PRACTICE OF THE LAW, &c., &c. OF THE RETAINER OF A LEGAL AGENT.-AND OF ATTORNIES, 1. Reasons why IN the preceding parts of this work we have considered some subjects connected with litigation, many of which might, per- haps, although rarely with security, be conducted without the actual assistance of a professional adviser. But we are now to suppose that an injury having been completed, compensation educated and cannot probably be obtained without some description of formal adnitted legal litigation. Here, however well informed the party injured, or retained in cer- the wrong doer may be, yet experience has established that in tain profes- sional business. CHAP. I. REASONS FOR general it is most prudent to employ some Professional Agent to conduct the proceeding, as well to avoid personal collision with the opponent, as to secure a temperate and discreet line of conduct which otherwise might be prejudicial, especially during the trial or hearing of a cause. (a) Besides, there are so many technicalities in the course of legal proceedings, that even the most experienced barrister would probably commit some blunder in the practical steps, if he should attempt to conduct his own suit through the different offices and stages of litigation, however superior he might be in his own particular department, i. e. in argument and discussion in court or before a jury, to which, in the course of his particular department, his attention has usually been confined. (b) The authorized agents in legal proceedings, especially in conducting a suit to trial or hearing, are Attorneys at common law, Solicitors in equity, (c) and Proctors in the Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Courts; whilst in preparing certain notarial and commercial proceedings, Notaries are employed; and Conveyancers, either at the bar or certificated (in the latter case usually termed Certificated Conveyancers,) principally prepare conveyances, deeds, contracts, and wills, when attended with any difficulty or of considerable importance. When Advice is required upon the rights of the parties or the practical proceedings or evidence beyond that which the attorney or solicitor thinks himself competent to give, special pleaders or, in more weighty matters, barristers are usually consulted upon a verbal, or more frequently upon a formal written statement. Barristers, frequently called counsel, are also retained to state to the Courts of Law, on motions and other proceedings; or on trials, to the judge and jury; or in Courts of Equity, on motions or hearings to the Chancellor or other Equity Judge, bills and answers or affidavits, and to argue in support of the the client's interest upon the result. to prosecutions of criminal charges; and even a motion for a criminal information cannot be made by a private individual in person. Rex v. Justices of Lancashire, 1 Chitty's Rep. 602. (c) It is a vulgar error that the term solicitor is more honourable, or superior to that of attorney. Lord Tenterden repeatedly animadverted upon the absurdity of using the former term or name, when applied to any one conducting an action or other proceeding in Courts of Law. There is no distinction in the degree of respectability, any more than there is between Barristers practising in one Court or the other. |