MAKING A K.C.

Evening Star, Issue 17085, 2 July 1919, Page 6

MAKING A K.C.

WHAT TAKING SILK MEANS. THE ENGLISH PROCEDURE. The -ranks of King’s Counsel in England were increased recently by the appointment of 39 lawyers to that dignity in April. The occasion roused much interest, and a London paper published the following explanation of the procedure and its history: The ceremony is in essentials precisely tho same as it was when Roger Bacon, the first “silk.” ever created, inaugurated the degree in the days of “ good Queen Bess.’’ The appointees assemble in Court dress, wearing their silk gowns and full-bot-tomed wigs for the first time, and, with much, bowing, are .formally “admitted within the liar”—that is, the front bench reserved for their exclusive use in each court. It has hitherto been the practice for them to visit every court in which _a Judge happens <to be sitting, and individually to go through the ceremony in each.' Obviously, this monopolises a great deal of time, -and is a, hindrance to business. Lord Mersey, when Mr Justice Bigha-m, always intolerant of delay, was once so impressed with the necessity of reform in this matter that he admitted a hatch .of now King’s Counsel ©n bloc. To the layman there is little physical indication of the difference between a King’s Counsel and a junior counsel. The wig is the same, in actual court practice, but on ceremonial occasions the K.C. is privileged to wear one of the full-bot-tomed variety, as well as Court dress. But tho gown has a slight variation, that of the King’s Counsel possessing a plain, loose yoke, and his garment is of silk instead "of stuff—a difference hardly appreciable to the male eye. Transfer from the lower to the higher branch is regulated by many considerations. The period of practice at the junior Bar before application for “silk” can be made is not feed, but custom has put it at -about 10 years. When Sir John Simon received “silk” after nine years as a junior ho probably established a record. Nor does application, even if this unwritten condition be fulfilled, necessarily mean acceptance, as the present creations abundantly show. Lord Campbell applied to Lord Eldon for “silk” in 1819, but eight years passed before it was conferred upon him by Lord Lyndhurst, Once created a “silk,” counsel finds tho character of his work greatly circumscribed. Ho no longer does such preliminary work as preparing statements of claim and statements of defence, which accounts for a large part of tho income of a junior, but coniines himself to consultations, advice, and the actual .conduct of matters in court. Ho is the_ ‘‘leader,” knowing no client but the solicitor who instructs, him. and often has not seen the litigant for whom lie appears until they meet in court. For this contraction of work he. receives cocmpeasatiou in the form of enhanced fees, which may soar to four figures if ho attain “fashionable” rank. And he is a Jong step nearer* a Judgeship. When, therefore, he goes through the ceremony of .admission, and has duly disgorged the incidental tips to attendant ushers, which, roughly, -amount to £lO in every case, he is conscious of having taken a vital stop which may be his making or Ids undoing. If he has had a large practice as a junior, and has displayed conspicuous merit, he will in all likelihood be a successful King's Counsel If he has lacked both_ briefs and merit as a junior, the possibility is that the larger fees he now asks will not be forthcoming, and his step will prove to have been fatal. From the time -the degree was instituted right down to 1831, an annual sum of £4O wag paid by tho State to every “silk.” This was abolished when the call upon the Privy Purse became too severe. When the payment ceased there was a great accession to the number of King’s Counsel. The recipients of the £4O numbered only 14' in 17-75. Half a century later there .were 30. But in 1882, after the fee had been abolished, there were 200. Now there will be 285. In the making of these appointments the influence of the Court and ot politics is not now felt, a« it was in former days, when -those wore the only considerations. It was such influences which probably solely, certainly partially, explained the 17 appointments made by Charles 11. _in the whole of his reign, the 14 for which James 11. was -responsible, the 11 credited to William and _Mn.ry, the 10 to Queen Anne, and the 30 to George 111. Now, as in ancient days, as King’s Counsel or as junior, the member of the Bar serenely labors under Brougham's dictum that “ he is a learned gentleman who rescues your estate from your enemies and keeps it himself.”