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The Bar Exam: Then and Now

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This post was coauthored by guest author Senior Legal Reference Librarian Louis Myers and Legal Reference Librarian Sarah Friedman in the Public Services Division at the Law Library of Congress.

To help recent bar exam takers celebrate the completion of their final step to become a practicing attorney in the United States, we wanted to look at some examples of bar exam questions from yesteryear, before the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) standardized the bar examination across most U.S. jurisdictions.

Historically, each state crafted their own exam. Bar exams usually consisted of prompts and questions and required the budding attorney to identify the legal issues, apply the rule of law to the facts, and (if they had enough time) craft a conclusion summing up the entire problem.

Today, 41 jurisdictions have adopted the UBE. The UBE is comprised of three distinct parts, the Multistate Performance Test (MPT), the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), and the Multistate Essay Examination (MEE).

State Questions

Here are some examples of bar exam questions from the late 1800s through the 1920s from state bar exams:

Massachusetts

Massachusetts Bar Questions and Answers from July, 1898, to July, 1905

A 1904 question was posed about family law in Massachusetts:

Q. “How may marriage be proved in this Commonwealth?”

A. “General reputation, living together as married persons, or any other circumstantial or presumptive evidence, from which the facts may be inferred, is competent for consideration. Knower vs. Wesser, 13 Met. 143.” (Wilson at 49.)

New York

New York Bar Examination Questions

A torts question from 1906:

Q. “If a firm of butchers has three partners, A, B, and C, and C leaves poisoned meat where dogs could reasonably be expected to get at it, and D’s dog is killed by eating it, what rights of action had D, if any, and against whom?”

A. Assuming C acted only for personal reasons, D would have a tort action against C. The model answer cites to the American & English Encyclopedia of Law (1 ed.) and Matter of Blackford, 35 App. Div. 330. (Brice at 11.)

Cover of Burnett’s Ohio Bar Examinations with Answers. Photo by Louis Myers.

Ohio

Burnett’s Ohio Bar Examinations with Answers

A question on wills from 1922. This question is more straightforward, asking for a definition:

Q. “Who in Ohio may make a will?”

A. The answer comes from the Ohio General Code, §10503: “A person of full age, of sound mind and memory, and not under restraint, who has property, or an interest therein may give and bequeath it by last will and testament law-fully executed.” (Burnett at 265.)

Texas

Texas Bar Examination Review: Questions and Answers

This 1916 book of Texas bar exam questions included questions about state constitutional law, such as:

Q. “Can a person hold more than one office at the same time in Texas; if so, what exception is there provided in the Constitution?”

A. “No; but the exception provided in Section 40, Article 16, is that a Justice of the Peace can be a County Commissioner, Notary Public, and Postmaster at the same time.” (Cox at 473.)

Bar Exam Questions From Other Sources

While looking into this, we found some other interesting items in the collection from other countries, other systems of laws, and even laypeople.

International Questions

Title page of Compendium in quo definitiones, divisiones, axiomata juris. Photo by Louis Myers.

Spain

Compendium in Quo Definitiones, Divisiones, Axiomata Juris, Aliæque Perquam Utiles Notitiæ Continentur, ex Institutionibus, Seu Elementis Juris Civilis à Celeberrimo Jo. Gottlieb Heineccio J. C. Compositis ad Usum Jurisprudentiæ Tironum (Recentioris Studiorum Methodi Occasione) Diligenter Depromptum

This material was created as a lesson plan for Spanish professors of Roman law, published in 1808. A civil law question is posed:

Q. “Quid est adoptio?” Translated (roughly—by the authors—to English) What is adoption?

A. The answer, translated: to make a son of one without parents. (González de la Cruz at 25.)

England

A Digest of the Examination Questions in Common Law; Conveyancing; Equity; Bankruptcy; and Criminal Law

The following question about arbitration was published in an 1855 collection of examination questions:

Q. “What is a court baron, and what a court leet?” (Maugham at 62.)

A. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, a court baron is a “medieval English manorial court, or halimoot, that any lord could hold for and among his tenants” and a court leet is “an English criminal court for the punishment of small offenses.

Legal Questions for Lay Audiences

One Thousand Legal Questions Answered by the “People’s Lawyer” of the Boston Daily Globe

A set of questions from the late 1800s was published in the Boston Daily Globe. These are designed to be more practical, and are written for the lay audience absent legalese.

One example, on the construction of a privacy fence:

Q. “How high can a board fence be erected between the adjoining house owners without violation of the law?”

A. “Six feet; any above that height the law says is a nuisance.” (Bridgham at 103.)

You and the Law

A book published in 1928 contains questions and answers about the law for a general audience. The “Conduct and Reputation” chapter includes the following question:

Q. “Also: may a picture be libelous?”

A. “Yes. Even a moving picture. One court has said ‘A suit for libel based upon a moving picture production is a somewhat novel proceeding, but there is no doubt that if the production tends to bring a person into disrepute, it may give rise to such an action.” (Darling at 117.)

To find other bar exam question books in the Library of Congress Catalog, search for the subject heading Law—Examinations, questions, etc.

For more In Custodia Legis posts on the bar exam, see:

Resources Referenced

  • Court Baron, Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/court-baron (last visited August 1, 2024).
  • Court Leet, Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/court-leet (last visited August 1, 2024).
  • Howard Douglas Burnett, Ohio Bar Examinations with Answers (KFO81 .B8 1922) 265 (1922).
  • John R. Cox, Texas Bar Examination Review; Questions and Answers (KFT1281 .C6) 473 (1916).
  • Josef Joaquin González de la Cruz, Compendium in Quo Definitiones, Divisiones, Axiomata Juris, Aliæque Perquam Utiles Notitiæ Continentur, ex Institutionibus, Seu Elementis Juris Civilis à Celeberrimo Jo. Gottlieb Heineccio J. C. Compositis ad Usum Jurisprudentiæ Tironum (Recentioris Studiorum Methodi Occasione) Diligenter Depromptum (KJA2094.A4 G66 1808) 25 (1808).
  • Percy Albert Bridgham, One Thousand Legal Questions Answered by the “People’s Lawyer” of the Boston Daily Globe (KF387 .B7) 103 (1891).
  • Robert Maugham, A Digest of the Examination Questions in Common Law; Conveyancing; Equity; Bankruptcy; and Criminal Law; From the Commencement of the Examination in Trinity Term, 1836, to the Present Time (KD663 .M38 1855) 62 (1855).
  • S. Boyd Darling, You and the Law (KF386 .D35) 117 (1928).
  • Ulysses Grant Wilson, Massachusetts Bar Questions and Answers from July, 1898, to July, 1905 (KFM2481 .W5) 49 (1905).
  • Wilson Bird Brice, A Compilation of Bar Examination Questions of the State of New York (KFN5082 .B7 1906) 11 (1906).

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Comments

  1. This is all very interesting and educational, keep them posted!

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