University of California and UC Hastings
Excerpt from: The Centennial Record of the University of California, 1868-1968. A Centennial Publication of the University of California. Compiled and Edited by Verne A. Stadtman and the Centennial Publications Staff.
[The full document was located here (last known, good URL) at the California Digital Library.]
Hastings College of the Law
Hastings College of the Law, the oldest law school in the West, is an affiliated college of the University located in San Francisco.
Hastings College of the Law, created in affiliation with the University of California and as the law department thereof, but controlled by an independent board of directors, has been called a "highly anomalous institution" in respect to its organization. Founded in the tenth year of the University's existence by Serranus Clinton Hastings, California's first chief justice, it is the oldest law school in the west.
Provision for the establishment of a law college had been made in the University's ORGANIC ACT, but more pressing needs and shortage of funds delayed such action until Judge Hastings proposed to make a gift to the state for that purpose if appropriate terms for the donation could be met. In accordance with this proposal, an act providing for establishment of Hastings College of the Law was passed on condition that Judge Hastings pay $100,000 into the state treasury, on which amount the state should appropriate the sum of seven per cent per annum, to be paid to the college directors semiannually. This legislation, approved March 26, 1878, provided that the college should "affiliate with the University of the State, upon such terms as shall be for the welfare of the College and University, and shall be the Law Department of the University."
By the terms of the act, all business of the college should be managed by a self-perpetuating board of directors, presided over by the chief justice of the California Supreme Court. The dean of the college should be an ex officio member of the University faculty, and that faculty should grant diplomas, signed and issued by the University President, to qualified students of the college.
Judge Hastings proceeded to found and establish the college in accordance with the provisions of the statute, and the affiliation was formally announced at the University Commencement, June 5, 1878. Although its founder clearly intended that the principal home of the college would ultimately be established at Berkeley, with auxiliary classes conducted in San Francisco, the college has never been other than a wholly San Francisco-located institution.
Classes in the college commenced in San Francisco's Pioneer Hall, August 12, 1878, with an enrollment of 66 students. Judge Hastings had been appointed first dean, and John Norton Pomeroy, then preparing his great work, Equity Jurisprudence, had accepted the position of professor of municipal law. A three-year course of instruction was instituted, with Pomeroy carrying the principal burden of teaching during the college's early years.
It was soon determined by court litigation that females had equal right to enroll in the college in accordance with University practice. The legality of the college's foundation in affiliation with the University was also confirmed in two subsequent decisions. The first of these held unconstitutional legislation attempting to transfer control of the college to the University Regents; the second rejected a collateral attack made on the validity of the University of California degree awarded to Hastings' graduates.
In 1879, the college moved to the Academy of Sciences, beginning what has been called the "Odyssey of Hastings." For by 1953, when the college moved into its own modern plant at Hyde and McAllister Streets in San Francisco, it had changed locations 15 times without acquiring a permanent home.
From its earliest years the college has been favored with capable administrators. After a period of transition following Judge Hastings' resignation as dean and Pomeroy's death, the principal professorship was assumed by the Honorable Elisha W. McKinistry, who resigned from the California Supreme Court to accept the appointment. Robert P. Hastings, son of the founder, served as dean, and upon his death in 1891, C. F. Dio Hastings, another son of Judge Hastings, was appointed dean and served until 1894.
From 1894 until 1899, Judge Charles W. Slack, a member of the second graduating class, acted as professor of municipal law and dean. Following his retirement in 1899, Edward Robeson Taylor became professor of law and dean and served in this capacity for 20 years, seeing the college through the earthquake and fire of 1906 and nine changes in location. He was succeeded by Maurice E. Harrison, who served until 1925. William M. Simmons became dean in 1925, and served until his death in 1940, when David E. Snodgrass was appointed to the office. Under Dean Snodgrass' administration the now-famed "Sixty-Five Club" came into existence. Outstanding legal scholars, having reached the age of compulsory retirement from other law school faculties, have been invited to continue their work at Hastings College of the Law. This innovation in legal education has enabled the college to maintain its strong law faculty.
When Dean Snodgrass died in 1963, Arthur M. Sammis was appointed dean.--BEVERLY J. ROSENOW
References:
William Ferrier, Origin and Development of the University of California (Berkeley, 1980), 432-83;
Robert W. Harrison. "The Odyssey of Hastings," Hastings College of the Law Golden Jubilee Book, 1878-1928 (1928), 23--hereafter referred to as Jubilee Book,
Edward A. Hogan, "The First Seventy-Five Years," California Monthly (May, 1953), 10-11;
Orrin K. McMurray, "Serranus Clinton Hastings," Jubilee Book, 7-11;
William L. Prosser and David Snodgrass, "Three Law Schools," California Monthly (March, 1949), 14;
William H. Waste, "The Founding of Hastings College of the Law," Jubilee Book, 13-14; California, Statutes (1877-78), c. 351, 533;
California, Statutes (1877-78), c. 351, sec. 2, 533.