James Barr Ames (June 22, 1846 – January 8, 1910) was an American law educator, who popularized the "case-study" method of teaching law.

Biography

Ames was born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts on June 22, 1846; son of Samuel T. and Mary H. (Barr) Ames and grandson of James Barr, M.D. He received his primary education in Boston, then graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in 1868 (

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

), and graduated from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1872 (

LL.B Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

). He began working as a tutor and instructor at Harvard in 1871, and continued until 1873, when he was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

. Although a licensed lawyer, Ames did not open a private practice, spending his full-time at Harvard during his entire career, as tutor (French and German, 1871-72), instructor (History, 1872-73), assistant professor (Law, 1873-1877), full professor (Law, 1877-1895), and dean of the Law School (1895-1910). Ames married Sarah Russell (born September 22, 1851) on June 28, 1880. He died in

Wilton, New Hampshire Wilton is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,896 at the 2020 census. Like many small New England towns, it grew up around water-powered textile mills, but is now a rural bedroom community with some m ...

on January 8, 1910.

Harvard legal career

Ames has been called ''the foremost teacher of law of his time, being not only an exceptionally broad and accurate scholar, and a profound student of the history of common law, but also having special ability in the development of clear and exact thought in those under his instruction.'' In teaching law to his Harvard students, Ames used actual legal cases to illustrate legal principles, a concept which had been developed by

Christopher Columbus Langdell Christopher Columbus Langdell (May 22, 1826 – July 6, 1906) was an American jurist and legal academic who was Dean of Harvard Law School from 1870 to 1895. Dean Langdell's legacy lies in the educational and administrative reforms he made to ...

. Ames insisted that legal education should require the study of actual cases instead of abstract principles of law. He was instrumental in introducing the case method in the teaching of law, a method which had come into general use in US law schools at the time of his death, and which continues to the present. He was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

in 1878. He was a manager of the 1907-founded

Comparative Law Bureau The ''Annual Bulletin'' of the Comparative Law Bureau of the American Bar Association (ABA) was a U.S. specialty law journal (1908–1914, 1933). The first comparative law journal in the United States, it surveyed foreign legislation and legal lit ...

of the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...

, whose '' Annual Bulletin'' was the first

comparative law Comparative law is the study of differences and similarities between the law (legal systems) of different countries. More specifically, it involves the study of the different legal "systems" (or "families") in existence in the world, including the ...

journal in the U.S. Ames had received the degree of LL.D. from six universities by the time of his passing.

References

External links

www.law.harvard.edu/news/spotlight/classroom/related/hls-deans.html
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ames, James Barr 1846 births 1910 deaths Deans of Harvard Law School Harvard Law School faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Harvard Law School alumni Harvard College alumni

Biography

Harvard legal career

References

Further reading

External links