The Star. FRIDAY, JUNE 36, 1832

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4413, 16 June 1882, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY, JUNE 36, 1832

[ Bib Geobgb Ghet's Law Pbactitiohbbs* . Bin. suffers, in point of usefulness, from | this : it is tho work of one who, with the , best possiblo intentions for tho public good, has yet undertaken to deal with a profession the constitution of which he does not thoroughly understand. BirGhroTgo Groy, like many others, thinks it hard that a poor but clever man who wishos to educate himself in tho law, should bo forosd to serve a term of apprenticeship in an office. Be docs not see why a man of brains and determination should not teach himself law just aB he may teach himself "history or theology. But he i forgots that in law, as in medicine, there are things which can bs - learnt from books, but there is much which has to be picked up by actual practice. Would Sir George, if he broke a limb, liko to entrust himaelf to the hands of a surgeon who had never handled an instrument, no matter how brilliant an examination he might havo passed. The theoretical side of the la-^ is taken up by the barrister ; tho practioal by the solicitor. The former is obliged to bo a man of education, and ho ought to be one well-read in the law; otherwise his clients-' interests suffer. The solicitor, on tho other hand, supposing him able to pay fcr counselopinion on points of difficulty, need not know an extraordinary amount of law to be a • successful practitioner. Bub ho must know a thousand and one details of office work, without a knowledge of whioh ho wiU find himself utterly helpless, and unable to manage the most trifling piece of business thatan unfortunate client may pub into his hands. With the barrister tho case iv different. If he like to read properly, and watch tbe conduct of actions in Court for a year or two, there ia no reason why he should not be able to do justice both to himself and his clients. A little experience, to be gained by holding a few junior briefs, is all he requires. He will probably feel his want of acquaintance with practical work up to the end of his life ; still it ii not a necessity for him. There can be no real objection then to allowing Sir Georgo Grey's Bill to apply to the barrister's branch of the profession. It will be a misfortune if all tests as to general education are done away with ; it will be a misfortune if persons well known to be of disreputable character aro able to demand and gain admiesion from the Judges, on merely paßsing an examination. But theße are questions for the public, whioh will be the suffering party if Sir George Grey's Bill does not in these respects work well. We think that the lawyers have a right to object to having their profession flooded with incapable solicitors — men to whom tbe ordinary routine of office work will be a technical mystery, and who, by perpetually sacrificing their clients' interests through blundering ignorance, will bring undeserved discredit on their brother lawyers and on tho legal system of the Colony. To tho outside mind the Law is a mysterious mass of complications ; just as any great machine, no matter how simply and strongly mado, appears a mass of complications to all who know nothing of meohanios. But it would be just as sensible to smash the machinery of the Kaiapoi Woollen Factory because it looks complicated, as to raise an outcry against the law and its practitioners solely for that reason. The machine does no harm so long as it is in the hands of one who understands it. Sir George Grey, however, proposes to entrust our legal maohinery to men whose best qualification is to be that they have not been regularly trained for their work. When the blind attempt to lead the blind amid tho innumerable ditches of the law, the result is not difficult to see.