafter for a student to obtain a certificate of having attended a course of lectures, or to be in a position to prove that he had satisfactorily passed a public examination before he could be called to the Bar; and, for the purpose of encouraging the students to submit themselves to these examinations, testimonials were to be given to those who were found to be the most proficient, and had passed the most satisfactory examination. He need not enter into any minute details of the proposed change in the system, but he hoped that the explanation he had given would convince the hon. Gentleman and the public that the benchers of the Inns of Court were evincing a laudable desire to promote legal education, and that for the future some test of proficiency would be required as the condition of being called to the Bar.