Twenty-Five Years of Teaching Business Law | Lecture notes Business and Labour Law

'l'WENTY-FIVE

YEARS

OF

TEACHING

BUSINESS

LAW

Otto

W.

Hedges

You

will

note

that

there

is

quite

a

difference

between

the

subjects

discussed

by

the

and

the

one

given

to

me.

The

have

called

for

more

scholarly

treatment,

while

my

topic

will

permit

me

to

talk

not

on one

specific

subject

alone,

but

on a

variety

of

subjects.

How

different

will

be

the

events

of

my

paper!

While

we

have

been

listening

to

matters

of

general

reasoning,

I

fear

that

my

paper

will

be a

little

too

specific,

dealing

with

my

own

particular

experiences

a

little

too

much. However,

my

intent

is

that

even

though I

refer

a good

deal

to

my

own

particular

experience,

yet

my

auditors

may

form

some

generalizations

of

their

own, and

receive

some

profit.

Whereas you

have

agreed

with

nearly

everything

which

the

have

said,

you

no

doubt

will

be

shaking

your

heads

and

disagreeing

with

me

in

some

of

the

things

I

shall

say.

I

am

thinking

particularly

of

the

authors

of

Business

Law

texts

in

my

audience,

and

there

are

quite

a few

of

them.

I

am

reminded

of

a

statement

made

by

Artemis

Quibble,

one

of

Arthur

Train's

unforgettable

characters.

Artemis

Quibble

took

a

night

law

course

somewhere

but

was

unable

to

pass

the

state

bar

examinations.

He

believed

that

after

so

much

effort

spent

on

the

study

of

law he

ought

to

cash

in

anyway.

So

he had

cards

printed

with

his

name

and

address

and

the

descriptive

word,

"Counsellor."

These

were

widely

distributed,

and

as

a

result

many

people

came

to

him

for

advice,

legal

·

and

otherwise.

One

night

a

bellhop

sent

him a

hurried

call

to

come

and

draw up

the

Will

of

a

dying

man

of

wealth

who

had

been

staying

at

the

hotel.

Artemis

states

in

his

autobiography

that

on

that

eventful

night

there

was

conferred

upon

him

the

honor

of

drawing

up

a document

that

was

to

serve

as

a

basis

of

litigation

for

the

succeeding

ten

years.

So

I

am

reminded

that

this

morning by

using

a few

"poorly

chosen" words I

can

throw

this

orderly

meeting

of

thoughtful

legal

writers

into

an

uproar

of

controversy,

which I hope

shall

not

be

the

result.

With

your

trained

controlled

minds you

will

no

doubt

say,

"Let

him

talk.

He

is

at

least

entitled

to

his

own

opinion."

After

being

given

this

topic

to

discuss,

I

began

to

take

inventory

of

myself and what I had done

over

the

past

25

years.

I

asked

myself

whether

I was

satisfied

with

what I

had

achieved.

Today,

as

25

years

ago,

I

am

teaching

at

the

University

of

Detroit

and

teaching

Business

Law

with

two

other

subjects

thrown

in

for

good measure -

Real

Estate

Principles

and

General

Principles

of

Insurance.

Today, I

find

myself

teaching

Business

Law

with

even

more

enthusiasm

than

in

1930.

In

1930 I was

inclined

more

to

treat

teaching

Business

Law

as

a

secondary

matter,

putting

the

main emphasis on

the

practice

of

law.

I

expected

ultimately

to

break

away from

teaching

Business

Law.

Those days

of

1930 were

dark days

for

the

average

lawyer

in

his

practice.

To

be

able

to

teach

Business

Law

on

the

side

was

worth

much

to

the

lawyer

just

getting

a good

start

• .

My

office

was

in

the

Hammond

Building

just

across

from

the

City

Hall

in

Detroit

and

within

easy

walking

distance

of

the

downtown campus

of

the

University

of

Detroit

located

on

Jefferson

Avenue.

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