On plans submitted by the Faculty of the Law School and approved by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and by the Board of Overseers, the degree of "Juris Doctor" has been established. This degree will be granted to graduates of approved colleges for one year's work in the Law School, provided that they have already received the degree of LL.B. from the Law School; if their degree of LL.B. is from any other law school, a two years' course at the Harvard Law School is necessary for the new degree. The degree of J. D. will be granted as soon as anyone completes the requirements.

The primary object of creating this new degree is to remove from the regular law curriculum and place in a separate department those subjects which are of interest only to men who wish to specialize in one branch of their profession. Such subjects are legal history and Jurisprudence, of special interest to those who desire to teach law; international law; Roman and modern civil law, especially the law of our new colonies; statutes and the principles of legislation; admiralty, patent, mining, and irrigation law.