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Mr. Hart...
will you recite the facts of Hawkins vs. McGee?
I do have your name right? You are Mr. Hart?
Yes, my name is Hart.
You're not speaking loud enough, Mr. Hart.
Will you speak up?
Yes, my name is Hart.
Mr. Hart, you're still not speaking loud enough.
Will you stand?
Now that you're on your feet, Mr. Hart...
maybe the class will be able to understand you.
You are on your feet?
Yes, I'm on my feet.
Loudly, Mr. Hart.
Fill this room with your intelligence.
Now, will you give us the facts of the case?
I haven't read the case.
Class assignments for the first day...
are posted on the bulletin boards...
in Langdell and Austin Halls.
You must have known that.
No.
You assumed this first class would be a lecture...
an introduction to the course.
Yes, sir.
Never assume anything in my classroom.
Mr. Hart, I will myself give you the facts of the case.
Hawkins vs. McGee is a case in contract law...
the subject of our study.
The boy burned his hand by touching an electric wire.
A doctor who was anxious to experiment in skin grafting...
asked to operate on the hand...
guaranteeing that he would restore it 100%.
He took a piece of skin from the boy's chest...
and grafted it onto the unfortunate boy's hand.
The operation failed to produce a healthy hand.
Instead it produced a hairy hand.
A hand not only burned...
but covered with dense, matted hair.
Mr. Hart...
what damages do you think the doctor should pay?
What did the doctor promise?
There was a promise to fix the hand...
back to the way it was before it was burned.
And the result of the operation?
The hand was much worse than before he went to the doctor.
How should the court measure the damages?
What should the doctor pay the boy?
The doctor should...
The doctor should pay for what he did...
and he should pay for the difference...
between what the boy had... a burned hand...
and what the doctor gave him, a...
a burned and hairy hand?
Mr. Pruit.
That's just the screamer, men.
Screams every Friday and Sunday night at exactly 12:00.
It's all right.
Nobody's ever seen him. Not that I know of.
It's my third year now, and he's been screaming since I came.
Right at the stroke of 12:00.
Story is it was Kingsfield.
Kingsfield drove him mad.
He's driven a lot of lawyers mad over the 40 years...
since he's been teaching here.
I just heard he ripped up a one-L this morning...
so bad that the guy lost his breakfast.
That's true. That was me.
Hardly a propitious start.
Well, let's see, I guess I covered...
everything I'm supposed to tell you about the dorm.
There's no cooking. No hot plates.
There's intramural football and basketball...
if you have the time.
Where's the pool?
It's across the square behind Holyoke Center.
You a swimmer?
No. Just relaxes me.
There's one more thing.
All that stuff about grades is true.
You gotta work like hell. No kidding.
Nobody jokes about grades.
Try getting a job without them.
It's stacked against you if you don't have the grades.
Don't think you're made 'cause you go to Harvard.
Maybe I better start studying then.
That's it. Study.
If there's any law around the dorm, that's it.
That's the main rule.
Remember, I'm here to answer your questions, so just ask.
And I'm the only third-year student you can trust...
so talk to me.
Okay. Thanks a lot.
Right. So long.
My name's Ford. I'm across the hall.
I knocked, but you didn't hear me.
Hi. My name's Hart.
I came to ask you to join my study group.
What's a study group?
It's a device. A tool.
Groups of first-year students...
get together a couple times a week.
Review the class work, the casebooks.
They make outlines and then share them.
It helps at exam time. You interested?
Yeah. I'm interested.
You plan to study all night?
No, I'm finished. Five hours is plenty.
You want to get drunk?
Of course you have to have the grades.
I mean, hell, you can't wear "Harvard"
on a sign around your neck.
You gotta have the grades and you have to look good.
Where you from, Hart?
Minnesota.
You went to the university there?
Yeah. Where'd you go to school?
Harvard.
In the grand tradition of the Fords.
I'm something like fifth generation Harvard.
Harvard Law School.
And depending on if I get the grades...
and then make the Law Review...
I'm on my way to Wall Street.
You'll make the Law Review.
Well, why not? After all, I am a genius.
I've got an IQ of 190.
When I was a freshman at college, I had 3 roommates.
One was a genius, and one was crazy...
and one was inconsequential. Kept to himself.
It was the genius who told me about Kingsfield.
First guy to tell me all about Kingsfield.
He read an article about him in Life or Time.
Something about a book he wrote.
It was called Contracts in Our Daily Lives.
Yeah.
To make a long story short...
genius took the law school admission's test...
but didn't score high enough to get into Harvard.
Genius.
The study of law...
is something new and unfamiliar to most of you.
Unlike any schooling you've ever been through before.
We use the Socratic Method here.
I call on you, ask you a question...
and you answer it.
Why don't I just give you a lecture?
Because through my questions, you learn to teach yourselves.
Through this method of questioning, answering...
we seek to develop in you the ability to analyze...
that vast complex of facts that constitute...
the relationships of members within a given society.
Questioning and answering.
At times you may feel that you have found the correct answer.
I assure you that this is a total delusion on your part.
You will never find the correct, absolute, and final answer.
In my classroom, there is always another question...
another question to follow your answer.
Yes, you're on a treadmill.
My little questions spin the tumblers of your mind.
You're on an operating table.
My little questions are the fingers probing your brain.
We do brain surgery here.
You teach yourselves the law...
but I train your mind.
You come in here with a skull full of mush...
and you leave thinking like a lawyer.
Ford's study group?
Yeah. Yeah. James Hart.
Hi. Kevin Brooks.
This is Hart, Kevin, and O'Connor.
This is Anderson and Bell.
We were just talking about the most sensible thing...
to do at the beginning is divide up the courses.
Each person be responsible for his particular course.
Each person do an outline.
Then at the end of the year...
we have them Xeroxed and exchange them.
Now, I propose that nobody buys any outlines...
because they won't reflect the work we've done together.
I'm gonna take property.
There's no guarantee we'll all be here in the spring.
Some of us might have nervous breakdowns.
I think we should do research on nervous breakdowns.
I want property.
I've already started property.
Hart, don't you think this is the most logical thing...
to divide up the courses?
Yeah.
Let's divide the courses up.
We've divided them. I'm taking property.
I think we should talk about who gets which course.
Maybe we should draw lots.
Like I said, I've already started property.
Forget it, shorty.
Listen...
Bell, try to think of this in terms of maximum utility.
Try to attain the highest average possible.
Treat all your courses as of equal importance.
They're not equal.
My father is in property. I know that stuff.
That's different. Go ahead and take property.
If you like and you know it, you'll do a better job.
I can outline something else.
Anderson, which course would you like?
Doesn't matter to me.
I've made my study schedule out to the end of the year...
dividing my time equally among all the courses.
I'll outline anything.
Kevin?
I don't know which course I'll be best at.
I don't think you should outline your best course.
Perhaps your overall average would improve with your worst.
I don't know which course will be my worst.
I don't care as long as it's not contracts.
I hate that son of a bitch Kingsfield.
Hart, which one do you want?
Contracts.
You sure? Yeah.
Okay, I'll take criminal law.
You guys who haven't decided...
can divide up the other courses any way you like.
Civil procedure.
I'm going up to Mass Avenue to get something to eat.
You want to go?
No, thanks.
What is this, some sort of endurance contest?
No. This is a really fascinating case...
about this guy who went around killing everybody...
walking in his sleep.
Well, you want me to bring you back a pizza?
Oh, no. No, thanks.
Yeah. All right.
Yeah. Good-bye. Yeah.
Hello. Do you mind? There's someone following me.
Just to the corner's all right.
I'll walk you home.
All right.
I knew law school was hard...
but I didn't think it was going to be as hard as it really is.
You're up against some incredible minds here.
I think this guy's gonna be a supreme court justice...
this guy's gonna run Wall Street...
this guy might be president of the United States.
What it is, though, is this incredible sense of power.
This is where I live.
- Know what I mean? - Yes.
Have you ever walked through the law school campus?
- Yes. - Then you know what I mean.
When I walk down those streets...
I get the feeling that behind those doors...
minds are being formed to run the world.
Good night. Thank you.
Pleasure's been mine. Good night.
Ford?
Hey, Ford, wake up.
What the hell are you doing?
Where the hell are we?
Langdell.
I know that, but where?
In the heart of the beast.
Ah, this goddamn building gets to me.
Comforts me...
restores my soul.
Yea, though I walk through the valley...
of the shadow of ignorance...
I shall fear no evil...
for the law is with me.
Okay, get the book you want and let's get out of here.
Wait a minute.
There's somebody else in here.
Hey...
that's Kingsfield. Come on.
We're gonna have to get up so early to keep up with him.
What are the elements that can lead to a party...
being excused from performing his part of a contract...
and yet not paying damages?
Mr. O'Connor?
Both parties predicate their contract...
on an assumption about a state of facts...
and the assumption is untrue.
Elaborate?
Mr. Anderson?
Both parties must share the assumption.
The assumption must be material, i.e., that the true state of facts is that it is impossible...
to complete the contract in any reasonable manner.
Both parties must be dealing with each other in a fair manner...
and neither party may obtain an unfair advantage...
because the contract is dissolved.
Example?
Well, suppose I were to agree...
to rent an apartment from you...
an old apartment which you hadn't visited in a while...
and the time came for me to move in...
and we discovered the apartment house had burned down.
That actually happened to me.
Personal comment is not necessary.
Hello.
I was walking by and I saw your light.
How nice. Come in.
It's very interesting to me how quickly...
the classes have divided up into three factions.
One faction being the students who sit in the back.
Given up sitting in their assigned seats...
preparing the cases.
What is it, only October?
They've already given up trying.
Cowards.
The second group are the ones who won't raise their hands...
or volunteer an answer, but will try when called upon.
That's where I am, right now...
living in a state of constant fear.
And then there's the third echelon.
The upper echelon.
The volunteers.
They raise their hands in class.
They thrust themselves into the fray.
I don't think they're smarter than anyone else...
but they have courage.
And they'll achieve the final recognition.
The teachers will get to know their names...
and they'll get better... better grades.
Past couple weeks, I've been preparing for the upper echelon...
and this weekend if I get all my work done...
I'm going to enter it Monday morning.
In Kingsfield's contract law class.
The facts of Carbolic Smoke Ball.
Miss Farranti?
This is a case where the defendants...
entered an advertisement in the Pall Mall Gazette...
November 1891...
stating that a �100 reward would be paid...
by The Carbolic Smoke Ball Company...
to any person who contracted influenza or a cold...
or any disease caused by taking cold...
after using the ball 3 times daily for 2 weeks...
according to the directions.
Now, on the strength of this advertisement...
a Mrs. Carlill bought a smoke ball...
used it according to the directions...
until she developed influenza.
What were the reasons for the court's finding...
in favor of Mrs. Carlill?
She had fulfilled the conditions of the offer.
The bargain was complete.
Was there a bargain?
Was there communication between the parties?
Was she not obligated to notify the company...
that she had accepted their offer?
Mr. Hart.
It's obvious that notice is not important here.
The offer requires no notice or personal communication.
What is important is consideration.
Question... Did Mrs. Carlill give anything to the company?
The company argues that Mrs. Carlill, in using the ball...
did absolutely nothing for them.
All they were interested in was the sale itself.
The answer to that is obvious.
Of course, they benefit from the sale itself...
but beyond this...
consideration does not necessarily in all cases...
have to pass to the other party.
Mrs. Carlill suffered the inconvenience...
of having to use the ball.
She gave something up...
even if it didn't pass to the other party.
So, you can only have a binding contract...
when each party gives something to the other...
or suffers an inconvenience by or from the other party.
- Damn good. - A good answer.
Not a complete analysis, not a hard question...
but the point is I did it.
I did it in Kingsfield's class.
This is a goddamn dance!
I'm telling you, the worst thing a law student can do...
is get involved with a girl.
Affairs by their very nature are time-consuming.
On the contrary, it's the best thing you can do.
Nothing makes you hornier than studying.
My father warned me about that.
Your father's full of shit.
He said the celibate mind is sharper...
retains more information.
The third year you can get laid all you want to.
The only sensible thing to do in a mess like this...
is find a woman that doesn't make demands and hang on.
Hang on like hell.
Grab onto her boobs and don't let go.
Oh, no.
What?
I thought you set the alarm at 12:00.
I gotta study.
Oh, crap, I got Kingsfield at 9:00.
The auctioneer is the agent of the vendor...
and the assent of both parties is necessary...
to make the contract binding.
An auction, is not unaptly called then...
Iocus poenitentiae, which means?
Mr. Hart?
Mr. Bell?
Locus poenitentiae means place of repentance...
or for changing one's mind.
You asleep?
No.
Where you been?
Walking on the point.
I was watching the rowers.
I've been thinking.
About what?
The trouble with entering the upper echelon...
is you have to work harder to stay in it.
And you haven't been working hard enough?
I haven't been working hard enough...
since I've been seeing so much of you.
I'm not getting enough sleep.
I shouldn't have drunk so much wine.
Seems so much energy gets wasted.
Kingsfield caught me Friday unprepared.
Not following the discussion.
I swore he'd never catch me unprepared again.
And it's all my fault? Is that what you're saying?
Well... you don't give me very much sustenance, Susan.
Much what?
Sustenance.
Alimentum victus.
Way of life. Livelihood.
Nourishment. Support.
Susan?
Susan!
You bitch!
Susan!
Hi.
I'll meet you out front. Where have you been?
I've been sleeping in the park.
You ought to try it sometime. It's wildly therapeutic.
Hey! You missed the meeting of the study group.
I'm sorry. It won't happen again.
Anderson's right. You cannot balance...
girls and law school at the same time.
Kingsfield's having a party in 2 weeks.
Day after Thanksgiving.
- What? - He gives one every year according to Toombs.
- We all got invitations. I put yours on the typewriter. - Fantastic.
I get enough of the old bastard in class.
I don't have a decent tie to wear.
Good night, Hart.
Yeah. Good night.
"Charles W. Kingsfield, Jr.
"Pleasure... cocktails...
"Friday, November 24.
R.S.V.P."
Greetings.
- How are you? - Good.
Hi.
How are you?
Asheley, sweetheart...
I want you to meet my friend.
Hart, I want you to meet my wife Asheley.
This is Hart. We're in the same study group.
Oh, hi. How do you do?
Hello.
Jesus. If this is supposed to give us...
closer contact with the faculty...
someone made a terrible mistake.
This place is fantastic.
It's just like I thought it would be.
- It gives me the creeps. - Don't be nervous.
Everyone's running around getting bombed...
or trying to kiss Kingsfield's ass.
Excuse me, Asheley.
Just make like you can vanish or materialize...
anytime you like.
Anytime you like.
Have you said hello to Kingsfield yet?
It's too crowded. I thought I'd wait.
Oh, no, that's his daughter.
Can you believe Kingsfield has a daughter?
She just got back in town. She's been in Europe.
He's in the study, running this party...
just like he runs his class... fear.
He's in with his pictures of the Law Review of 1929...
a big leather chair, and all his casebooks.
He needs a setting.
Wouldn't dream of it.
Besides, I don't think you'll earn a goddamn penny.
Oh, let's not argue. Hello, how are you?
Hart, have you gotten into Warner vs. Davis yet?
Excuse me, Ed.
You going home? You haven't paid homage to my father.
Why don't I take you to meet him?
Why didn't you tell me you were Kingsfield's daughter?
I'm not his daughter very much. Why didn't you call me?
Wait a minute. You left me in the park.
Why didn't you call me?
I knew I'd see you here today.
You lied to me, Susan.
You told me your last name was Fields.
My last name is Fields. I'm married.
Oh, man.
We are...
We're separated.
He's still in Europe, and we're getting a divorce.
So why come back?
Because my mother is in a mental institution.
That's why I came back.
Sorry.
She's crazy as hell, but I'm not.
Couldn't prove it by me.
I have spent my required hour.
Would you like to take a walk?
No. You look too different dressed like that.
I've got to think. Please, excuse me.
I'll be home at 9:00.
Did you have a nice walk?
What?
I can see the resemblance.
I was just looking at some photographs of my father...
and I don't see the resemblance at all.
I look much more like my mother.
It all makes so much sense.
The way you looked at me when I talked about him...
telling you things that happened in class.
Didn't you ever want to burst out laughing?
No. It's very serious. I've been here before.
What do you mean?
My husband Philip was a law student too.
It's some curse of my father's that follows me around.
And that's why I didn't invite you in the first night.
But when you came back, there wasn't much I could do.
Where is Philip? Is that his name?
Yes.
Where is he now?
We were married for 2 years...
and I saw where my life was going...
and I didn't and I don't want that kind of life.
You haven't answered my question.
Where is Philip now?
Wandering around Europe with a knapsack.
He dropped out of law school.
Why?
I refuse to answer on the grounds...
that it may incriminate me.
I don't like the way you're looking at me.
It was much nicer before not having any background.
I wouldn't say that.
Our relationship has changed.
It certainly has.
I'm going to ask you a question.
You came back here because I'm Kingsfield's daughter.
That's not a question. That's an answer.
Now...
suppose I write you a contract.
It says...
"I agree for $100
to paint your apartment with white paint."
Is there any difference between this...
and a contract which says...
"You agree to paint my apartment with white paint...
provided I pay you $100."
Mr. Brooks.
You won't find it in the casebook, Mr. Brooks.
It's just a hypothetical.
I am waiting, Mr. Brooks.
I'm not sure I understood it all. Could you tell me it again?
In one case, there are two mutual promises.
In the other, there is a condition on a promise.
Mr. Brooks, do you know the difference between...
a condition on a promise and a promise?
Mr. Brooks, did you read this material?
Yes, I did read the material. I memorized the facts.
- I have a photographic memory. - A what?
A photographic memory.
Would you repeat that?
A photographic memory.
A photographic memory...
is of absolutely no use to you, Mr. Brooks...
without the ability to analyze...
that vast mass of facts between your ears.
Did you hear me, Brooks?
Yes, sir.
Could you give me the hypothetical again?
I didn't understand it.
Mr. Ford...
do you know the difference between...
a condition on a promise and a promise?
It's a very difficult concept.
A very difficult point in the law.
You just shouldn't have raised your hand in class.
I thought he was going to ask me the facts.
I couldn't hold the hypothetical in my mind.
It's like my mind was outside his...
watching myself unable to bring it together.
People laughed, didn't they?
I didn't hear anybody laughing at you.
I heard people laughing.
Hey, relax.
We'll have a swim.
Feel better.
Justice Douglas...
Franklin Roosevelt...
Ernest Hemingway...
Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Adlai Stevenson.
Helen Keller.
Interested in his study?
I played in this study when I was a little girl.
I used to run the dictaphone.
Adequacy. As long as one gets...
what he has bargained for...
and it is of some value...
No, turn it off.
I feel like an intruder.
Not in his bed, but in his study.
What?
It's funny.
This is his special room.
Do you think he would mind me drinking...
in his special room?
I don't know.
You can call him in New York and ask.
I think you're behaving...
just the way he'd want you to behave.
Picking up his little silver mementos...
Iooking at his Law Review picture.
I think he'd like it...
just to have you fondle his things.
Have you ever told him about me?
About you and me?
No.
Well...
when I'm in his class...
I feel like he knows me.
As though when he calls upon me...
he's got it all planned out.
Like he...
Like he's watching my progress.
You know?
Like he cares about how I do.
Oh, my God. He's back.
Listen, get out through the kitchen.
Just go out the kitchen.
My clothes are upstairs.
I'll get 'em. You just go.
I'll take care of this. Just go on.
- So what did he say? - Well, he just said he hoped it wasn't a law student.
Now, will you state the facts...
of the case of Vigers vs. Cook?
Mr. Pruit.
Cook's son died. Vigers was the undertaker...
Or was Cook the undertaker?
Mr. Sanders.
You just want the facts?
Mr. Fisher.
This undertaker agreed...
to provide the usual funeral services.
Mr. Knight.
Vigers gave Cook an estimate...
that the whole thing would cost about �49.
Thank you, thank you.
Now, the rest of the facts, Mr...
The body was placed in a coffin...
Ford.
The body was placed in a lead coffin.
The coffin was soldered without a vent hole.
The coffin then burst...
owing to decomposition of the body...
and it was impossible to hold the services...
in the church.
I never said anything.
I just went upstairs, I got your things...
I put on my coat, and I came right down.
Then why did he look at me that way in class?
He questioned the student on my left...
on my right, in front of me...
behind me, and then, glaring at me...
asked somebody else the question.
I don't know, but believe me...
you're just a name on a piece of paper...
a picture on a seating chart, and that's all.
You're only one out of thousands...
over the past 40 years.
I don't believe that.
He knows who I am.
Susan!
What?
We can't go on like this.
Like what?
Look, I've gotta get organized.
What is it? The middle of February...
and I've got 4 months till exams.
I never know when or if I'm gonna see you.
What kind of organization did you have in mind?
When's your divorce final?
Oh, no more contracts, Mr. Hart.
Thank you, no.
Are you really serious?
Well, if not the honorable thing...
why not the dishonorable?
I'd prefer to live alone.
I don't know what you want.
I don't know what to do with you.
Well, I don't want to live in the married students' dorm...
and have neat friends down the hall and walk babies with them.
I've been organized like that before.
You law students, you're all the same.
You can't let things alone.
You have to organize.
The endless defining of irrational human behavior...
into tight little patterns.
People are not rational. People are irrational.
What do you want?
Do you want me to be irrational?
All right.
I shall be irrational.
I'm gonna walk on the water!
Is that irrational enough for you?
No? Okay.
I shall walk on my hands on the water.
Now that's more like it.
Oh, my God!
Give me the coat.
The coat.
Keep off the ice!
Here.
Oh, God!
Oh, crap. It's only 3 feet deep.
God.
Get out, Hart.
I gotta go back and get warm.
I know there's a lot of things to say...
but it really isn't worth saying...
so please just get out.
Think about me...
and think about yourself.
Don't call me. I know you're gonna want to...
but just don't, okay?
I Xeroxed an article I found in the library...
called Blessings of Consideration.
Kingsfield wrote it 30 years ago.
Well worth the time.
What are we gonna do...
about practice exams?
Nothing.
Practice exams don't count.
They don't mean a thing.
Look, Kevin, just keep aiming towards the end of the year.
You'll just have to relearn it all then anyway.
I thought it would give us a chance...
to see how we stand.
Whether one of us needs special help.
You need special help...
and you, too, O'Connor.
You both need a shrink.
I'm sorry. I didn't mean to touch your outline.
I agree with Ford. I've given this problem considerable thought...
and in terms of maximum grade point...
the most sensible thing is not to study.
See how much you retain...
as a result of normal study procedure.
And then you'll be able to measure accurately...
how much extra work you'll need...
when it comes to take the real test in the spring.
I thought we might all study together for the practice exam.
It would give us a chance to see how well...
we'll work together at the end of the year.
But we don't have time to get up for this test.
We just take it. It doesn't count.
But what I really would like to do...
is just talk about how to take the exam.
That's not so bad an idea.
I'd like a session on examsmanship.
Maybe you need somebody to hold your hand.
Okay, this article has a very interesting relationship...
to the statute of frauds...
which I thought we should get into today.
I'm not ready yet.
Okay, the statute of frauds was passed in 1677.
It was called An Act for the Prevention...
of Frauds or Perjuries.
I said I'm not ready yet.
We can't wait for you.
Who the hell do you think you are?
King bow tie shit?
You don't run things around here. You don't run me.
The statute of frauds is, in some form or another...
the law in almost every state in the union.
You're giving everyone a pain in the ass.
If you don't like things, leave.
We can get along very well without your outline.
I don't know how well you're gonna do without ours.
Shut up.
Just shut up.
Okay. Certain kinds of contracts...
have got to be put into writing.
Marriage contracts, buying and selling of land...
any contract that is not to take place within a year.
Does this cover international law?
With holdings in the United States. Yeah.
I failed, Hart. I flunked every damn exam.
I don't know what happened.
I can't tell Asheley.
Her father's got a summer job waiting for me...
if I get the grades.
Well...
it's just a practice exam.
You know, practice.
Doesn't really count.
Yeah.
They gave me the name of this tutor...
so I called him up.
He told me to come over on Saturday.
I don't suppose you'd have time...
to come over with me, would you?
Sure. Just come by the dorm.
Pick me up.
Thanks.
Oh, hey, Hart.
Don't tell anybody. Don't tell Ford.
Yeah?
I'm looking for a William Moss.
You've come to the right place, all right.
Moss, you've got company!
He's in the kitchen.
Moss!
What time is it?
It's ten after 10:00.
I didn't see you at the mixer last night.
Yeah?
Sorry about that.
Couple of guys at the door.
Yeah, back to that interview I was telling you about.
Yeah, it's a New York firm.
See, New York people...
hate to hire people from New York.
I'm from New York.
They want people from the South.
Yeah, they don't have to teach 'em manners.
Which one of you is Brooks?
I am.
What are you doing here?
I asked him to come. He's in my study group.
Want me to leave?
No, no. You can stay as far as I'm concerned.
So, you flunked every one of your practice exams, huh?
Every one?
Uh, yeah, every one.
That's quite an achievement.
Oh, my God, man.
Don't look like that.
You'll be saved. Every guy in this house...
almost flunked out the first year.
It's not too hard to see why.
They had broads on the brain.
It's the worst thing that can happen...
to a first-year law student.
I don't suppose that's your problem.
No, no, I'm married.
Well, the vote's split on that.
But I've saved all kinds.
I moved in here and saved all these dum-dums.
They'll all graduate.
All from Harvard, all good jobs.
I give them a little lecture before each exam.
They go out and take it on their own.
They remember things for about a day or two.
They're not stupid.
Did you bring any samples of your work?
Yeah, I brought some notes.
Notes don't mean a thing.
Why don't you go get dressed?
Take this down.
All set?
Imagine an old woman comes to dinner with you.
While you're mixing her drink, she slips on an ice cube...
slides across the room...
smashing into your new breakfast table...
demolishing it, and killing herself.
Got that?
Yeah. Kills herself, right?
After you've cleaned her up off the floor...
you discover a statute which says that homeowners...
must keep their land free of dangerous ice...
especially, but not exclusively, ice on their sidewalks.
And you find out that the old lady suffered from dropsy...
a falling sickness.
So you're sued on two accounts.
The one relying on the statute...
and the other, ordinary negligence.
Can they recover from you...
for having caused the old lady's death?
Can you recover the price of the breakfast table...
from the old bag's estate?
Write out an answer. Take half an hour to do it.
No help from your friend.
Come back a month before exams, and we'll go over it together.
Don't worry.
There's no possibility of error in my analysis.
Thanks.
- Good morning, Mr. Bell. - Good morning.
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.
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.
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."
- Hart. - Yeah?
Telephone.
Hello.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Hello.
Susan?
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.
We could go to the Cape next weekend.
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.
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.
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?
Don't flatter yourself.
Do you need some help?
No, it's all right. Here.
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.
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.
I think you're all a bunch of pimps.
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 attach� 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.
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.
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!
Well, gentlemen, I'll see you next week.
Kevin, come with me. We'll get somethin' to eat.
Screw O'Connor, Bell, and Kevin.
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.
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.
Did you tell Hart the good news?
Oh, uh, no. I was just about to.
Asheley's pregnant.
Well, that's great. Congratulations.
Yeah.
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.
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?
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.
Well, thanks for droppin' by.
Sure.
Good night.
Sure.
Good night.
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?
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!
So I've got possibilities with a couple of New York firms...
and, uh... but I want to spend the summer...
Hey, Anderson.
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.
I'm sorry, Kevin.
Get out.
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.
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.
You may take your seat.
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.
Okay, then we won't pass.
Wait. I'll go get it!
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!
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.
Maid.
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.
Number 4, murder.
"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.
Mr. Hart, Mr. Ford.
I'd like a word with you, please.
No, thank you.
No, thank you!
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.
"Methods of attacking legal problems.
"Technical reasoning...
thinking in terms of businessman's..."
Yeah, give me room service.
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."
Let's go.
Okay.
Bring on the test.
Gotcha.
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?
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