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The law school at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) began instruction in 1847 as a modest effort consisting of three professors. Only seven students would obtain a law degree before the school closed in 1852. The short-lived experiment at establishing a law school would be the farthest headway the university would make in a recurring ambition and effort of varying toil. Previously, in the 1820s, an attempt was made to organize teaching in law, but this plan ended with the death of the designated professor. In 1835, the university once again formed appreciable plans for the start of a law school but was unable to secure a faculty. The desire remained after these unsuccessful efforts but aspirations would be relegated to thirsting words rather than material preparations. In 1974, then president of Princeton, William Bowen, selected a committee to investigate and advise on the achievability of a law school. The committee recommended plans for a law school be deferred after citing high construction costs.
Existence as a fictional school
The general public and even members of the law community often believe Princeton Law School is operational. Since institutions peer to Princeton such as Yale and Harvard have highly recognized law schools, people may assume Princeton competes in the same area. At a press conference of law school deans in 1998 decrying the annual US News law school rankings, then New York University (NYU) School of Law dean, John Sexton, quipped, "If they were asked about Princeton Law School, it would appear on the top 20 -- but it doesn't exist" (Sexton was denouncing the US News usage of reputation survey results from judges, lawyers, and law school deans in its ranking formula, and implying doubt over the expertise of some surveyed.)
A National Review Online published commentary, "Liberate the Universities" by Candace de Russy, blundered on April 7, 2003 when the author identified a law school at Princeton as real:
- "These yearnings are embodied in a doctrine called “transnational progressivism,” which is gaining prominence in law schools, for example, at Princeton and Rutgers." (The article has since been modified, but an archive is located here)
Moreover, in the Cosby Show, the eldest daughter, Sondra, is a drop out of Princeton Law School.
During the Senate Judiciary Committee vote for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, Sen. Richard Durbin attested that Judge Alito hailed from "Princeton Law;" however, in actuality, Alito attended Princeton University to receive only his Bachelors Degree. Thereafter he attended Yale Law School.
A running joke in the legal community is that Princeton's fictional legal division is also the world's preeminent institution in the field of space law. The joke predates the existence of actual space law programs at school's such as McGill University.
Notable faculty
Notes
- Jan Hoffman, "Judge Not, Law Schools Demand Of a Magazine That Ranks Them", New York Times, February 19, 1998.
Reference
External links
"Princeton Law School"