UNIVERSITY. This term signifies the establishment of many colleges in one particular situation, all of which are subject to the same general government, and which are formed by the residence of numerous professors in every branch of science, who teach them to students as sembled from all parts of Europe, and particularly the countries possessing those seats of learning.
So many centuries have elapsed since the introduction of this mode of instruc tion, that each university is desirous to profit by the oblivion involving their origin, in claiming the priority : thus the members of the two universities of Paris and Boulogne assert that they were the first established; nor are those of Oxford and Cambridge less desirous of maintaining their real, or supposed, rights on this head. • As this is not the proper place to en ter into an historical account of these vast seminaries of learning, we shall refer our readers, for further information in, this particular, to works written expressly on the subject.
We shall now proceed to explain the various component parts of an university; and to accomplish this correctly and mi nutely, we have had recourse to the Cam bridge University calendar, compiled by Mr. Raworth, who says, "The university of Cambridge is a society of students in all and every of the liberal arts and sci ences, incorporated (13 Elizabeth) by the name of the chancellor, masters, and scho lars. The frame of this little common wealth standeth upon the union of sixteen colleges, or societies, devoted to the stu dy of learning and knowledge, and for the better service of the church and state." Every college is in itself a corporate bo dy, and governed by its own statutes, which most, however, concur with the general laws of the university, formed by Elizabeth on previous privileges, and con firmed by Parliament, consequently they •are the basis of all modern regulations.
Each of the colleges send deputies, both for the executive and legislative branches of the government, and the place of their meeting is termed the senate house.
Masters of arts, doctors in divinity, ci vil law, and physic, who have their names inscribed on the college boards, and are resident at Cambridge, \ possess votes in the above assembly ; and of those there were, in the year 1802, about 940. The senate consists of two classes, which are called regents or non-regents, with a view to some particular offices assigned by the statutes of the university to the junior division. Masters of arts of less than five .1 years standing, and doctors under two, form the regent, or upper house : and it has besides the term of white-hood house, 1 from the circumstance of the members having their hoods lined with silk of the above colour : the remainder constitute the non-regent, or black-hood. house : • doctors of more than two years standing, and the public orator of the university, are entitled to vote in either of *those houses at pleasure ; exclusive of which there is a Caput, or council, composed of .••
the vice chancellor, a doctor of each fa- -. culty, and two masters of arts, who are representatives of the houses already Mentioned. The vice chancellor a member of the Caput by virtue of his office, his election to the former only ' takes place annually, on the fourth of November, when the senate choose him from the masters of the sixteen colleges ; but that of the Caput occurs after the sante interval on the 12th of October, in the following manner : the vice chancel lor and the two proctors severally nate five persons, and from the fifteen thuS proposed the heads of colleges and doctors select five, generally preferring the vice chancellor's list.
The officer just mentioned calls the meetings of the senate by a printed no tice, which specifies the cause, and must be suspended in the halls of the several col leges three days previously tothe time ap pointed. A congregation of the members' thus summoned may proceed to business, and a congregation consists of any num ber above twenty-six, including the pro per officers of the Senate, who are com pelled to attend on oath, personally, or by their legal deputies. Exclusive of these casual meetings, there are statuta-: ble congregations, for conferring degrees; electing officers, &c &c. which are held without notice. "Every member has a right," says Mr. Haworth, • "to present any proposition, or grace, .to the consi deration of the Senate ; but previously to its being voted by the two houses, it is to be read and approved by the Council, or Caput ; each member of which has a ne gative voice. This custom has seldom been observed, unless something mani festly absurd, or obviously derogatory to the credit of the university, is proposed ; insomuch, that nothing has been more common than for a person to give a pla cet in the Caput, and a non-placet to the same in the body, upon the idea that the Caput should be considered in the light of a committee to prepare the graces in point of form for the subsequent voting ; as without some such regulation it.might be difficult to take the sense of the Senate upon the real merits of the question." When a grace has passed the Caput, one of two scrutators read it in the non-regent house, and in the other it is read by the senior proctor, after which the vice chan cellor dissolves the congregation ; the ce remony of reading is repeated in a second congregation ; and if a non-placet does not occur, it becomes a statute ; on the contrary, if a non-placet is put in by a member of either house, it is put to the vote there, and a majority decides the question.