Serranus Clinton Hastings—College Founder
By Dean Orrin Kip McMurray, '93 [1893]
[Originally published in Golden Jubilee Book (1928)]
A great pioneer and builder of commonwealths, a son of an heroic era in American history, a massive figure, abounding with vitality, courage and imagination, Serranus Clinton Hastings merits a larger meed of remembrance than has been his share. His early life was cast among men like himself, full of power and energy, of aspiration and ambition, yet in the company of such men he bore a place among the foremost. First member of Congress from Iowa, first Chief Justice of that Commonwealth, first Chief Justice of California, founder of the first law school on the Pacific Coast, his achievements win for him a secure niche in the history of the West.
He was born in Jefferson County, New York, on November 22, 1814. In 1824, on the death of his father, the family moved to St. Lawrence County, New York. The boy was educated at Gouverneur Academy; at 20 became principal and teacher in Norwich Academy, Chenango County, New York.
In the following year, 1835, at the age of 21, the young man, who already had begun to read law, obedient to the pioneering spirit of the American of that era, moved westward into Indiana. He first settled in Lawrenceburg and later moved to Terre Haute where, in December, 1836, he was admitted to practice law by the Circuit Court. For a while he was editor of the "Indiana Signal" and supported Martin Van Buren in the campaign of 1836.
In January, 1837, Hastings was again on the westward march. This journey carried him to a new frontier. He settled in what is now Iowa, but was then a part of the Black Hawk Purchase, acquired five years before by the United States under cession from the Black Hawk Indians. It was, when Hastings settled there, a part of Wisconsin Territory. This territory itself had been cut off in 1836 from the Michigan Territory which had been created only in 1834. The young pioneer settled in Burlington in the Black Hawk territory, but remained there only a short time. Soon we find him in Bloomington, a little settlement in the same territory, later to become the city of Muscatine. Here he lived until his departure for California in 1849. Hastings was appointed a Justice of the Peace by the Governor of Wisconsin Territory and again was admitted to practice law.
In 1838, when the Territory of Iowa was created, the young lawyer at once became prominent in the affairs of the new territory. He was a member of the first territorial legislature and remained such until Iowa attained Statehood eight years later. For one session he was president of the upper house of the legislature. In 1840, he appears as one of fifteen signers of a call for a constitutional convention, which, however, was not called until 1844. He frequently appears as counsel in the reports of cases in the territorial court. In 1845 he was married to Miss Azalea Brodt, and children were born to the couple. Hastings' only military title, that of Major, was acquired during this period. He commanded the "Muscatine Dragoons" in a war that developed between Iowa and Missouri over the boundary between the States. The Iowans, in the depth of a middle western winter, took the field against the Missourians. Their martial exploits, however, were limited to the capture of a Missouri sheriff, and the dispute was soon settled by the Governors of the respective States involved.
In 1846, when Iowa became a State, Hastings was elected to represent it in Congress. The youngest member save one in the Congress of 1846, he sat for one term in a House of Representatives including such men as John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas and Andrew Johnson. When the Supreme Court of the new State of Iowa was organized, in 1848, Hastings was appointed by the Governor as Chief Justice. Like all his tasks, this he performed conscientiously and intelligently. During the year, gold was discovered in California, and again the voice of adventure called to the spirit of the successful lawyer, politician and jurist.
The man of family, of settled position, of solid leadership in his community, risks all in search of new fortune in a land where all is as yet unknown. In the spring of 1849, immediately after the end of his term of office, the Chief justice of thirty-four, temporarily leaving his family in Iowa, is embarked on the hazardous overland journey by prairie schooner and pack train to California.
We catch a glimpse of the man and of the life about him from a letter addressed to his brother, written from Sacramento under date of September 21, 1849. The new immigrant has already visited all those parts of the country which seemed to him worthy of attention, and everything that has been written about it seems substantially correct except as to its agricultural possibilities, concerning which he has doubts. He is getting into practice, he says, and has established a banking or deposit office, in which he has already received $20,000 though this enterprise was begun only three days before. He has just lent $1,000 for one month at ten per cent—the prevailing rate of interest in the California of 1849, and no exorbitant rate considering the insecurity of the community. He has been successful in securing from Monterey some soldiers and officers with about seventy mules to go to the relief of emigrants who were in distress on the trails, and informs his brother that 'we have sent them relief." Already, though but three or four months in California, Hastings has assumed the burdens of leadership in the new community.
At the same time that he is writing to his brother, we find the former Chief Justice of Iowa commissioned by Governor Riley as prosecuting officer in the Court of First Instance. A month or two later a new clerk is appointed for the same court, Stephen J. Field, late of New York, partner of the famous David Dudley Field and just returned from a European trip, soon to be engaged in fierce struggle with Judge Turner, to be disbarred and threatened with death by his foe.
California was not yet a State, but public opinion overwhelmingly demanded that it act as one. A legislature was convened in December, 1849, and selected Serranus Clinton Hastings as first Chief justice of the Supreme Court of the State. In March, 1850, the court was organized and heard its first calendar. Decisions involving life, liberty and property were made and enforced by the Supreme Court of the "State of California," though statehood was not formally conferred by Congress until September 9, 1850
The Chief justice performed his duties for two years. Though by no means so prolific a writer of opinions as his associate, Bennett, he far outshone in diligence his other associate, Lyons, who seems to have written only ten opinions during the first two years of the court's existence. Hastings seems, as ever, to have been busy with many things; his genius was that of the man of action rather than that of the student. In 1850, he obtained leave from the Legislature to visit Oregon or Panama, though the leave granted was not employed. In 1851, his family came to California and he established a residence in Benicia, about to become the capital of the new State. His business interests continued and grew. The firm of Henley & Hastings carried on a banking business in Sacramento. In 1851, Hastings was a successful candidate for the office of Attorney-General, which he assumed on the termination of his term as Chief Justice, and the duties of which he discharged until 1853. With that year ended his long public service in two pioneer communities as Justice of the Peace, legislator, militia officer, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Iowa, prosecuting attorney, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California, Attorney-General. At the age of thirty nine, he begins to devote himself unreservedly to his own affairs, the practice of his profession and the management of his business interests. His career of success was practically unbroken, despite the failure of the banking firm of Henley, Hastings & Company. He became one of the wealthiest men in the State.
In 1865, he is engaged in European travel. In 1869, he accompanied Seward to Alaska to view the newly acquired territory of Alaska. Hastings' knowledge of the Indians, derived from his pioneer experience in Iowa, formed the basis of a friendship between the two men, which lasted until Seward's death. His interest in science and in scientific undertakings is indicated by the support given by him to the publication of "The Botany of the Pacific Coast," edited by Asa Gray, Sir Joseph Hooker and J. D. Whitney, which is duly recognized by the preface. Shuck's "Bench and Bar of California," published in 1887, is dedicated to the Hon. S. C. Hastings.
In his earlier years in Iowa he had worked for the betterment of schools and of libraries, for codification of the laws of the Territory by the judges. The social purpose was ever in his mind and deeds. Fortunately, however, his services to the advancement of civilization were not limited to the casual encouragement of scientists and men of letters. The foundation of Hastings College of the Law in 1878 was a worthy monument to the man whose life was devoted to the sound building of civil society. His gift of $100,000 to the State, for the purposes of the college founded under the act of March 28, 1878, has borne interest in human results of incalculable importance to the State and Nation. The state of legal learning, the character of the bar and bench, the administration of justice, would have been far different from what it is had not a trained body of men, regularly and efficiently prepared for the discharge of their professional duties, in constant stream moved from the halls of Hastings College to the bar of the State. The ideals nurtured under ably directed study have borne their fruit in the elevation of the life of the State.
That the organized bar of California has for many years been engaged in the improvement of conditions in respect to law and its administration, that through the self governing bar it has enthusiastically assumed the task of raising the profession to its merited position in the community, is due in no small part to the fact that our bar is in large part composed of men trained in a law school based on high ideals and never conducted for the purpose of commercial profit.f
The founder had a true vision of the future. His address at Berkeley on commencement day, June 5, 1878, lays down in broad lines the purpose and method of the law school, and displays a full appreciation of the importance of its task. His broad conception of the dignity and importance of the profession is adequately set forth by him in language avoiding the perfervid verbosity that frequently passed as eloquence in that day. He says, in the commencement address referred to:
"Since the science of special pleading is no longer a part of the study of the law, and nearly the entire corpus legis is contained in modern codes and statutes, a growing tendency is observed to neglect the study of the history of the law and its traditions, without the knowledge of which the student can never become imbued with the true spirit of jurisprudence. While many eminent and distinguished men adorn the profession in this State, the general standing of the bar is not perhaps as high as it ought to be; and it is believed that the law student of today does not receive the training and mental discipline which is absolutely essential to the highest success and the greatest usefulness.
"The desire of the founder is to diffuse a knowledge of the great principles of jurisprudence, not only among those who propose to devote themselves to the noble profession of the law, but also among all classes of society, to elevate the general standing of the bar, and to maintain and perpetuate the purity and dignity of the bench; for without this, civilized government cannot exist; the rights of property, life and liberty will vanish and become an exploded theory of the past, and communism, mobs and other disorders will prevail against law, order and good government.
"There is another consideration which influences the founder, which is entirely selfish, and for the ratification of his vanity, viz.: to erect a monument, not of granite, wood or marble, not a house made with hands, but a temple of law and intellect, which shall never perish, until, in the lapse of time, civilization shall cease, and this fair portion of our country shall be destroyed or become a desert.
"There are still others, but they are not secular and must be submitted to another forum."
In respect to the method of instruction in the new school, judge Hastings indicated that he had thought upon the problems of education. He indicates distrust in the results of mere classroom teaching; he fears too much instruction, too much formal training. He lays stress upon the cultivation of an instinct for law, the ability to deal with fact situations for which no precedents exist. His school is pictured in this address as housed in a suitable hall at Berkeley, with another hall to be provided by the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco for lectures and examinations. A proctor was to be in touch with the students at Berkeley to answer questions, and when in doubt to submit them to the professors. A registrar was to be appointed, whose duties were to be performed without salary, and rendered "from an elevated professional standpoint," "above the sordid pecuniary reward services." The college was to be, to quote his words, "the first post-graduate college of the University." A three year course was planned, the first two years to be devoted to theoretical study, the last to the codes and practice.
This is not the place, however, to dwell upon the history of the college, further than it is necessary to fill in the outline of judge Hastings' career. He was appointed the first dean of the college and his son, C. F. D. Hastings, registrar. He never took part in the work of teaching, though doubtless be had great influence in the shaping of the work of the school and the selection of professors. Within a few years after its foundation, differences of opinion on questions of policy arose between the founder and the board of directors of the college, as a consequence of which, in 1883 and 1885, statutes were passed turning over control of the college absolutely to the board of regents of the university. However, in a quo warranto proceeding to oust the registrar appointed by the directors, brought on the relation of Judge Hastings, the Supreme Court declared that the new legislation violated the Constitution, and the college retained its original organization and government.
Judge Hastings' death on February 18, 1893, at the age of seventy-eight years, occurred at a time when he had already become almost a legendary figure. Though I was a student at Hastings for the three years between 1890 and 1893, 1 never saw Judge Hastings, nor do I remember that any of my fellow students ever spoke of having seen him. He was a leader belonging to a past generation. He had long withdrawn from the turmoil of life, and had become, at least in our minds, a symbol of a rapidly vanishing race of giants, the pioneers of the golden days of 1849.