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{{Short description|Obsolete process to prepare to enter the law profession}}
{{Redirect|Reading the law|reading of the law in Judaism|Torah reading}}
'''Reading law''' was the primary method used in [[common law]] countries, particularly the [[United States]], for people to prepare for and enter the [[Practice of law|legal profession]] before the advent of [[Law school in the United States|law schools]]. It consisted of an extended [[internship]] or [[apprenticeship]] under the [[Tutor|tutelage]] or [[Mentorship|mentoring]] of an experienced [[lawyer]]. The practice largely died out in the early 20th century. A few U.S. states still permit people to become lawyers by reading law instead of attending law school, although the practice is rare.<ref name="Adwar">{{cite web |url = http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-become-an-attorney-without-law-school-2014-7 |title = There's A Way To Become An Attorney Without Setting Foot In Law School |website = [[Business Insider]] |first = Corey |last = Adwar |date = July 30, 2014 }}</ref>

In this sense, "reading law" specifically refers to a means of entering the profession, although in England it is still customary to say that a university undergraduate is "reading" a course, which may be law or any other. 
__TOC__

==United States==

===History===
In [[Colonial history of the United States|colonial America]], as in [[History of the British Isles|Britain]] in that day, law schools did not exist at all until [[Litchfield Law School]] was founded in 1773. Within a few years following the [[American Revolution]], some universities such as the [[College of William and Mary]] and the [[University of Pennsylvania]] established a "Chair in Law".<ref>{{cite book |first = Albert J. |last = Harno |title = Legal Education in the United States: A Report Prepared for the Survey of the Legal Profession |year = 1953 |page = 23 }}</ref> However, the holder of this position would be the sole purveyor of legal education for the institution, and would give lectures designed to supplement, rather than replace, an apprenticeship.<ref>{{harvp|Harno|1953|p= 27}}.</ref> Even as a handful of law schools were established, they remained uncommon in the United States until the late nineteenth century. Most people who entered the legal profession did so through an [[apprenticeship]] which incorporated a period of study under the supervision of an experienced attorney. This usually encompassed the reading of the works considered at the time to be the most authoritative on the law, such as [[Edward Coke]]'s ''[[Institutes of the Lawes of England]]'', [[William Blackstone]]'s ''[[Commentaries on the Laws of England]]'', and similar texts.<ref>{{harvp|Harno|1953|pp=19–20}}.</ref>

The scholastic independence of the law student is evident from the following advice of [[Abraham Lincoln]] to a young man in 1855:

{{blockquote|If you are absolutely determined to make a lawyer of yourself the thing is more than half done already. It is a small matter whether you read with any one or not. I did not read with any one. Get the books and read and study them in their every feature, and that is the main thing. It is no consequence to be in a large town while you are reading. I read at [[Lincoln's_New_Salem|New Salem]], which never had three hundred people in it. The books and your capacity for understanding them are just the same in all places. [...] Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.<ref>{{cite book |first = Frederick James |last = Allen |title = The Law as a Vocation |url = https://archive.org/details/lawasavocation01allegoog |year = 1919 |page = 25 |publisher = Harvard University }}</ref>}}

Historically, [[country lawyer]]s or county-seat lawyers were more likely to have read law. Reading law to become an attorney would be the norm, until the 1890s, when the [[American Bar Association]], formed in 1878, began pressing states to limit admission to the Bar to those persons who had satisfactorily completed several years of post-graduate institutional instruction.<ref>{{harvp|Harno|1953|pp=86–87}}.</ref> 

On July 8, 1941, [[James F. Byrnes]] became the last Justice appointed to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] who had never attended college or law school, and he was the penultimate appointee who had been admitted to practice by reading law. Byrnes was followed by [[Robert H. Jackson]], who was commissioned just three days later, on July 11, 1941, and had also been admitted to the practice of law by reading, although he had attended [[Albany Law School]] for less than one year, taking a two-year program in the single year to save money.

=== Modern practice ===
In 2013, 60 people qualified to sit for the bar exam by reading law as opposed to 83,926 via law schools, and of those 60, 17 passed on their first attempt.<ref name="Adwar" />

As of 2024, four US states still permit reading law as the sole means of legal education.  In [[California]],<ref name="Adwar" /> [[Vermont]]<ref name="Adwar" /> and [[Washington (state)|Washington]],<ref name="wa-rule6">{{cite web |year=2002 |title=Rules and Regulations Governing the Washington Law Clerk Program |url=http://www.wsba.org/~/media/Files/Licensing_Lawyer%20Conduct/Admissions/Special%20Admissions/APR%206%20Rules%20and%20Regulations.ashx=Rule%206%20Law%20Clerk%20Program |access-date=March 4, 2007 |publisher=Washington State Bar Association}}</ref> an applicant who has not attended law school may take the [[Bar examination in the United States|bar exam]] after reading law under a judge or practicing attorney for a period of four years. In the fourth state, [[Virginia]],<ref name="va-reader">{{cite web |year=2010 |title=Law Reader Program |url=http://www.vbbe.state.va.us/reader/reader.html |access-date=January 6, 2010 |publisher=Virginia Board of Bar Examiners}}</ref> the period of reading law is only three years. Other rules vary as well. For example, Virginia does not allow the reader to be gainfully employed  by the tutoring lawyer, while Washington requires just that. In California the requirements of the state bar association for reading law are set forth in Rule 4.29, Study in a law office or judge's chambers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=TITLE 4. ADMISSIONS AND EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS Adopted July 2007 DIVISION 1. ADMISSION TO PRACTICE LAW IN CALIFORNIA Chapter 1. General Provisions, Rule 4.29 Study in a law office or judge's chambers |url=https://www.calbar.ca.gov/Portals/0/documents/rules/Rules_Title4_Div1-Adm-Prac-Law.pdf}}</ref> 

Two other states allow reading law in combination with some law school. [[New York (state)|New York]] allows applicants to read law provided they have already completed at least one year of law school study.<ref name="ny-bar-rule520">{{cite web |year=2000 |title=New York Rules of the Court of Appeals for the Admission of Attorneys |url=http://www.nybarexam.org/Rules/Rules.htm#520.4 |access-date=January 20, 2011 |publisher=New York State Board of Bar Examiners}}</ref> [[Maine]] requires applicants to have completed at least two-thirds of a law degree.<ref name="maine-bar">{{cite web |year=2009 |title=Maine Bar Admission Rules |url=http://www.mainebarexaminers.org/PDF/MBAR0109.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727055410/http://www.mainebarexaminers.org/PDF/MBAR0109.pdf |archive-date=July 27, 2011 |access-date=January 20, 2011 |publisher=Maine Board of Bar Examiners}}</ref> A 2023 bill before the [[Maine Legislature]] attempted to remove the requirement for two years of law school study, but the bill was indefinitely tabled.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-04-06 |title=Bill aims to drop law school requirement to become licensed to practice in Maine |url=https://www.sunjournal.com/2023/04/06/bill-aims-to-drop-law-school-requirement-to-become-licensed-to-practice-in-maine/ |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=Lewiston Sun Journal}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!State
!Required law school
!Required time reading law
!Bar passage rate
|-
|California
|None
|Four years<ref>{{Cite web |title=The State Bar of California |url=https://www.calbar.ca.gov/Admissions/Requirements/Education/Legal-Education/Law-Office-or-Judges-Chamber |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=www.calbar.ca.gov |language=en-US}}</ref>
|
|-
|New York
|One year
|Three years<ref>{{Cite web |title=Part 520 - Rules of the Court of Appeals for the Admission of Attorneys and Counselors at Law |url=https://nycourts.gov/ctapps/520rules10.htm#4 |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=nycourts.gov}}</ref>
|
|-
|Maine
|Two years
|One year<ref>{{Cite web |title=Title 4, §803: Qualifications for taking bar examination |url=https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/4/title4sec803.html |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=legislature.maine.gov}}</ref>
|
|-
|Vermont
|None
|Four years<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Law Office Study Program {{!}} Vermont Judiciary |url=https://www.vermontjudiciary.org/attorneys/law-office-study-program |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=www.vermontjudiciary.org}}</ref>
|
|-
|Virginia
|None
|Three years<ref>{{Cite web |title=VBBE - Law Reader Program - Rules & Regulations |url=https://barexam.virginia.gov/reader/readerrules.html |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=barexam.virginia.gov}}</ref>
|20.21%<ref>{{Cite web |title=VBBE - Law Reader Program - Memorandum |url=https://barexam.virginia.gov/reader/readermemo.html |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=barexam.virginia.gov}}</ref>
|-
|Washington
|None
|Four years<ref>{{Cite web |title=Washington State Bar Association Law Clerk Program (APR 6) |url=https://admissions.wsba.org/appinfo.action?id=9 |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=admissions.wsba.org}}</ref>
|
|}

=== Notable Americans who became lawyers by reading law ===

==== U.S. presidents ====
* [[John Adams]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.john-adams-heritage.com/early-life-education/|title=Education {{!}} John Adams Historical Society|website=www.john-adams-heritage.com|date=29 February 2012 |access-date=2019-12-27}}</ref>
* [[Thomas Jefferson]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Meacham |first=Jon|author-link=Jon Meacham |title=Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power |publisher=Random House LLC |year=2012 |isbn=978-0679645368 |url=https://archive.org/details/thomasjeffersona0000meac/mode/2up |pages=29, 39}}</ref>
* [[John Quincy Adams]]
* [[Andrew Jackson]]
* [[Martin Van Buren]]
* [[John Tyler]]
* [[Millard Fillmore]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/millard-fillmore|title=Millard Fillmore|website=HISTORY|language=en|access-date=2019-12-27}}</ref>
* [[James Buchanan]]
* [[Abraham Lincoln]] – later said of his legal education that "I studied with nobody."
*[[James A. Garfield]]<ref>{{Cite journal|title=James A. Garfield Papers|journal=Manuscript Division, Library of Congress}}</ref>
*[[Chester A. Arthur]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Chester-A-Arthur|title=Chester A. Arthur {{!}} Biography, Presidency, Accomplishments, & Facts|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2019-12-31}}</ref>
*[[Grover Cleveland]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Grover-Cleveland|title=Grover Cleveland {{!}} Biography & Facts|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2020-02-21}}</ref>
*[[Woodrow Wilson]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Wilson_Woodrow_1856-1924#start_entry|title=Wilson, Woodrow (1856–1924)|website=www.encyclopediavirginia.org|access-date=2019-12-29}}</ref> left [[University of Virginia School of Law]] to read law
*[[Calvin Coolidge]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://millercenter.org/president/coolidge/life-before-the-presidency|title=Calvin Coolidge: Life Before the Presidency|date=2016-10-04|website=Miller Center|language=en|access-date=2019-12-31}}</ref>

==== U.S vice presidents ====

* [[Alben W. Barkley]]<ref name="paducah255">Libbey in "The Making of the 'Paducah Politician'", p. 255.</ref>
* [[Charles Curtis]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=U.S. Senate: Charles Curtis, 31st Vice President (1929-1933) |url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Charles_Curtis.htm |access-date=2019-12-27 |website=www.senate.gov}}</ref>

==== U.S. legislators ====
*[[Daniel Webster]], Senator from Massachusetts
*[[George Gray (Delaware politician)|George Gray]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/gray-george|title=George Gray|website=www.fjc.gov|access-date=2019-12-27}}</ref>  Senator and Judge [[United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit|United States Court of Appeals]]
*[[George S. Houston]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archives.alabama.gov/govs_list/g_housto.html|title=Alabama Department of Archives and History: Alabama Governors--George Smith Houston|website=archives.alabama.gov|access-date=2019-12-28}}</ref> Senator and Governor of Alabama
*[[John H. Mitchell]], U.S. Senator from Oregon in the 1870s

==== U.S. Supreme Court chief justices ====
Except for the second chief justice [[John Rutledge]], who had formal legal education at the [[Middle Temple]] in London, no chief justice had any university-based legal training until Melville Fuller in 1888, who attended [[Harvard Law School]] for six months. 7 of the first 8 U.S. Supreme Court chief justices engaged in their legal education primarily by reading law. All chief justices since the appointment of [[Edward Douglass White]] in 1910 have held law degrees.

==== U.S. Supreme Court justices after 1900====
Few early Supreme Court justices attended law school although the practice of attending law school became more common after around 1900. Supreme Court justices who read law after 1900 include:
*[[James F. Byrnes]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=James Byrnes: South Carolina's Governor, 1951-1955 |url=https://www.sciway.net/hist/governors/byrnes.html |access-date=2019-10-11 |website=www.sciway.net}}</ref>
*[[Pierce Butler (justice)|Pierce Butler]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Butler, Pierce at Federal Judicial Center |url=https://www.fjc.gov/node/1378641 |access-date=2019-12-29 |website=www.fjc.gov}}</ref>
*[[John Hessin Clarke]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Clarke, John Hessin at the Federal Judicial Center |url=https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/clarke-john-hessin |access-date=2019-12-29 |website=www.fjc.gov}}</ref>
* [[Gabriel Duvall]]
*[[Joseph Rucker Lamar]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lamar, Joseph Rucker at the Federal Judicial Center |url=https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/lamar-joseph-rucker |access-date=2019-12-29 |website=www.fjc.gov}}</ref>
*[[Robert H. Jackson]]
*[[William Henry Moody]], left Harvard Law School to read law
*[[Mahlon Pitney]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pitney, Mahlon at the Federal Judicial Center |url=https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/pitney-mahlon |access-date=2019-12-29 |website=www.fjc.gov}}</ref>
*[[George Sutherland]], left University of Michigan Law School to read law<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Supreme Court . Capitalism and Conflict. Biographies of the Robes. Alexander George Sutherland {{!}} PBS |url=https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/supremecourt/capitalism/robes_sutherland.html |access-date=2019-12-29 |website=www.thirteen.org}}</ref>

==== State Governors ====
*[[Strom Thurmond]], Governor of South Carolina & US Senator
*[[Patrick Henry]], 1st Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia
*[[Thomas R. Marshall]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/about/officers-staff/vice-president/VP_Thomas_Marshall.htm|title=U.S. Senate: Thomas R. Marshall, 28th Vice President (1913-1921)|website=www.senate.gov|access-date=2019-12-27}}</ref> Vice President and Governor of Indiana
*[[Thomas Clarke Rye]], Governor of Tennessee
==== Other politicians ====

*[[Marilla Ricker]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.library.unh.edu/find/archives/collections/marilla-ricker-1840-1920|title=Marilla Ricker, 1840-1920 {{!}} Library|website=www.library.unh.edu|access-date=2019-12-29}}</ref> Examiner in Chancery
*[[Frank B. Kellogg]], United States Secretary of State
*[[Granville Pearl Aikman]], Judge and suffragist<ref name="EH">{{cite news|title=Endorsed by Bryanites|last=staff|date=November 1, 1900|work=The Eureka Herald}}</ref>
*[[Edmund Pendleton]], 1st Chief Justice, [[Supreme Court of Virginia]]
*[[William Simon U'Ren]], Father of the [[Oregon System]]
*[[Rush Limbaugh Sr.]], Missouri judge

==== Non-governmental ====
*[[Francis Scott Key]]
*[[John Neal (writer)|John Neal]],<ref>{{cite book | last = Neal | first = John | title = Wandering Recollections of a Somewhat Busy Life | publisher = Roberts Brothers | location = Boston, Massachusetts | year = 1869 | url = https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100576292 | pages=273–288 | oclc = 1056818562 | author-link = John Neal (writer)}}</ref> writer and activist
*[[Charles D. Drake]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/drake-charles-daniel|title=Drake, Charles Daniel - Federal Judicial Center|website=www.fjc.gov|access-date=2019-12-31}}</ref> one of [[Dred Scott v. Sandford|Dred Scott's]] attorneys
*[[Clarence Darrow]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://biography.yourdictionary.com/clarence-seward-darrow|title=Clarence Seward Darrow Facts|website=biography.yourdictionary.com|access-date=2019-12-30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Clarence-Darrow|title=Clarence Darrow {{!}} American lawyer|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2019-12-30}}</ref>
== See also==
* [[Articled clerk]], a similar practice to Reading Law used in Commonwealth Countries.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.fjc.gov/search/site/%22read%20law%22 Search of Federal Judicial Center for 'Read Law']
* [https://www.calbar.ca.gov/Admissions/Examinations/First-Year-Law-Students-Examination California First-Year Law Students' Examination ("baby bar")] 
* [https://www.vermontjudiciary.org/sites/default/files/documents/LOS%20Info.pdf VERMONT SUPREME COURT, LAW OFFICE STUDY PROGRAM] 
* [https://barexam.virginia.gov/reader/readerrules.html The Virginia Board of Bar Examiners, Law Reader Rules & Regulations]

{{Law of the United States}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reading Law}}
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[[Category:Legal history]]

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