DICKEN'S LAW.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 752, 26 February 1910, Page 9

DICKEN'S LAW.

"' "Dickens's Law" -was ; the subject of a ■lecture, delivered in Glasgow .lately by Sheriff. Tyfe, under the auspices of ..the Glasgow Dickons Society... '.

■Sheriff Fyf6, ; who'• described ; his address as a "little chat. on.'"the-.lawyers', and the law , '.of Dickens,", said that the imperfections' of. the law' was ia familiar element in fiction and the stage, and in both he was afraid the. baser aspect of the. law.-.was most prominent. '.Charles Dickens was pre-eminently the novelist or.the' law; his lawyers had a hold upon the popular imagination 'that was. unsurpassed by any other author;' In .the. majority of his book's there,.was horeference ,to ■ the law,. and "there were no legal in one the' entire. novel was built'-upon- the law, ai!d legal .characters; filled .the stage , from beginning to end.. The most lovable of all lawyers in. fiction was in Thackeray's■ "Ponaennis"; but it was; seldom .tliat a,lawyer, was a respectable character on .the stage or , in fiction. '.On the stage he was generally a villain of the piece. He did not recollect. any stage lawyer who was a j=hampion of ; h,onesty.. Such a stageilaw-. yer ■ wonld ■. probably; be.." hissed by : tho. gallery, and earn tho contempt of the critical, pit. , .; The ■ methods; of .Dickons ../were,, -not common ones.; ; He. made .nowhere any; sweeping denunciation of any class. He knew better than! to represent, 'all !■'.lawyers as rogues, for he had the. advantage of, knowing the. legal; profession .from "the inside..,. |He never-laid down , bad' law, and he nevercriticised a member of the.legal'profession for :impossible,- professional -conduct. Those-'observations, so far as. he knew,' applied^, to yDickens |alone, , But;- even Dickensicould not,' r divest. himself. of the common • habit, of allowing, personal ,cx-. perience.to : colour his views.. It was always useful •to : bear-in mind that Die- , kens did not love the law, and his hatred of : the: Court of Chancery began with his own ..experience!, of. that Court,/arising put of an action- in connection with - tho piracy of-',one; of his -.books. The most effective •tale- ■■■ of the law -wag . "Bleak ■House:" ' The law,'s : -delay : was an- old grievarice and"it, was.:to; be feared,that no;system.-'of legal procedure, could','pvor .overcome."it-;-. But the improvement..in;' .Chancery Court::practice,l'':prpbably' more: than ■ was recognised, '■ was : ;;due ; to ;the exposure- of the judicial methods, or'want of' methods, which' Dickens - made . in"Bleak,House." Dealingilwith.-tlie legal :characters',inl'Dickens, , ho described, the amusing Mr. Guppy: as oho of the best.. Guppy was: inimitable. If Dickens had drawn ronly. Dodson and Fogg it would have made his fame, as'a ; delineator/of legal character.:, SheriS.'.Fyfe . ventured on a defence of those Jmmortal attorneys. He. did npt'.think:that Dodson aiid-Fogg ' deserved the ce'u'suro; they, had received. : It was after all tho duty of Dodsou and Fogg to. recover, the. damages andtheir own costs, and they were quite ; within, their right.in putting Mr. Pickwick and Mrs., Bai-dcll.intb; the 'Fleet:. :He ,Avaß afraid that Dickens's.bitterness.' in having/to' bear : ",the cests" in. his -own .action coloured his .'-.treatment ;of. Dodson ;and Fogg.- XJriaH'.Hcep ;7Tns!'the only.--nbso-lutely' bad , character "among. ~,the /lawyers of : Dickens . ,.;.'!,' '; = V- '/','•.;•'- '■■'.. ■ -