A review of the brochure De beoefening der rechtswetenschap aan Staatsacademie of Vrije Universiteit [The study of law at a state academy or at the Free University] (Amsterdam: A. Fernhout, 1891), reprinted from De Heraut, no. 684, February 1, 1891. The brochure made a plea for a Christian approach to scholarship, above all in jurisprudence. Kuyper wrote very favorably about this publication because of its author’s support for the Vrije Universiteit. His review does not mention that the anonymous author (Tiemen de Vries, 1865–1935, a student at the Vrije Universiteit from 1884 to 1892 who received his law degree in 1899 [cf. 1892.02, 1896.23, and 1911.04]) objected to the fact that students from the Vrije Universiteit had to take their examinations and defend their dissertations at other universities in order to receive legal recognition of their degrees (cf. 1892.22 and 1892.23). This state of affairs changed when the Vrije Universiteit received the effectus civilis, i.e., the legal standing to grant university degrees (see 1905.04).

De Vries’ second brochure, which reprinted this commentary along with a number of other reviews, emphasized even more strongly his objections to the requirement that exams be taken at state and municipal universities (“the places of temptation”). Kuyper showed much less enthusiasm for the second brochure (cf. De Heraut, no. 695, April 19, 1891).