“A lawyer is indeed unworthy of that title if he is ignorant of the things philosophers have established regarding the state and morals. He should be removed from his post if he has not learned what his ancestors have done from whom he received the laws or if he has not read the histories of all ages.” Johann Sturm, “The Correct Opening of Elementary Schools of Letters (1538),” trans. Lewis W. Spitz and Barbara Sher Tinsley, Johann Sturm on Education (CPH: St Louis, 1995), p. 111.
Johann Sturm (16th-century teacher and Reformer) asserted that a knowledge of history, moral philosophy, and politics were essential for lawyers. He made this statement to demonstrate how other arts and letters (liberal arts) support and inform the specific fields of law, medicine, and theology.
