68
The Green Bag
administration of justice. For the sake of his own reputation, therefore, he not unfrequently adopts the practice of the western gentleman of whom I spoke. In other words, he sends a boy on a man's errand. There is much less of this in Baltimore than in other large cities, be cause there is much less of that kind of business. Now an English lawyer handling such business as I am describing would not be expected to go into court to try cases; in fact, he would be a solicitor, not a barrister, and would not be per mitted to attempt to unite the two func tions, even though he were willing to do so. Under such circumstances, an Eng lish solicitor would first ascertain what fee his client could afford to pay for the services of a trial lawyer, or, as he there called, a barrister, and after brief ing the case thoroughly himself, both as to the law and facts, would procure for his client the service of the very best advocate who could be had for that — one of the leaders of the bar if possible. Now the function of the advocate is second only in importance to that of the judge in the proper administration of justice. Without the aid furnished by the labors of competent counsel not even the ablest judge can arrive at the merits of a case; certainly not without enor mous labor on his part; and to a judge of mediocre ability the difficulties of such a task are insuperable. But the admin istration of justice is not work for boys alone. It is essentially "a man's job," and the courts are entitled to the aid of the very best abilities of the profession in the discharge of this greatest of civic duties. If they do not receive that aid, the "quality" of justice, as administered in the courts, will necessarily be "strain ed." It is plain to be seen that this will be .the consequence of sending the "boys" into court to try the cases.
The so-called "boy," that is to say the young practitioner at the bar, is by no means to be despised; on the con trary he may be, and if he be a good one always will be of very great service as a junior in the trial of a cause. In fact no English barrister of any standing will undertake to try a cause without the assistance of a junior. It needs no argu ment, however, to show that this task should not be imposed upon the juniors alone. But suppose the busy lawyer of whom I have been speaking, realizing the truth of the above considerations, undertakes to try all his cases himself. The result is just as bad, if not worse. Even in the day of Lord Coke, the law was a jealous mistress. In the nature of things she must be even more so now. No man can permit his mind to be absorbed for days, weeks and months at a time in the consideration of purely business matters, entirely apart it may be from the law, to the entire exclusion of any legal questions, and then reason ably expect to find that mind in a fit condition to furnish to the tribunals of justice the light upon the difficulties of the law which those tribunals are entitled to expect from him. He ceases to think habitually in terms of the law, his mind has not been running on legal questions. He may have enlarged and strengthened that mind by his labors in the work of business, but he is gradu ally ceasing to be a lawyer, in the true sense. He is becoming a business man, a business man it is true of the highest type the world has ever seen, but never theless a business man, and not a law yer. Furthermore, it too often happens that he comes into court of necessity without proper preparation. It is often a terrible wrench for a man to transfer his thoughts from some business enter
