The Hastings Standard Published Daily. TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1896. LAW PRACTITIONERS.

Hastings Standard, Issue 85, 4 August 1896, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1896. LAW PRACTITIONERS.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrongs that need resistance, For fee future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

It was Sir George Grey who made us familiar with the term " Law Practitioners." For years the "Grand Old Man" tried unsuccessfully to minimise the evil effects of six and eightpence, and to bring the lawyers within bounds. It is not recorded whether Sir George Grey ever suffered from an exaggerated multiplication of six and eightpence or whether he was actuated by the knowledge that the conscience of the average lawyer suffers from no want of plasticity, but we do know that session after session for several years the Law Practitioners Bill found a place on the Order Paper of the House of Representatives. But the venerable statesman was never taken seriously; he was invariably humored to the extent of a second reading, but beyond that his precious measure seldom went. The astute lawyers in the House took good care not to allow Sir George much latitude; yet there was, and is, much need for reform in the relations between solicitor and client.

The profession is not popular; we might go further and say that it is dreaded. The unyielding character of six and eightpence, its tendency to multiply on the slightest excuse, and the general greed of the average lawyer, have terrors for the public which will always make the law practitioners unpopular. "While almost every other profession has been modernised, the legal fraternity cling to the customs and fees associated with a time when clients were few and bills of costs unpardonably large. Why should the services of a lawyer be valued at 6s Sd ? Why should it not be 8s 4d or Is 8d? Time and the tide of enlightenment have made inroads into almost, all other professions; but the union of lawyers, known as the Law Society, has stood impregnable. The law of competition, the law of supply and demand is. set at nought; it is 6s 8d whether the lawyer is a smart man or a duffer. The late Charles Dickena worked hard for reforms in legal administration, and his books bristle with legal luminaries. Messrs Jorkins and Spenlow, Messrs Dodson and Fogg, Mr Jingle, Mr Pell, Mr Jaggers, Mr Tulkinghom, Sampson Brass, and Sergeant Buzfuz axe some of the legal

gentlemen to be met with in Dickens's works. The most pressing demand in the way of reforms is as to the scale of fees. There are many services charged for at the regulation 6s 8d which for the most part are performed by a thirty-shillings-a-week clerk. Cannot these minor services be rated at a lower figure ?

It is only a matter of time when those reforms will force themselves upon the gentlemen of the wig and gpwn, and as if anticipating that day there is a measure introduced by the Minister of Education now before Parliament. The Bill seeks to sweep away certain anomalies as between solicitor and barrister. examinations in law and general knowledge are to be restricted to subjects in the English language, in which all questions are to be set and answered ; and candidates for admission as barristers and solicitors may be of either sex, a provision which will be welcomed by the ladies. It is time this disability of women was removed, and with lady lawyers in the field we may reasonably hope to see the profession get a much-needed " shake up." The Bill also seeks to modify the constitution of the Council of the Law Society, but the chief fault of the measure lies in the fact that it deals with the profession in a half-hearted, shame-faced manner. However, half a loaf is better than no bread, and we must then express our gratitude for the partial reform proposed in the Bill, which we hope to see pass into the statute-book.