Excuse me. I need the second series...
of the Pacific Reporter...
number 75. It's not in the stacks...
and I was wondering if there was someplace else I could look.
No, if it's not in the stacks, it's not in. We don't have it.
I see. By the way, what is this room up here?
Oh, that's where we keep the red set.
What is the red set?
The memoranda, the notebooks.
The first drafts of all the professors' writings.
Do you mean that Professor Kingsfield's original notes...
on contracts when he was a student here...
are in that room?
Yes.
Wow.
May I see those notes, please?
I'm afraid we couldn't allow you to do that...
unless you have special authorization...
or unless you have Kingsfield's permission.
Okay.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Toombs.
I found something.
There's a room above the stacks...
where they keep all of the actual notes...
the professors took when they were law students here.
They're just sitting there waiting.
It's called the red set room.
You have to have special permission to get in there.
I want to see the notes.
I want to see Kingsfield's notes on contracts.
Oh, no, oh, no.
I know what you're thinking.
Uh-uh.
[Whispering] Jesus.
Do you realize what this is?
This is it.
This...
This is the unbroken chain.
This is the ageless passing of wisdom.
Hey.
What is it?
Listen to this.
"Kingsfield, Charles W.
"Notes on contract law in a course on contracts...
"given by Professor Willingston...
at the Harvard Law School, 1927."
Here.
What the hell is it?
They're just notes...
and they look just like mine.
"Questions:
"Does everybody have a contract...
"to obey everybody else's rights?
What is a contract? What do you owe to others?"
Look at this. He even doodles.
Come on, let's get out of here.
Wait, wait.
"Can we make a contract with God...
that is binding to man?"
Look. Here's the original notes he wrote...
on the article about statute of frauds.
"After all, I am almost the living extension...
"of the old judges.
"Where would they be without me?
"I carry in my mind the cases they wrote.
"Where the hell would they be...
"if it wasn't for me?
"Who would hang their pictures...
"if there were no law students?
"It's hard being the living extension...
of tradition."
[Car Horn Honks]
- Hart. - Yeah?
Telephone.
Hello.
Susan: Hi.
Well, it's not very original...
but it is effective.
Want to play?
My father never misses a Harvard-Yale game...
and he always sits right over there.
And I once sat on his left...
with the president of the United States...
on his right...
and two Supreme Court justices at his feet.
I was only 12 years old.
Where are you going?
Don't you want to explore?
No, I want to talk.
Well, I want to explore.
I want to talk!
Oh, come on, Hart.
Susan, please. I want to talk.
Explore with me.
Please. I want to talk.
No, please.
I want to talk, Susan!
Come explore.
Susan!
I want to talk with you.
Goddamn it. Susan.
Why the hell can't you just do things?
Why do you have to talk about everything?
I am trying to do something.
I am trying to make sense.
I want us to be together.
Why?
What's wrong with that?
I was right.
You were born for the married students' dorm.
You were born for the dating bar.
I can't live like this.
I need to be organized.
Susan, I need a way of living that I can rationalize.
This way I spend half my time worrying.
I can't work and I can't sleep.
I didn't come here because you bought me flowers.
I can always buy flowers.
Hart, I could buy you. Maybe I already have.
Eat shit.
I like you.
I really do.
You can't buy me.
Show me something in Langdell I can't buy.
Show me one person who doesn't kiss my father's ass.
I don't kiss your father's ass.
I'm not afraid of him anymore.
I can really understand what he is saying.
I've read everything he's written.
My mind is really in his.
I know what he is saying before he says it.
I am three questions ahead.
I am having a true Socratic experience.
Three questions ahead, Hart?
You're only three answers ahead.
And I think we'd better go...
to the Cape this weekend.
And you don't talk about my father or the law school...
and I'll try and be a lot nicer...
and I'll give you lots of sustenance.
Next weekend?
Yes.
Okay.
All right, next weekend. The Cape.
Bell: I think these dead man statutes are unfair.
They don't give the plaintiff...
a chance to testify.
Why shouldn't a person be allowed to testify...
against a dead person?
Take Proctor vs. Proctor, for example.
That girl worked for her aunt for 10 years...
because her aunt had promised to leave her the house.
I say she should get the house...
because she worked for it.
It's just a crummy technicality...
that says she can't testify.
That's not justice.
Your name is Bell?
Bell, yes, sir, as in Liberty Bell.
Did it ever occur to you, Liberty Bell, was it?
Did it ever occur to you that the courts did not write the dead man statutes...
the legislature did...
and that the courts are bound to follow the legislature?
I think I shall have to dispense with the privilege...
of ringing you further, Mr. Bell.
[Class Laughs]
Mr. Kingsfield.
Yes.
Mr. Bell was right.
There are at least 17 ways...
of getting around the dead man statutes.
You wrote an article showing that in 1936.
If I wrote an article in November 1936...
showing that there were 17 ways...
to get around the dead man statutes...
I hardly need to be told now that Mr. Bell is correct.
Anything else?
No.
Your name?
Hart.
Mr. Hart, I can understand your wanting to ride...
to the rescue of the unfortunate Bell...
but aren't you a little late?
You had your chance in class.
Nobody inhibits you from expressing yourself.
Mr. Hart.
I need a student to do some research...
for the supplement to my treatise.
Interested?
Sure.
Come around to my office this afternoon.
My secretary will give you the basic material.
You can get started. It doesn't have to be long.
You can do it over the weekend. Around 10 pages.
I'll expect it bright and early Monday.
[Door Closes]
[Telephone Rings]
[Ring]
Hello.
Hi.
Your father asked me...
to do some research for him.
And he needs it bright and early Monday morning...
so I can't go to the Cape this weekend.
I understand.
Oh, good, good.
[Hangs Up]
Hello.
Susan?
[Knock On Door]
[Louder Knock On Door]
Come in.
What do you want?
I couldn't finish the paper. I need more time.
I've done all the basic work.
As you can see, I just need to condense it. It won't be hard.
When your paper wasn't in bright and early Monday morning, as promised...
I had someone else do it... a third-year student.
So, you see, your contribution to the supplement of my treatise...
is no longer necessary.
My contribution.
Condensed or uncondensed isn't necessary.
Thank you.
What?
I'm sorry.
Thank you.
You ought to get some sleep.
Yes, sir.
Thank you, sir.
Hart: We could, uh, go to the Cape next weekend.
Susan: We aren't going anywhere.
Excuse me.
Christ.
I, uh, wish you wouldn't treat me like this.
I haven't had a decent meal in four days. I...
I haven't had any sleep.
Susan.
Look, he tested me. I failed.
I worked so hard on that goddamn paper.
Well, he may flunk me!
They finally got you, didn't they, Hart?
They sucked all that Midwestern charm...
right out of you.
Look it, he's got you scared to death.
Oh, you're gonna pass...
because you're the kind the law school wants.
You'll get your little diploma...
your piece of paper that's no different than this...
and you can stick it in your silver box...
with all the other paper in your life.
Your birth certificate, your driver's license...
your marriage license, your stock certificates...
and your will.
Excuse me.
You don't even care.
I wish you would flunk.
There might be some hope for you.
[Objects Falling]
Susan.
Susan, you... You really don't mean that.
I certainly do, Hart. Leave me alone.
I don't want to see you anymore!
Susan.
O'Connor, why don't the federal courts...
use the same civil procedures as the state courts?
Well, they used to, but the Supreme Court...
overruled that former ruling.
And what is the famous case in which that ruling was changed?
Come on. [Snapping]
You have 10 seconds. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...
6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
Piss off, Bell!
You lose.
What happened to O'Connor?
I'm afraid O'Connor decided to cut back...
and cut out the study group.
Needless to say, his loss is our gain.
What are we gonna do about his outline?
I'm way behind in civil procedures.
It's already the middle of March.
Calm down, Kevin.
I don't give a shit about his outline.
He's just a little pimp.
I wasn't gonna share my outline with him anyway.
You what?
You got wax in your ears?
Listen, we've got to stick together.
That's the whole point of this group.
The whole point of this group is to learn the law.
We all made a contract with each other.
We can all do some of O'Connor's work.
We'll divide up his course.
Let's not get softhearted. O'Connor's out, and that's it.
We don't get his outline at the end of the year...
and he doesn't get ours.
Do you do this often?
[Scoffs]
Don't flatter yourself.
Do you need some help?
No, it's all right. Here.
[Keys Jingle]
[Keys Jingle, Door Opens]
[Sighs]
[Door Closes]
Who's that?
That is Philip.
Philip is back.
Europe, it seems, wasn't the answer, either.
We've just been with my father.
We filed for divorce before Philip left...
and of course, father is handling it.
The most expensive...
legal advice in the country.
It's gonna cost you a fortune to Xerox that, Bell.
Maybe I'm not going to Xerox it.
What does that mean...
maybe you're not going to Xerox it?
This is a great outline. Fantastic.
If yours doesn't stack up, you won't get a chance to look at it.
Bell's going to have his outline Xeroxed just like the rest of us.
Maybe Bell is, and maybe Bell isn't.
Anderson: The outline is a tool, Bell.
A tool, not an end in itself.
I'm going to publish that outline.
The casebook's already been published, Bell.
My outline is better than the casebook.
Anyway, it's gonna be longer.
[Laughter]
I think you're all a bunch of pimps.
Anderson: You're on a suicide course, Bell.
I don't have to sit here and be insulted.
One more word out of you, Anderson...
and I'll lock your head in your attache case.
How is your outline coming?
Well, I have not yet reached the stage...
where my outline is reducible to a single word.
Yet, at 50 pages, if I may pat myself on the back...
it's clean and concise.
Bell: How about you, Kevin?
It's coming.
Can you tell us how far?
It'll be ready in four weeks...
uh, before exams.
I don't think Kevin has an outline.
I think the pimp is holding out on us.
If you ever say "pimp" in front of me again...
Pimp.
Jesus!
You want to know about my outline?
It's 800 pages long, and it's fantastic...
but you'll never see it, Ford.
Hart is the only one I'm gonna let see it.
He's the only one of you who isn't a pimp!
I was gonna let you see it, Ford, but I changed my mind.
And as far as the robot pimp goes...
I was never gonna let that pimp see it anyway!
Get out! You get out of my study group!
It's a pleasure, you pimp.
[Door Closes]
[Clears Throat]
Quite amusing.
I wonder if our dropout rate is paralleled in other groups.
Look, what's gonna happen?
We don't have outlines anymore in property...
or in civil procedure.
In another month, by the end of the year...
when exams come...
we might not have any at all.
I need the outlines.
I need them. I need help.
Look, Kevin, nothing's going to happen.
Take a rest, will you?
Go somewhere and rest your mind.
We'll meet again next week and figure something out.
Now, listen, I can't wait that long, you see?
I've got a plan. It's fine for you...
because you talk in class, but I can't wait that long!
Kevin, we're all in the same boat!
Anderson: Well, gentlemen, I'll see you next week.
Kevin, come with me. We'll get somethin' to eat.
Screw O'Connor, Bell, and Kevin.
[Door Closes]
[Doorbell Rings]
Well, hello, Hart.
Hello. Is... Is Kevin in?
Come on in.
I'll tell him you're here.
Would you like some coffee?
Yes, please. Just black.
Oh.
[Mellow Music Playing]
Hey, Hart. What are you doing here?
Hey.
Quite a place.
Oh, yes.
Asheley's folks wouldn't permit their daughter...
to live in anything that wasn't quite a place.
How about a drink?
Sure.
You know, I was, uh, just working on my outline.
I brought some notes.
Good.
Well, here we are.
Oh.
Did you tell Hart the good news?
Oh, uh, no. I was just about to.
Asheley's pregnant.
Well, that's great. Congratulations.
Yeah.
Uh, calls for a little celebration.
Yeah. That's fine, thanks.
Well...
I'll just leave you two to talk your law school talk.
I brought these notes...
and I thought...
maybe I could help you with the outline...
or anything that, uh...
No one can help. Not even Moss.
You, uh, you should have been there.
You should have seen the mess I made out of Moss's hypothesis.
Yeah, I got a photographic memory.
I'm a walking, talking encyclopedia.
I got facts at my fingertips, facts on the tip of my tongue...
but I just don't have the kind of mind that can, uh...
Don't have the kind of mind that can make the grade.
You're lucky, Hart.
You and Ford and Liberty Bell and the robot pimp...
You're all gonna pass.
You'll all make the Law Review. You...
You talk in class. You're Kingsfield's favorite.
You'll get the grades.
They're just grades, Kevin.
You know better than that.
It's a number. It's a letter...
but it determines salaries and futures.
With my grades, it's gonna be pretty rough...
just keeping us in pablum.
How about another drink?
You know, uh, I can mix a Mai Tai...
a Margarita, an Alexander, a Grasshopper.
Hmm. Anything you want.
I glanced at a bartender's book once...
and memorized them all. Instantly.
It's the only bar I'm ever gonna pass.
Please, I don't want you to see this. Don't...
Asheley!
Hart's got to go. Thank him for coming.
I'm getting quickly indisposed.
Hart: I'll leave these notes here.
He's just so tired. He works so hard.
Yeah.
Every night till 3:00 or 4:00.
The competition is killing him.
He always talks so much about you...
how nice and bright you are.
Oh, I'm not very bright. It comes hard for me, too.
Are you married?
No.
Got a girl?
[Chuckles] No.
Listen, Tuesday is Kevin's birthday...
and I wanna make him a party.
A surprise birthday party.
Well, the thing of it is...
I don't know any of his friends...
and he hates all of mine.
So, uh, I thought you might invite the study group.
It would mean a lot to him.
Sure.
You don't have to bring any presents.
What time?
Oh, uh, 8:00.
All right.
Okay.
[Sighs]
Well, thanks for droppin' by.
Sure.
Good night.
Sure.
Good night.
[Door Closes]
[Click]
Anderson: Brooks vs. Scoville illustrates the distinctions...
between the general demerit and the special demerit.
That is, a general statement...
that a complaint is insufficient...
and a demerit which argues that the specific allegations...
of a plaintiff are without foundation.
I think the concept is rather clear.
We always seem to hear from the same people.
Would anyone who has not contributed lately...
care to speak?
Very well, I shall have to ferret you out.
Mr. Brooks, we haven't heard from you in a long time.
Give us the facts of Tinn vs. Hoffman.
Some 13 letters and telegrams...
passing between a company wishing to sell pig iron...
and a company wishing to buy it.
Every time it looked as if they had made a deal...
the company wishing to buy always hedged back down.
Finally, the frustrated seller gave up...
and sold the pig iron elsewhere.
Now the company that wishes to buy is suing...
saying that the seller had promised him the iron.
Mr. Brooks, what is the holding of this case?
How did the court reach its decision?
Um...
in a letter of November 28th...
we find this phrase, "Making you an offer."
The court seemed to stress this phrase.
Oh, l... I guess that's not the crucial passage.
Mr. Hart.
The correct rule...
and the one in which this case was decided is:
"In an ambiguous set of facts...
"the party who creates the ambiguity...
"and tries to use it to his own advantage...
shall have the ambiguity resolved against him."
Now, if both parties are equally blameless...
what rules then?
Who should bear the burden of the financial loss?
Miss Farranti.
Where the parties are both blameless...
the court should place the burden of loss...
on the party who can most easily bear it.
Normally, the party in the best financial position.
Oh, God! Kevin's party!
Ford!
Oh, shit.
Ford!
Hey, 8:00 tonight was Kevin's birthday.
Want to go?
No. I wasn't invited.
Look, I'm inviting you.
Asheley asked me to invite the whole study group, but I forgot.
Look, it's 9:15. The party's over.
Oh, shit!
[Door Slams]
So I've got possibilities with a couple of New York firms...
and, uh... but I want to spend the summer...
Hey, Anderson.
[Rings Doorbell]
I'm sorry, Asheley, but, uh, I forgot about the party.
There isn't any party.
Kevin tried to kill himself.
I'm having a baby, and he tried to kill himself.
Where is he?
He's upstairs.
Kevin!
Please...
take it out of the house.
Please.
Take it and leave.
Hart: I'm sorry, Kevin.
Get out.
[Walking Downstairs]
[Door Closes]
O'Connor: It is clear that under such circumstances...
the defendant's promise to pay Neilson's debt...
was without consideration.
Mr. Hart, what do you think of Mr. O'Connor's argument?
Mr. Hart?
Mr. Bell, what do you think of Mr. O'Connor's argument?
Mr. Bell?
I'm sorry. What?
Do you find Mr. O'Connor's argument convincing?
I don't find anything Mr. O'Connor says convincing.
[Laughter]
You know, it always amazes me...
when law students have a hard time.
I mean, people like Kevin.
When you grow up with my father, you get immune...
or insensitive to certain kinds of things.
We used to own that house over there, too...
but we sold it when my grandfather died.
When he was still alive, we used to shoot skeet from up here.
I don't know.
I sit in his class...
for days, I sit there.
I read his books in the library...
I abstract the cases he's chosen.
I know everything about him...
His favorite ties, how many suits he has.
You can say he doesn't care...
but he's there anyway...
pounding his mind into mine.
He screws around with my life.
There's no way you're ever gonna have...
a normal relationship with him.
He won't permit it. It's not part of the structure.
You must accept it and just try and do things on your own.
I sit in the damn dining hall. What do I hear?
I hear people telling Kingsfield stories...
about how Kingsfield...
flattened a particular student...
in a particular way.
It's like they're telling Norse sagas...
like we're studying theology instead of law.
So what the hell are you gonna do?
You've gotta stand up. You've gotta grow.
I can't explain it, but you've just gotta stop being so soft...
so easily manipulated.
It's very dangerous for one's intelligence.
I'm tired of hearing about my father...
and I'm tired of talking about him.
What about you? Aren't you tired of sitting in that class taking shit?
Constitutional contracts...
marriage contracts...
historical contracts...
French contracts...
African tribal contracts...
religious contracts...
Now, Mr. Hart, can you relate our next case...
to the summary we've been building?
Thank you, I prefer to pass.
What did you say?
Well, I have nothing relevant to say concerning the case.
However, when I have something relevant to say...
I shall raise my hand.
Mr. Hart, would you step down here?
Mr. Hart, here's a dime.
Call your mother. Tell her there's serious doubt...
about your becoming a lawyer.
You...
are a son of a bitch, Kingsfield!
Mr. Hart!
That is the most intelligent thing you've said today.
[Laughter]
You may take your seat.
[Attache Case Opens]
I made extra copies of my outlines for Kevin.
He can't possibly do well enough to hurt any of us.
Kevin won't be needing any copies.
He left school.
Kevin's outline.
He'd only done three pages.
I received it yesterday in the mail.
Maybe you can get some extra insight from it.
Well, I never did anything. It was Bell who hated him.
I never said anything against him.
Three left out of six.
Thank God Friday's the last day of class.
I suggest that you particularly address yourselves...
to the original text of the statute of frauds...
and the uniform commercial code.
Thank you.
Good luck with your exam.
You'll need it.
Oh, say, listen, Hart, can you explain that Swiss Atlantic case to me?
Yeah. Facts aren't important.
Just remember fundamental breach.
- Hart? - Yeah?
- Can I drop by later on and pick up some notes? - Yeah, yeah, sure. Okay.
Hey, I'm getting out.
No way to study in here anymore.
Can't you feel it? Panic has descended.
I'm going somewhere else. You wanna come?
We can study someplace together.
Bet your ass I do.
Where the hell are you going?
We're leaving. Where is none of your business.
You can't pass without my outline.
Ford: Okay, then we won't pass.
Wait. I'll go get it!
Bell: Ford! Hart!
Look, I'll show it to you! This is it!
Please don't go! Look at it!
Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
Bell: Aah!
How long you gentlemen planning to stay?
Three days.
Front.
Get this damn thing out of here.
Let's start with civil procedure...
work our way to contracts.
That way, it'll be fresh in our minds Monday morning...
when we start the test.
[Locks Door]
Maid.
Hart: No, thanks.
They don't want their beds changed.
Checked in two days ago, and no one's even seen 'em. Something funny's going on.
Hart: Number 4, murder.
Ford: "A," definition.
"Murder is the unlawful, unjustified...
"and inexcusable killing of a human being...
"by another human being with malice aforethought.
"Malice aforethought...
"has a special and particular meaning...
"apart from any other definition of malice.
"It is a term used to cover...
five specific types of intention."
All right, let's suppose...
I'm beating you with my fists unlawfully.
You've angered me...
I knock you down on the floor...
and you get impaled on a spike...
sticking up out of the floor.
Uh, under the felony murder rule...
I'm not guilty...
because a battery isn't an ordinary felony.
Exceptions.
What... What exceptions?
Uh, you... Your hand...
is a deadly weapon.
Karate.
[Knocks On Door]
Mr. Hart, Mr. Ford.
I'd like a word with you, please.
Hart: No, thank you.
[Knocks On Door]
No, thank you!
[Inserts Key]
[Chattering]
Oh, my God.
What have you been doing in this room?
I just had this room decorated.
I'm calling the police.
If you kick us out of here...
I swear to God I'll sue your goddamn hotel for a million dollars!
I'll burn the place to the ground!
Okay, look, look, look.
I know that piece of paper that we signed down there...
entitles you to kick us out...
but if you do that...
I'm gonna call the newspapers...
and I'm gonna tell them...
that we're a dope ring working out of this hotel.
I'm gonna tell them that, and you're not gonna get any more business.
Now shut up and get out!
Get me room service, please.
Yes, sir.
Hello. Room service, this is the manager.
I want you to cut off room 112 from all room service.
Hart: "Methods of attacking legal problems.
"Technical reasoning...
thinking in terms of businessman's..."
Yeah, give me room service.
[Mutters]
Hey, there's no water.
What?
What?!
What do you mean, there's no more room service?
Give me the phone.
Hello?
I wanna speak to the manager.
Plug me into his line, will you, please?
No, I'm sorry. The manager isn't here.
Windsor Arms. One moment, please.
No, I'm sorry. I don't know when he'll be back.
Hello?
Yes, I'll give him a message.
Thank you.
"The shipment of dope just came through...
and we're holding his special brand."
[Chattering]
Let's go.
Okay.
Bring on the test.
[Chattering]
Gotcha.
[Clears Throat] Professor Kingsfield?
Yes?
I just wanted to tell you I truly enjoyed your class.
That's fine, fine.
What I mean is...
you really mean something to me...
and your class has really meant something to me.
What is your name?
Hart.
Thank you, Mr. Hart.
Thank you very much.
Hey!
Here's your mail.
Ah.
I got a letter from my father.
It's something very interesting.
My divorce is final.
A piece of paper, and I'm free.
Aren't you gonna open your grades?