The Red Robe publicly with certain duties. Thus, he is obliged to have his residence in the town or district where he is appointed (so called Residence Duty).
Further,
393
and law he is compelled to keep this position to the last degree. This com pulsion to keep one's rank has given rise to the existence of committees
he must conduct himself in and out of
called
office in a way befitting his professional
it is to keep a strict watch that no
and social standing (i. e., duty due to his
lawyer dishonors his calling. These committees have a strict code of punish
rank). Thus a lawyer is forbidden to adver tise in newspapers, by canvassing, etc.,
or to buy
or take over a practice
already made, as being unworthy of
his calling. His position in society is between ofli cials and scholars and through custom
Anwaltskammem
whose
duty
ment ranging to complete expulsion from
oflice. In this way the lawyers in Germany have a good and honored position; in fact there is scarcely a country in which the lawyer enjoys more respect and confi dence.
The Red Robe By CHARLES E. GRINNELL
HILE our respect for the legal and natural rights of individuals and our jealousy of ofiicial power have unintention ally given opportunities for excessive delays in punishing persons convicted of grave crimes, the English people have recently imitated that respect and that jealousy by their new law for Criminal Appeal. That is an attempt to protect even a convict from too speedy punishment for fear of maldng mistakes by doing injustice when justice is intended and is more needed even by society than speedy execution. And while prosecuting officers in the United States have been complaining of the extraordinary facilities afforded by our system for the unjust defense of the most brazen enemies of law and order, the French people have not only recently checked the license heretofore practised of bullying accused persons to obtain admissions, but in a char acteristic way their sentiments have been dramatically expressed by the revival upon the stage of the Thédtre Frrm§ais of a remark able play "La Robe Rouge," by Brieut, which was played for the first time about ten years ago in the Theatre du Vaudeville.
This play represents the loss of justice caused by ol’ficial ambition to succeed through convicting persons who are accused whether really proved to be guilty or not. One of the leading characters of this piece, in which then are many strong types, is a prosecuting oflicer of middle age longing for promotion, but too honest and independent to strive for it in the usual political channels. He regards success as the crown of merit and wishes to
earn the reward which he idealizes by legiti mate professional usefulness.
He has a wife
who loves and respects him, but thinks him
too unworldly for a father of a daughter who needs a dowry and of two sons who require education and a start in business. He keeps his own promises and trusts the promises of
politicians who temporize with him.
Mean
while other lawyers, his inferiors in attain ments and character, gain positions which should have been shared with him. The dis trict of the jurisdiction within which he is the responsible prosecutor has fallen behind other districts, for its statistics do not show a vigorous administration of criminal law by a record of many arrests and a large proportion
