THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 1882. THE LAW PRACTITIONERS BILL.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2552, 13 June 1882, Page 2

THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 1882. THE LAW PRACTITIONERS BILL.

Sik Geoege Geet, we are told, in moving the second reading of the above Bill, spoke with a fire and energy (hat reminded listeners of the more palmy days of his oratory. Indeed, he is said to have completely silenced all opposition, and but few of the numerous lawyers in the House ventured to give their reasons against the adoption of the measure. Probably they relied on the Upper House throwing out the Bill, as they did last session. But, at all events, the fact remains that the popular branch of the Legislature have almost unanimously determined that tho profession shall be thrown open to the public, and shall not remain, as heretofore, a close borough. And more than this. As the " Lyttelton Times" has very justly remarked, this decision is arrived at by a House fresh from the country. The late House of Representatives determined that the idea should be carried into law, and now tho men whom the electors have, but a short time back, sent to Wellington have endorsed the opinion of the late House, and have, with the great unanimity shown that. they most decidedly think it for the good of the country that the existing state of affairs as regards the legal profession shall cease. If, therefore, the Upper House runs contrary to the will of tho more popular Chamber, it will wilfully ignore a double expression of opinion given by men who represent the public thought of an extended period. Tho Bill, as Sir George Grey said, ws« designed to open out the legal profession to men of ability who were at the present moment debarred from giving their services to their fellow countrymen. As matters now stand it is an accepted axiom that the training obtained during three years in a lawyer's offioe is absolutely necessary to qualify a man for tho bar. Tho absurdity of this assertion is pulpablo on tho face of it. What, may we ask, is tho value of tho opinions of half the young men who leave solicitors' offices and blossom into full-blown practitioners.' Tho public know well enough that iu most numerous cases they are not worth tho paper on whish they are written. And, if time and experience ripen these gentlemen, is it their training that is to have tho credit of this ? By no means. They pick up their law at the expense of the public, and any man starting with the knowledge which a ,

judge's examination, properly carried out, would ensure, would do the same, and the public would possess the additional advantage of having a larger field from which to choose. Besides the competition being keener would ensure, by the process of natural eelection, that those only eminently suitod for the profession could succeed. Under the present regime, when once a boy is put into a lawyer's office it is considered that his fortune has been made. He has, in point of fact, been admitted into a guild who who have, through a lapse of years, managed to secure to themselves certain privileges of an aUogether abnormal character. We say abnormal advisedly, because such privileges do not obtain in any other similar profession. It is the fashion to bring forward the medical profession as being parallel to the case of the lawyer's, and to argue that as a recognised course of study is necessary for the former so it is for the latter. But it is begging the question to say that the cases are parallel. It is difficult to see how any student conld gain the necessary amount of medical knowledge, except by walking the hospitals, whereas the very point on which I those who think with Sir George Grey rely is, that sien can pick up knowledge —aye, and for the matter of that, experience also—sufficient to qualify them for the bar without going through the three years in an office. Besides the legal is, in point of fact, very much closer than the medical profession. Any man may doctor himself. Many persons, having by long experience gained a knowledge of their own constitutioLS, prefer to treat themselves when ill to applying to a physician. But no man can do his own law business in the Courts, however well he may consider himself capable of doing so. Even in the Magistrates' Courts ha is snubbed to such an extent that his life soon becomes a burden to him. That is to say that Magistrates, whose functions should in all reason be looked upon as more or less paternal and equitable, have succeeded in indoctrinating themselves with the opinion that all those who are not possessed of the fetish of a three years' service in a lawyer's office are incapable of seeing into the legal merits of any case. "When we reflect on the fact that among the great unwashed (legally speaking) there are men who have been Resident Magistrates themselves, and have held that office with the great success, the ridit nVjsnoss of such an opinion is at once apparent. It is full time, indeed, that all this was put a stop to. In America it has been knocked on the head for a long time, and no evil results have ensued. In fact, very much the contrary. In no country is good law obtainable at such a cheap rate. Some of the greatest legal works have been written there by men who never have been trained in an office. In that country all thai is considered necessary to make a distinguished barrister or solicitor is the fact that the man's genius turns in that direction. No artificial barriers are reared to prevent any capable individual from practising and giving his talents to his country. If some men think that a preliminary three years' training is necessary, there is no possible objection to those persons who have been so favored placing some magic letters after their names to show that they are among the select ones. But they should be compelled to hold their own in a fair field, and not be protected by customs that have sprung from the middle ages.

Mr. "Weston in the House of course argued on the well worn line that he objected to the Bill, because of the effect it would exercise, not on the profession, but on the public. In fact he says that he wishes to benefit the public in spite of itself. He would treat laymen like babies who are quite unable to recognise what is good for themselves. But the public have their own ideas on the subject, and do not desire to he treated in this manner. They recognise what is the outcome of the present system, and are not satisfied with the result. They see that they are bled by a close corporation in a way out of all proportion to the good received. A year since, when this question last came prominently before the public, a number of striking letters were sent to the papers showing a fow of the abuses that at present reign. One in particular, which was forwarded to the ' Press"' newspaper, gave some of the charges which this close corporation had winked at instead of turning the extortionate practitioner who made them out of the profession. Amongst these charges the following were examples : Attending " Lyttelton Times" with gazette notice, G.s Sd ; attending " Press " for same object, 6s 8d; attending to purchase minute book, Gs 8d; and so on, in a number of charges too numerous to mention ; that is to say, that 13s 4d was charged for sending a clerk to insert two advertisaments, and Ga Sd was charged for buying a oue-and-sixpenny minute book. Aud yot the Law Society took not the slightest notice of this attempt at extortion. That society apparently exists to protect its merubsrs, and not the public. The public have lately resolved to protect itself, and whether the present Bill passes the Upper Chamber this session or not, the opening of the profession is only a matter of time.