-law, for even the very ent and barbarous Lex alica is a Latin document, ogh many old Frankish words are enshrined in it. so we notice-and this is grave importance-that in inland there are no vestiges acy "Romani" who are besuffered to live under eir own law by their Teuic rulers. On the Contimeat we may see Gundobad,

Burgundian, publishing

e lawbook for the Burgunans and another for the mani who own his sway. book of laws, excerpted ietly from the Theodosian te, was issued by Alaric the goth for his Roman subts before the days of Jusan, and this book (the soed Breviarium Alarici or Lex Romana Visigothorum) came for a long while the ef representative of Rolaw in Gaul. The Frankking in his expansive alm ruled over many men ose law was found to be in the Lex Salica or Lex Ebuaria, but in what was ed the Lex Romana. "A Estem of personal law" preled; the homo Romanus anded on his Roman law to children; while Frankish Lombardio, Swabian Saxon law would run in the hood of the homo barbarus. tall this we hear nothing in

or

England. Then, on the mainand of Europe, Roman and barbarian law could not remain in juxtaposition without Secting each other. On the se hand we see distinctively roman rules making their ay into the law of the vicrious tribes, and, on the her hand, we see a decay d debasement of jurispruence which ends in the for

"Indeed, in the everyday administration of justice, along with legal precepts, the 'traditional art of the lawyer's craft-the traditional mode of selecting, developing, and applying the received legal materials, the traditional technique of finding the grounds of decision in those materials and of developing them into a judgmentis a factor of no less importance. That art, and a certain body of received ideals as to the end of law and what legal precepts should be in view thereof, are in truth much more enduring than legal precepts. They give unity and continuity to legal development. They make the lawyers of to-day conscious of kinship with the lawyers of the sixteenth century and even with the great lawyers of the Middle Ages, and give us a sense of continuity from the Year Books to the present, which would have little warrant if we looked only at institutions and at legal precepts. They give unity to the law of English-speaking peoples throughout the world. For, diverse as the social, economic, political, and physical conditions may be, diverse as legislation may be, far as statute or judicial decision may have departed from the common legal materials of the seventeenth century, and divergent as the paths of departure may be, the lawyers in England, the United States, Canada, and Australia feel that they live under what is essentially one legal system, and each knows at once how to make use of the other's law. An American lawyer uses recent English or Canadian or Australian decisions with entire assurance because they were made to be used as he knows how to use them. The American legislator knows, as it were instinctively, how to adapt English or Canadian or Australian legislation because it has been drawn to be used as he knows how to use it. The traditional art of applying it, and of developing it into grounds of decision of particular controversies, is familiar to him. On the other hand, when the American lawyer seeks to use the legal materials of the Roman law or of the modern Romanlaw world, he proceeds blunderingly and with a certain consciousness of helplessness. For these materials took shape for a wholly different technique. The traditional art of developing grounds of decision from them and of applying them is very different from our own, and they are adapted to that technique. Ours is a technique of utilizing recorded judicial experience. The civilian's is a technique of finding his grounds of decision in written texts. Even when we have written texts, as in American constitutional law, we proceed at once to look at them through the spectacles of the common law, and our method is not one of development of the text but of development of judicially found grounds of decision which, if they began in the text, have since led an independent_existence."-Roscoe Pound, Dean of Harvard Law School, in his introduction to Dr. Winfield's "The Chief Sources of English Legal History."

law, they had become French
many years before they sub-
dued England. It is a plaus-
ible opinion that among them
there lived some sound tradi-
tions of the Frankish mon-
archy's best days, and that
Norman dukes, rather than
German emperors or kings of

tion to England, ruled a good
half of France. William the
Conqueror seems to have in-
tended to govern Englishmen
by English law. After the
tyranny of Rufus, Henry I.
promised a restoration of
King Edward's law: that is,
the law of the Confessor's

Hubert Walter, fixes our at-
tention on a novel element
which is beginning to subdue
all else to its powerful opera-
tion. He speaks to us of the
justice that is done by the
king's own court. Henry II.
had opened the doors of his
French-speaking court to the
mass of his subjects. Judges
chosen for their ability were
to sit there, term after term;
judges were to travel in cir-
cuits through the land, and
in many cases the procedure
by way of "an inquest of the
country," which the Norman
kings had used for the ascer-
tainment of their fiscal rights,
was to be at the disposal of
ordinary litigants. All this
had been done in a piecemeal,
experimental fashion by or-
dinances that were known as
"assizes." There had not
been, and was not to be, any
enunciation of a general prin-
ciple inviting all who were
wronged to bring in their
own words their complaints
to the king's audience. The
general prevalence of feudal
justice, and of the world-old
methods of supernatural pro-
bation (ordeals, battle, oaths
sworn with oath-helpers),
was to be theoretically re-
spected; but in exceptional
cases, which would soon be-
gin to devour the rule, a royal
remedy was to be open to any
within the compass of some
carefully-worded and pre-
script formula. With allusion
to a remote stage in the his-
of which Henry's advisers
can have known little or
nothing, we may say that a

had seen for a long time past, one who could frame his case
the compilation of Domesday
Book, was a conservative ef-
fort, an attempt to fix upon
every landholder, French or
English, the amount of geld tory of Roman law, a stage

that was due from his pre-
decessor in title. Himself the
rebellious vassal of the

the French, are the truest time (Lagam Eadwardi regis French king, the duke of the "formulary system" is es

In our

spiritual heirs of Charles the Great. own day German cation of what modern his- historians are wont to speak ans have called a Roman of English law as a "daughigar-law" (Vulgarrecht). ter" of French or Frankish

Occident.

vobis reddo). Various at tempts were then made, mostly, so it would seem, by men of French birth, to state in a modern and practicable form the laga Eadwardi which was cr a short age which centres law. This tendency derived thus restored. The result of and the year 800 it seemed its main impulse from H. their labors is an intricate ssible that Frankish kings, Brunner's proof that the germ group of legal tracts which to were becoming Roman of trial by jury, which cannot has been explored of late perors, would be able to be found in the Anglo-Saxon years by Dr. Liebermann. le by their capitularies laws, can be found in the pre- The best of these has long tarly the whole of the Chris- rogative procedure of the been known as the Leges The dream Frankish kings. We must Henrici Primi, and aspires to ished before fratricidal here remember that during a be a comprehensive law-book. ars, heathen invaders, cen- long age English lawyers Its author, though he had rugal feudalism, and a cen- wrote in French, and even some foreign sources at his etal church which found thought in French, and that command, such as the Lex law in the newly concocted to this day most of the tech- Ribuaria and an epitome of eries of the Pseudo-Isi- nical terms of the law, more the Breviary of Alaric, took re (c. 850). The "personal especially of the private law, the main part of his matter "began to transmute are of French origin. Also from the code of Canute and emselves into local customs, it must be allowed that when the older English dooms. ad the Roman vulgar-law English law has taken shape Neither the Conqueror nor gan to look like the local in the 13th century it is very either of his sons had issued Custom of those districts like one of the coutumes of many ordinances; the invadhere the Romani were the northern France. Even when ing Normans had little, if any, ponderating element in the linguistic difficulties have been written law to bring with ulation. Meanwhile, the surmounted, the Saxon Mir- them, and had invaded a orse pirates subdued a large ror of Eike von Repgow will country where kings had been act of what was to be seem far less familiar to an lawgivers. Moreover, there thern France a land Englishman than the SOhere Romani was much in the English sysfew. called Establishments of St. tem that the Conqueror was Trestless and boundless Louis. This was the outcome keenly interested in retaining our these Normans re- of a slow process which fills especially a n red: but they showed a more than a century (1066derful power of appropri- 1189), and was in a great whatever of alien civiliz- measure due to the reforming came in their way. In energy of Henry II., the language, religion, and French prince, who, in addi

were

times. Certain actions, each

with a name of its own, are open to litigants. Each has its own formula set forth in its original (or, as we might has its own procedure and its say, originating) writ; each appropriate mode of trial.

Normans, who had become tablished which will preside
king of the English, knew over English law until modern
much of disruptive feudalism,
and had no mind to see Eng-
land that other France which
it had threatened to become
in the days of his pious but
incompetent cousin. The sher-
iffs, though called vice-comi-
tes, were to be the king's of-
ficers; the shire-moots might
be called county courts, but
were not to be the courts of
counts. Much that was sound
and royal in English public
law was to be preserved if
William could preserve it.

text-book

The litigant chooses his writ, his action, and must stand or fall by his choice. Thus a book about royal justice tends book already is, a commento become. and Glanvill's tary on original writs. To be continued.]-From the Encyclopædia Britannica. Eleventh Edition, reprinted by permission.

City Bar Honors Past
Presidents

The gulf that divides the so-called Leges Henrici (c. 1115) from the ascribed to Ranulf Glanvill (c. 1188) seems at first sight very wide. The one represents a not easily imaginable chaos and clash of old rules and new; it represents also a stage in the development of feudalism which in other The Association of the Bar countries is represented chief- of the City of New York gave ly by significant silence. The a dinner December 3rd at its other is an orderly, rational house, 42 West Forty-fourth book, which through all the Street, in honor of two of its subsequent centuries will be past presidents, John G. Milreadily understood by English burn and Henry W. Taft. elaborate lawyers. Making no attempt After the dinner both guests method of taxing the land to tell us what goes on in the of honor made informal adand its holders. The greatest local courts, its author, who dresses. President William D. product of Norman govern- may be Henry II.'s chief jus- Guthrie presided. About 300 ment, the grandest feat of ticiar, Ranulf, Glanvill, or members of the bar were government that the world may be Glanvill's nephew, present.

-

16

LEGAL ODDITIES

John Goddard, Appellee, v. H. V. Winchell, Appellant (86 Iowa 71) Appeal from Winnebago Dis, trict Court.-Hon. John

to.

ond of May, 1890; that a mem-
ber of Hoagland's family saw
the aerolite fall, and directed
him to it."

are

in us

never

W

par we tl such

sin

In

easem

meant by "movables," within giving and taking as the wis- pose, and place it the spirit of the rule cited. dom of the controlling forces sphere of its greater To take from the earth what shall determine. By these ness. The rule is cited, with c nature has placed there in its operations one may be affectformation, whether at the ed with a substantial gain, for its support, that the fi creation or through the nat- and another by a similar loss. of lost articles, even ural processes of the acquisi- These gains are of accretion, they are found on the P tion and depletion of its par- and the deposit becomes the erty, in the building, or As conclusions of law, the ticular parts, as we witness it property of the owner of the the personal effects of persons, is the owner the our daily observations, soil on which it is made. C. Sherwin, Judge. district court found that the in A scientist of note has said against all the world, ex the true owner. The cor Tuesday, October 4, 1892. aerolite became a part of the whether it be the soil proper ness of the rule may be GRANGER, J.-The district soil on which it fell; that the or some natural deposit, as that from six to seven huncourt found the following plaintff was the owner there- of mineral or vegetable mat- dred of these stones fall to ceded, but its application facts, with some others, not of; and that the act of Hoag- ter, is to take a part of the our earth annually. If they the case at bar is very do are, as indicated in argument, ful. The subject of this land in removing it was earth, and not movables. this hearing: lost important on If, from what we have said, departures from other plan- troversy was "First. That the plaintiff, wrongful. It is insisted by we have in mind the facts ets of the solar system, bear- abandoned. Whence it can John Goddard, is, and has been the appellant that the conclusions of law are erroneous; giving rise to the rules cited, ing evidence of their mate- not known, but, under gov since about 1857, the owner in fee simple of the north that the enlightened demands we may well look to the facts rial composition, upon what natural law of its half of section number three, of the time in which we live of this case properly to dis- principle of reason or author- ment, it became a call for, if not a modification, tinguish it. The subject of the ity can we say that a deposit this earth, and, in township number ninetya liberal construction, of the dispute is an aerolite, of about thus made shall not be of that should be treated as eight, range number twentyancient rule, "that whatever sixty-six pounds' weight, that class of property that it would is said by the appellant five, in Winnebago county, is affixed to the soil belongs "fell from the heavens" on be if originally of this planet this case is unique, that Iowa, and was such owner at the time of the fall of the to the soil," or, the more mod- the land of the plaintiff, and and in the same situation? exact precedent can be fo meteorite hereinafter referred ern statement of the rule, that was found three feet below If these exchanges have been and that the conclusion No Second. That said land "a permanent annexation to the surface. It came to its going on through the count- be based largely upon was prairie land, and that the the soil, of a thing in itself position in the earth through less ages of our planetary sys- considerations. personal, makes it a part of natural causes. It was one of tem, who shall attempt to de- question has, to our kn and grass privilege for the year herealty." In behalf of the nature's deposits, with noth- termine what part of the edge, been determined i formations of court of last resort. 1890 was leased to one James appellant is invoked a rule ing in its material composi- rocks Elickson. Third. That on alike ancient and of undoubt- tion to make it foreign or un- special value to the scientist, American and English E It was resting in and upon the earth, clopedia of Law, p. 388, is the second day of May, 1890, ed merit-that of "title by oc- natural to the soil. an aerolite passed over northcupancy"—and we are cited not a movable thing "on the are of meteoric acquisition, following language: "An a ern and northwestern Iowa, to the language of Black- earth." It was in the earth, and a part of that class of lite is the property of Hence a pedest and the aerolite, or fragment stone, as follows: "Occupancy and in a very significant sense property designated in argu- owner of the fee upon w of the same, in question in is the taking possession of immovable; that is, it was ment as "unowned things," to it falls. this action, weighing, when those things which before be- only movable as parts of the be the property of the for- on the highway, who is to nobody;" replevied, and when produced longed and earth are made movable by tunate finder instead of the to discover such a stone movables the hand of man. Except for owner of the soil, if the rule not the owner of it; the h in court on the trial of this "Whatever cause, about sixty-six pounds, found upon the surface of the the peculiar manner in which contended for is to obtain? way being a mere fell onto the plaintiff's land, earth, or in the sea, and are it came, its relation to the It is not easy to understand for travel." It cites the described above, and buried unclaimed by any owner, are soil would be beyond dispute. why stones or balls of metal- of Maas v. Amana Soci It was in its substance, as we lic iron, deposited as this was, 16 Alb. Law J. 76, and itself in the ground to a supposed to be abandoned by understand, a stone. It was should be governed by a dif- Irish Law Times, 381, each 1 depth of three feet, and be- the last proprietor, and character to be ferent rule than obtains in which periodicals contains such are returned into the not of a came imbedded therein at a point about twenty rods from common stock and mass of thought of as "unclaimed by the deposit of boulders, stones, editorial notice of such a to be by glacier action; and who nois, but no reported cas the section line on the north. things, and therefore they be- any owner," and, because un- and drift upon our prairies having been decided in long, as in a state of nature, claimed, "supposed would contend that these de- to be found. Anderson's Fourth. That the day after abandoned by the last proto the first Occupant or the aerolite in question fell finder." In determining which prietor," as should be the posits from floating bodies of Dictionary states the s it was dug out of the ground of these rules is to govern case under the rule invoked ice belong, not to the owner rule of law, with the s with a spade by one Peter in this case, it will be well by the appellant. In fact, it of the soil, but to the finder? references, under the sub Hoagland, in the presence of for us to keep in mind the has none of the characteris- Their origin or source may be of "Accretions." the tenant, Elickson; that controlling facts giving rise tics of the property contem- less mysterious, but they, too, Law J. 299, is a letter to are "telltale messengers" from editor from a correspond said Hoagland took it to his to the different rules, and plated by such a rule. far-off lands, and have value calling attention to a case properly house, and claimed to own note wherein, if at all, the We aerolite found by a pea vestigation. same, for the reason that he facts of this case should dis- some of the particular claims for historic and scientific in- termined in France, where had found same and dug it tinguish it. The rule sought of the appellant. His arguFifth. That on May 5, to be avoided has alone refer- ment deals with the rules of It is said that the aerolite was held not to be the p 1890, Hoagland sold the aero- ence to what becomes a part the common law for acquir is without adaptation to the erty of the "proprietor of by soil, and only valuable for field," but that of the fin of the soil, and hence belongs ing real property, H. V. Winchell, for one hun- to the owner thereof, because escheat, occupancy, prescrip- scientific purposes. Nothing These references are enti attached or added thereto. It tion, forfeiture, and aliena- in the facts of the case will of course, to slight, if Idred and five dollars, and the has no reference whatever to tion, which it is claimed were warrant us in saying that it consideration, the informa same was at once taken pos- an independent acquisition of all the methods known, bar- was not as well adapted for as to them being too mea session of by the said defend- title, that is, to an acquisi- ring inheritance. We need use by the owner of the soil to indicate the trend of 1 thought. Our conclusions are ant, and that the possession tion of property existing in- not question the correctness as any stone, or, as the apwas held by him until same dependent of other property. of the statement, assuming pellant is pleased to denomwas taken under the writ of The rule invoked has refer- that it has reference to originate it, "ball of metallic nounced with some doubt That it may be of to their correctness, but t replevin herein; that the de- ence only to property of this inal acquisition, as distinct iron." fendant knew at the time of independent character, for it from acquisitions to soil al- greater value for scientific or arise not so much from his purchase that it was an speaks of movables "found ready owned, by accretion of other purposes may be ad- application of known rule The general mitted, but that fact has little law to proper facts as f aerolite, and that it fell on upon the surface of the earth natural causes. the prairie south of Hoag- or in the sea." The term rules of the law, by which weight in determining who the absence of defined r land's land.' . . Tenth. I "movable" must not be con- the owners of riparian titles should be its owner. We can- for these particular ca find the value of said aerolite strued to mean that which are made to lose or gain by not say that the owner of the The interest manifested Our to be one hundred and one can be moved, for, if so, it the doctrine of accretions, soil is not as interested in, induced us to give the quite familiar. These and would not as readily con- careful thought. would include much known to are dollars ($101) as verbally be realty; but it means such rules are not, however, of ex- tribute to, the great cause of clusions seem to us nea stipulated in open court by things as are not naturally clusive application to such scientific advancement, as the analogous to the gener the parties to this action; that on kindred questions, and parts of the earth or sea, but owners. Through the action finder, by chance or other- accepted rules of law bear the same weighs about sixtyare on the one or in the other. of the elements, wind and wise, of these silent messenThis aerolite is of the subserve the ends of subst six pounds, is of a black, Animals exist on the earth water, the soil of one man is gers. smoky color on the outside, and in the sea, but they are taken and deposited in the value of one hundred and one tial justice. The question showing the effects of heat, not, in a proper sense, parts field of another; and thus all dollars, and this fact, if no have discussed is control and of a lighter and darkish of either. If we look to the over the country, we may say, other, would remove it from in the case, and we need gray color on the inside; that natural formation of the changes are constantly going uses where other and much consider others. The judgment of the By these natural causes less valuable materials would it is an aerolite, and fell earth and sea, it is not diffi- on. answer an equally good pur- trict court is affirmed. from the heavens on the sec- cult to understand what is the owners of the soil are

up.

lite in suit to the defendant,

as

may

as

note

In 20

SUGGESTIONS AND COMMENT

British Lawyers Back at Flood of Laws Continues
School

tor of The Law Student: vengeance. The law of an
an article on page nine eye for an eye and a tooth for have gone back to school
again.

th

the issue of the Law Stu- a tooth was a limitation on
ent for January 1st, 1926, this demand for vengeance, so
titled, “Popular Hysteria," that it should not overreach
erence is made to the swing the measure of offence, but
the popular mind to an should be in proportion there-
e-for-an-eye-a-tooth-for-a- to. To take the life of, or
theory of law in a to maim an offender who had
y to impress the reader that knocked out an eye, or broken
is both inequitable and a tooth, was declared to be
arsh-against bonos mores. against the sense of justice,
h is not the case, but in intolerable, and, therefore,
rfect line with the effort of forbidden in just law. It is
Ilaw development to insure thus in perfect spirit and con-
ty and make punishment science with the correct func-
the crime. A reading of tion of law as an estate in
context will show this. At the organization of society.
times popular demand in Oscar Woodward Zeigler,
e of crime tends to seek |
Baltimore, Md.

An American Bar Associa

Missis

All the lawyers of Britain tion committee appointed to
consider changes in state laws
reports that 4,436 statutes and
resolutions covering 8,724
Some of them are in their
seventies', others are in their pages were passed by state
dotage. Nevertheless, irre- legislatures in 1924.
spective of age, intellect, and sippi passed an income tax
accomplishments, all are back law; Massachusetts estab-
to the weary grind of the lished a continuous study of
lecture room and the profes- court procedure. Much of the
sor.
legislation refers to the

It is all due to the new equalizing of woman's legal
It alters status with reference to prop-
Conveyancing Act.

all the law regarding landed erty, to the automobile, and
property that has been grow- to farmers' credits and co-
ing up in Britain since Domes- operation.
day Book was compiled in the
late Eleventh Century.

Lord Birkenhead, gay ad

"No one can sit in a court of justice and not realize how men suffer, how injustice is done that cannot be remedied, through the ignorance and blundering of men who have acquired the right to practice law. The interests of society demand that legislation and those charged with legal education shall put up the bars against accepting candidates inadequately prepared."-Chief Justice Taft at the dedication of the Alphonso Taft Law School Building of the University of Cincinnati.

Law and the Emotions Governor's Son Wins Case venturer of law and politics, BACK NUMBERS OF

Alfred E. Smith, Jr., son of New York's governor, who is studying law at Fordham University, won his first case in

any and varied replies. a court December 16th, though

is the instigator of this latest
torture of British lawyers.
When Lord Chancellor, he
discovered, as many had done
before him, that English law

was cumbrous, largely unin-
telligible, and mainly out of
date.

THE LAW STUDENT

relating to land and property Vol. I contains the first six numbers published between Oct. 1923 He set his agile brain to and May 1924.

Just how much effect emo-
al appeals by lawyers have
the minds of jurors is a
stion to which there are
wyers must feel that they he hasn't as yet been admit-
gh heavily, or otherwise ted as a member of the bar.
would wander less fre- He is getting practical legal
ently from the plain facts. experience as a clerk in the
ke the recent Rhinelander office of John J. Glynn, his
ai. Here was a case in uncle by marriage, and he work to simplify and codify
ich the facts were ele- had his first case in good shape it. Hence, while it is going
antal. Stripped of emotion- by effecting a settlement out to be easier in the future, the
appeals, the essential testi- of court, and then presented
any could have been held the matter for the approval ing about it. Consequently
A to perhaps one-fifth the of Judge Bernard Vause in
cal record taken. In the the Kings County Court. way to and fro from school.
matter of irrelevant testimony Smith represented Curtin &
Some idea of the
dandisguised appeals to Glynn in behalf of a client,
Je emotions this trial differed Felix J. Lauria of 227 South changes can be found in the
30 respects from countless Fourth Avenue, Highland fact that an estate descending
Park, N. J. The defendant to the "next-of-kin" will in fu-

"ers.

lawyer of today knows noth- Vol. II contains the second six he again wearily wends his numbers published between Oct. new 1924 and May 1925.

ancy based on custom where
certain services were rendered
instead of actual money pay-
ment of rent-are abolished.

Law Tends to Reality

Price $1.50 each

Both for $2.50

The fault lies in our system. had been indicted on a com- ture go no further than a first Our stock of these is very limited trial judges may be plaint by his wife, Mrs. Clara cousin. Otherwise it reverts axious to hold counsel to the Lauria of 299 Canal Street, to the state. All fancy ten- and there will be no reprint. 5. but they are fearful of Jamaica, Queens, on the ancies like copyhold-a tenRaking a ruling which may charge that he had failed to esult in a reversal on appeal. provide support for herself sequently, counsel have and two children according to ach wide latitude that cases the terms of a separation ag on interminably, sensa- agreement. on hunters crowd the courts Young Smith had adjusted at a matinee of a melo- the matter by inducing the ama, lawyers are engaged husband to give his wife requently because of their $1,900 in settlement of all tatorical ability rather than claims and then to sign an heir knowledge of the law, agreement to provide $12.50 a the public grows to re- week for the children. Mrs. kard the courts Lauria said she had no wish with conempt. now to prosecute her husThe remedy is clear. Trial band, and young Smith said ges should receive a larger to the court: cretion in the conduct of "In this case the most imals along lines repeatedly portant results have been atdrocated by investigators. tained. An allowance is bepresent they are tied hand ing paid the wife for the chilnd foot by fear of comment- dren and on her the husband g upon those questions of has settled cash. She will not the jury's testify against him and is satsooner our isfied with what has been

are

for no other reason than

Less devotion to logic and more to social reality is the tendency of the ablest legal scholarship in this country, Dean Huger W. Jervey of the Law School of Columbia said in his annual report to President Nicholas Murray Butler. Interpreting the development at Columbia of a new seminar system, in which nomics are brought to the aid philosophy, business, and ecoof the law, Dean Jervey sug

act which
province. The
ages gain the freedom to done. In view of their sep- gests that logic is not always
ep out evidence and shut aration agreement, I doubt a safe guide in the determina-
counsel in the manner of that a charge of abandon- tion of justice.
British courts the better. ment could be sustained in a Reform is under way, ac-
trial court. I am not a mem- cording to Dean Jervey, who
of speeding up justice a ber of the bar. I merely rep- asserts that the law student
rm in our court procedure
resent this defendant's attor- of the future will be taught
old be made with profit. :
oratory and more law neys, and on their behalf I to understand that the mate-
ld not hurt. Cold facts move dismissal of the indict- rial of law study is the be-
ment."
havior of men as well as the
The court granted the mo- reports which chronicle the
tion.
cases of the centuries.

uld be the strongest arg11ents-From The New York

bune.

LEGAL ETHICS

Answers to Questions Submitted to the Committee on Professional Ethics of the New York County Lawyers' Association

[Editor's note: The entire series of questions on professional ethics submitted to the Committee with its answers thereto will be printed by installments. In most of the states applicants for admission to the bar are examined in legal ethics; in all of them such applicants should be familiar with the ethical principles governing professional conduct.] 47. Question: A list of ritory; the concern sending to questions submitted to the other attorneys practicing Committee on Professional therein such matters as arise Ethics by the subcommittee outside of A. B.'s territory. appointed at the conference of the

(a) Committee on Professional Ethics,

ful Practice of the Law,

Answer: No. This plan

Justifiable and Unjustifiable Litigations

The lawyer must decline to conduct a civil cause or to make a defense when convinced that it is intended merely to harass or to injure the opposite party or to work oppression or wrong. But otherwise it is his right, and, having accepted retainer, it becomes his duty to insist upon the judgment of the Court as to the legal merits of his client's claim. His appearance in Court should be deemed equivalent to an assertion on his honor that in his opinion his client's case is one proper for judicial determination.

[From the Code of Ethics adopted by the American Bar Association in 1908.]

no matter

ment were fully disclosed the proceeding or settlemen

(d) May G. H. in matte in which it desires the c operation of creditors, n members of G. H., circulari such creditors, urging the to place their claims wi G. H. or A. B. in order th A. B. may conduct such leg proceedings as may be nece sary, it being assumed that is for the best interests creditors that such procee ings should be conducted?

Answer: Upon the assum tion that G. H. does this n for the purpose of protecti the interests of its member it may be done; the Con mittee believes it would preferable to have the pro A. B. to do indirectly what ies run to G. H. or an office if it be a device to enab

unites the practice of a pro- if the lawyer render profes- profit and it is the actual infession with the conduct of a sional services to the patron terest of the organization business which involves the of the agency the lawyer which prompts its solicitation, (b) Committee on Unlaw-solicitation of professional should make his charge and provided the plan is not employment; the essential (c) A Special Committee dignity of the profession re- wise the agency would be de- tation of business by the atdirectly to the patron, other- merely a cover for the soliciof Lawyers, organized to aid quires that general solicita- termining the charge to be torney. The practice of the in elevating the professional tion of professional employ- made for the lawyer's serv- solicitation of professional could not properly do direc standards of the practice of ment should be avoided. ices, and would be sharing in employment by a lawyer is to ly, it is to be condemned. commercial law. The several (b) Does it make any dif- the lawyer's .fee, or making a be condemned, (e) Does it make any di specific interrogatories appear ference in the answer if the profit on the lawyer's profes- what device may be resorted ference in the above situa below immediately preceding matter underscored in the sional work. tion whether A. B. perform the answers thereto. previous question is omitted the service for such Preamble to Answer No. 47 from the hypothetical case? members gratuitously or not Answer: If the interest o In answering this series of Answer: Yes. There is no G. H. demands or justifie questions the Committee is reason why the lawyer may guided by its view that the not make a specialty of colpractice of law is a profession lections as a part of his proand not a trade or a business; fessional activities; he should therefore some methods which not, however, cloak his idenare unobjectionable in a trade tity under a trade name or or business may still be open title; he should practice his to criticism in an attorney be- profession either in his own

can

are in

non

gratuitous services for non members, or any other good reason in the opinion of A. demands or justifies it, he is

to as a cover or cloak; indeed, (c) May A. B. charge for the adoption by him of a his own service a specific cover or cloak to conceal sum, which he retains wholly what if openly done would be for himself, E. F. charging professionally improper, merefor its own service a specific ly intensifies the impropriety, sum which it retains wholly for it adds deception to what for itself, E. F. guaranteeing would otherwise be an undeits patrons the faithful dis- sirable breach of the essential charge of the duties of A. B., dignity of the office. not required to charge for his including payment over of all (b) May A. B. divide with services; but if it is a mere collections by A. B. for the G. H. such fees in bankruptcy device to secure nonmembers as clients in other employment, it becomes a reward offered for employment, and

patron?

Answer: The method of

charging is unobjectionable,
but it is derogatory to the es-
sion for a lawyer under such
sential dignity of the profes-
circumstances to permit an-
other to guarantee expressly
his honesty or efficiency.

(d) Does it alter the situa

matters referred to him by
G. H., as he may receive as
attorney, either for petition-
ing creditors, receiver or trus-
tee?

mittee's views of the impro-
priety of such division of pro-

Answer: No. The Com

fessional fees are expressed
in answer II (a) above.

(c) May A. B. pay to G. H.

therefore is to be condemnedfor reasons already assigned.

Virginia Admits_Colored

Woman to Bar

Virginia has its first negro

tion that all legal matters in the situation referred to in
ferred to A. B. within his ter- services rendered to him by
coming through E. F. are re- subdivision (b) above for the December examinations

ritory?

Answer: No.

III.

cause they detract from the name, or in association with
objects for which his profes- some other lawyer or lawyers
sion exists. It is a profes- whose names may be used to
sion, not only because of the identify the association. If
preparation and qualifications his announcements
which are required in fact and serted in publications, they
by law for its exercise, but should conform to the pro-
also for the primary reason visions of Canon 27 of the
that its functions relate to the American Bar Association,
administration of justice, and approved by the New York
to the performance of an of- State Bar Association; that is,
fice erected and permitted to they should consist of a sim-
exist for the public good, and ple professional card, and he
not primarily for the private should not in any other way
advantage of the officer. Such generally solicit professional!
private advantage, therefore, employment.
II.
never properly be per-
mitted to defeat the object E. F., a collection agency,
(a) May A. B. take a re-
for which the attorney's of- receives a claim for collec- tainer from G. H., an organi-
fice exists as a part of the tion. Following failure to zation of business men, to per-
larger plan of public justice. collect without suit, it sends form such legal services as
With these considerations the claim to A. B., an attor- G. H. may require as its at-
firmly in mind the Committee ney who performs legal ser- torney, and also to attend to
expresses its opinion in an- vices in connection therewith. such legal matters as the
swer to the specific inquiries, (a) May A. B. divide his members of G. H. shall refer
as follows:
fee with E. F.?
to A. B., G. H. urging and
I.
Answer: No. The division soliciting its members to place
(a) May A. B., a lawyer, of professional fees with those in A. B.'s hands for reference
conduct either in his own not in the profession detracts to A. B. all matters involving
or under some trade from the essential dignity of collection of accounts, or in-
name or title a collection busi- the practitioner and his pro- volving the representation of
ness, the following being as- fession; and admits to its creditors in bankruptcy pro-
sumed as the method of doing emoluments those who can- ceedings, upon the ground
business: Advertisements of not lawfully perform its du- that by cooperation in the
cards are inserted in publica- ties. If the legal services in- handling of debtor's affairs,
interested will
tions, and letters sent to mer- volve the bringing of suit, members
chants, in which it is stated such a division appears to be profit?
that the concern is engaged in prohibited by our Penal Law. Answer: We assume, of
a general collection business (See S. 274.)
course, that the lawyer's re-
and solicits accounts for col- (b) May A. B. receive a tainer by the association
lection; solicitors are em- salary from E. F., E. F. charg- leaves him free to follow his
ployed to visit merchants to ing its patron for the entire own conscience. The Com-
solicit their collection busi- service, inclusive of the pro- mittee sees no impropriety in
ness; the clerks employed in fessional service, A. B. mak- the course suggested, pro-
the business are paid fixed ing no charge direct to the vided that G. H. is a bona fide
salaries; all of the profits go patron?
organization formed by its
to the attorney; and the lat- Answer: No. A lawyer members for their own bene-
ter attends to professional may receive a salary from a fit, is not engaged in a regu-
matters arising out of the collection agency for services lar business of collecting ac-
business within his own ter- rendered to that agency, but counts of nonmembers for

name

G. H.?

woman lawyer, as a result of of the Virginia State Board

of Law Examiners.

Answer: The vice of such Among the fifty-nine suca payment for services is the cessful applicants for admis temptation to make it a cloak sion to the bar was L. Marian, for compensation for the Poe of Washington, D. C., solicitation of business for who passed the examination A. B., or a cloak for an un- this week. She is the first equal reference to the mem- negro woman to be admitted bers of G. H. We would see to the Virginia bar in the hisno impropriety in a reason- tory of the state, according to able compensation to the as- M. B. Watts, secretary of the sociation for services actually board of examiners. The rendered if these two dangers Washington woman had com were clearly eliminated in a pleted three of the necessary particular case and the four blocks on previous examount and mode of the pay- aminations.

Upholding the Honor of the Profession Lawyers should expose without fear or favor before the proper tribunals corrupt or dishonest conduct in the profession, and should accept without hesitation employment against a member of the Bar who has wronged his client. The counsel upon the trial of a cause in which perjury has been committed owe it to the profession and to the public to bring the matter to the knowledge of the prosecuting authorities. The lawyer should aid in guarding the Bar against the admission to the profession of candidates unfit or unqualified because deficient in either moral character or education. He should strive at all times to uphold the honor and to maintain the dignity of the profession and to improve not only the law, but the administration of justice.

[From the Code of Ethics adopted by the American Bar Associa tion in 1908.]