Why Lawyers are Persecuted.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 68, 20 September 1884, Page 5

Why Lawyers are Persecuted.

One of the most abused classes of the com* munity are the lawyers, and anything related against them is usually received with a species of delight by those not of their much- slandered number. A sweeping charge against doctors, undertakers, or clergymen simply produces a emile of amused unbelief ; but the same aspersions cast upon the legal fraternity are read or heard in solemn silence, and credited in dead earnest. What, for instance, would be thought of a father who, in giving his son, about to start in the world, his parting advice, should instruct him to implicitly trust himself and his business affairs to lawyers ; that lawyers were, as a rule, honourable men, and would not defraud him, and that if he would go to his lawyer when in trouble and needing advice, it would be best for his own interests ? Yet the advice would be thought all right if the word lawyer were left out. I Nor is this reputation, whether deserved or undeserved, of recent growth. As far back as the time of Foote, the celebrated cynic expressed his scorn for the members of the guild by recommending that a controversy between one of them and a bailiff, which he had been vainly solicited to decide, should be settled by the arbitration of a thief, as the most appropriate person to Btand between two such litigants. In the reign of Mary, while Wyatts rebels were marching on London, the lawyers at Westminster pleaded "in harness," so fearful were they of the popular feeling should the rebels enter the city and relieve the people from their lawful restraint. On an earlier oocasion this apprehension of violence was

justified by results. The inns of the £ourt were razed to the ground, and the lawyers themselves were hunted and slaughtered as though they were wild beasts. Subsequently to these occurrences they enjoyed better protection, with but little, if any, more confidence and respect. This is disclosed by the statute 33, Henry 11., which, pi'oviding for the relief of the counties Norfolk and Suffolk, enacted that as there had formerly been only six or eight attorneys in the two counties, and the number had increased to 80, " who incited people to suits for small trespasses," the number should bo reduced to six in each county, and two for the City of Norwich. Even in the more advanced communities and higher courts of England, measures of protection were deemed necessary against the order. At one time only one serjeant was allowed to practice before the common pleas, and he was ■ compelled to accept certain fixed fees established by the rules of the court to represent both sides, and to publicly make solemn oaths that he would present each side fairly. After trying the one incumbent for a while, public opinion seems to have become more lenient, and the lonely practitioner was allowed the companionship of 14 other serjeants, and at the samo time given liberty to present only the case of his own client in court. The reason of this general distrust is, presumably,, to be found in the uniform custom among lawyers of pleadings a client's cause for hire. It seems to be a mere question of money with them, whether they try to prove a man honest or dishonest, They are ready to stand for any side or any cause which pays them a retainer. So eminent an' authority as Disraeli, has pronounced it as not averse to his conscience that a lawyer should " adjust "' his client's difficulties to the best of his ability, and to do his utmost to serve him, not even shrinking, if necessary, from disobeying the law in order to do so. This looks very much like making one's conscience and honesty a matter of bargain and sale, and yet, there is no doubt, it is the only honest course for a lawyer to pursue If ho takes a client's money and then refuses to defend him because he is guilty, he has certainly violated a solemn trust. And, on the other hand, if he refuses the retainer the client may blundor into punishment which he would not deserve. Whatever the general character of the average lawyer may be for honesty and integiity, his professional character must be above reproach or question. Let but the shadow of a suspicion exist that he cannot be relied on to fully discharge the trusts reposed in him by his clients, and his professional career is at an end. A notable illustration of this fact occurred in the experience of a promising young attorney at Albany a number of years ago. He had been called to defend a client who was under indictment for murder, elicited a confession from him, and then gave up the defence, alleging that his conscience would not permit him to defend a self-confessed murderer. There never was any question raised as to the lawyer's honesty, but no one seemed to care to be represented by a person of so tender a conscience. The story of his folly became common talk. People did not upbraid him, but simply became indifferent to his services. He lived long enough to realise the mistake he had made in his youth, but he never could recover the professional standing which he had previously enjoyed. Eventually he was compelled to abandon the profession for a more lucrative employment— a victim of sterling honesty. Most of our leading lawyers have started business in a very humble way. A noted firm of lawyers originated under most unpropitious circumstances. One of them was so uoor when he began practice that he was compelled to sleep in his office, using a couple of Black&tones for a pillow and his overcoat for bed-clothes. One bitter cold night, hearing a strange noise in the hallway, ho looked out, and discovered another " limb " spreading a couple of newspapers on the floor for a bed. The owner of the bed clothes generously shared them with his less fortunate friend, who, in turn, contributed his bed. Before getting asieep the two entered into a partnership which •was dissolved only by the death of one of them, after both had grown old and wealthy. It must be admitted, however, that now it is much more difficult for a lawyer with only brains for a capital to establish himself in business, than it was even 20 years I ago. The halcyon days of professional life ; seem nearly passed. There was some romance and much dignity in the wig and gown of olden time. The happy possessor of those adornments could be poor in them, and still not be in disgrace. Now there is nothing to tell a poor lawyer from a poor tramp. The rules of practice in the courts was extremely technical, and the law full of queer fictions and incongruous oddities which gave to the practitioner a better chanco to defeat his adversary by superior cunning. Now the code has made practice so simple that the client scarcely feels the need of a lawyer at all in suits for small amounts, and has the tables fairly turned on his former master In fact, if the law giving to the prevailing party costs should be abolished, it is doubtful if more than a mei'e fraction of the lawyers of this day and place could support themselves.