peers is violated every time that a woman is brought forward for trial. No law prevents the presence of women on the jury, but if the matter were raised in a court of law, it is virtually certain that the principle laid down in Chorlton v. Lings would be adhered to, and the right of women to trial by juries composed in part at least of women negatived.
The legal profession, which plays so large and important a part in English life, is closed to women. This means that women cannot under any circumstances be represented by members of their own sex, and there are those who believe that sex bias has so strong an operation as to tend to make the legal representatives engaged by women, consciously or unconsciously, less strenuous than they might be in defending their clients' interests. The legal profession is the avenue, not only to judicial office, but to many other important positions, and to close it to women means that these positions are unattainable by them.
Women are not prohibited by statute from becoming lawyers. The Benches of the Inns of Court are responsible for the non-existence of women barristers. They have the right to regulate admission to the Bar, and their power of rejecting applicants is virtually absolute. They have so far refused to consider the applications of women. A woman solicitor is not a legal impossibility. The statutes governing this branch of the profession refer to "persons" simply. Probably, however, the Courts would decide that the function of a solicitor, being in the nature of a public function, cannot be exer-
