The Litchfield Law School of Litchfield, Connecticut was the first proprietary law school established in the United States. It was an independent institution for legal education, unaffiliated with any college or university. It was created by Tapping Reeve, who took his first student in 1774 and had begun teaching by lecture by 1784; Reeve later became the Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court. By the time the school closed in 1833, over 1,100 students had attended the institution, including Aaron Burr and John C. Calhoun. The law school, including Reeve's house, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965 as the Tapping Reeve House and Law School. The Tapping Reeve House and Law School are owned and operated by the Litchfield Historical Society as a museum displaying life in a 19th-century period school. The Society also operates the Litchfield History Museum. There is no admission fee.
Tapping Reeve
Reeve was born on Long Island, New York in 1744. He graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1763, serving for seven years as a tutor at the Grammar School that was connected with the college. There he met the children of the Princeton College's president, Aaron Burr, Sr.: Aaron Burr, Jr. and Sally Burr, who were both his students. Tapping Reeve moved to Connecticut and studied law under Judge Jesse Root of Hartford, and was admitted to the bar in 1772. In the same year he married his former student, Sally Burr. They then moved to Litchfield and Reeve started his own law practice. Tapping Reeve built his six-room Litchfield house in 1773 and settled in with his frail wife. In 1780 he added a downstairs wing for Sally, who found it difficult to climb stairs.
Law School
In addition to practicing law, Reeve trained a number of prospective attorneys, including Aaron Burr, his brother in law. Students lived in the homes of town residents and traveled to Reeve's house on South Street to receive their morning lectures on the common law in Reeve's downstairs parlor. In 1784, he decided to formalize his program of instruction by creating a law school and built a one-room school building adjacent to his house. James Gould became Reeve's associate when Reeve was elected to the Supreme Court in 1798. Reeve withdrew in 1820 and Gould continued until 1833. The school's lectures covered the entire body of the law including real estate, rights of persons, rights of things, contracts, torts, evidence, pleading, crimes, and equity.
