seldom, and upon great occasions." (How- | ell's State Trials, vol. xii.) do other acts for his principal, by an instrument called a letter of attorney; or he is an attorney at law, practising in the several courts of common law. The latter description only will be treated of under this head. The legislature, acting in conformity with this opinion, have seldom, since the accession of the House of Hanover, had recourse either to bills of attainder or bills of pains and penalties. Bishop At- An attorney at law answers to the proterbury, however, was deprived of all curator, or proctor, of the civil and canon his offices and emoluments, declared in- law, and of our ecclesiastical courts. capable of holding any for the future, Before the statute 13 Edward I. c. 10, and banished for ever, by a bill of pains suitors could not appear in court by atand penalties, which received the assent of torney without the king's special warrant, George I. on the 27th of May, 1723. He but were compelled to appear in person, was charged with carrying on a traitor- as is still the practice in criminal cases. ous correspondence in order to raise an The authority given by that statute to insurrection in the kingdom and procure prosecute or defend by attorney formed foreign power to invade it. It was by a the attorneys into a regular body, and so bill of pains and penalties that proceed-greatly increased their number, that se ings were taken against Queen Caroline, veral statutes and rules of court for their the wife of George IV., in 1820. During regulation, and for limiting their numthe Irish Rebellion, in 1798, Lord Ed-ber, were passed in the reigns of Henry ward Fitzgerald was arrested on a charge of high treason, and dying in prison, before he could be brought to trial, of the wounds which he had received in resisting his apprehension, he was attainted by act of parliament. But when the violence of party-spirit had subsided, the old principle of the constitution, that every man shall be considered innocent of a crime until his guilt has been legally proved, prevailed, and a few years ago the attainder was reversed. The proceedings in parliament, in passing bills of attainder and of pains and penalties, do not vary from those adopted in regard to other bills. They may be introduced into either house. The parties who are subjected to these proceedings are admitted to defend themselves by counsel and witnesses. Bills for reversing attainders are “first signed by the king, and are presented by a lord to the House of Peers, by command of the crown, after which they pass through the ordinary stages in both houses, and receive the royal assent in the usual form." (May's Parliament.) ATTAINT. [JURY.] ATTORNEY is a person substituted (atourné, attornatus), from atourner, attornare, to substitute, and signifies one put in the place or turn of another to manage his concerns. He is either a private attorney, authorised to make contracts, and IV., Henry VI., and Elizabeth: one of which, the 33 Henry VI. c. 7, states, that not long before there were only six or eight attorneys in Norfolk and Suffolk, "quo tempore magna tranquillitas regnabat," when things were very quiet; but that their increase to twenty-four was to the vexation and prejudice of the counties; and it therefore enacts, that for the future there shall be only six in Norfolk, six in Suffolk, and two in Norwich-a provision which is still unrepealed, though fallen into disuse. It will be convenient to consider:— 1st. The admission of attorneys to practise, their enrolment, and their certificates. 2nd. Their duties, functions, privileges, and disabilities. 3rd. The consequences of their misbehaviour. 4th. Their remedy for recovering their fees, &c. 1. The admission of attorneys to prac tise, their enrolment, and certificates.The earlier regulations as to the admission of an attorney (3 Jac. I. c. 7, § 2, and rules of courts in 8 Car. I., and 1654) required that he should serve for five years as clerk to some judge, serjeant, counsel, attorney, or officer of court; that he should be found, on examination by appointed practisers, of good ability and honesty; and that he should be admitted of, and reside in, some inn of court or chancery, and keep commons there. These were superseded by the 2 Geo. II. c. 23, § 5, which provided that no person should practise as an attorney in the superior courts unless he had been bound by contract in writing to serve for five years as clerk to a regular attorney, and had continued five years in such service, and had been afterwards examined, sworn, admitted, and enrolled in manner in the act mentioned, under penalty of 50l. and an incapacity to sue for his fees. This provision is, by subsequent statutes, extended to practising in the county court or the quarter-sessions; and by 34 Geo. III. c. 14, § 4, any person practising as an attorney without due admission and enrolment shall forfeit 100l. and be disabled from suing for his fees. The 1 & 2 Geo. IV. c. 48, and 3 Geo. IV. c. 16, are repealed, except as to Ireland, but the following provisions are re-enacted in the new act respecting attorneys (6 & 7 Vict. c. 73), with the addition of Durham and London to the other universities: persons having taken the degree of bachelor of arts or bachelor of law, in the university of Oxford, Cambridge, or Dublin [also Durham and London], and having served under contract in writing for three years with an attorney, and having been actually employed during the three years by such attorney or his agent in the business of an attorney, shall be qualified to be admitted as fully as if they had served five years; provided the degree of bachelor of arts was taken within six years after matriculation, and the degree of bachelor of law was taken within eight years after matriculation: the binding to the attorney must also be within four years after the taking of the degree. By the 22 Geo. II. c. 46, which is now repealed so far as relates to attorneys and solicitors, an affidavit was required to be made, within three months from the date of the articles of the execution thereof, by the attorney and by the clerk, which affidavit was to be filed in the court where the attorney was enrolled, and be read in open court before the clerk was admitted and enrolled an attorney. Acts of indemnity were, however, occasionally passed, relieving persons who had neglected to file their affidavits within the limited time. By the last general stamp act, a duty of. 120. is imposed upon the articles of clerkship of attorney, and 17. 15s. on the counterpart; and by 34 Geo. III. c. 14, § 2, the articles, duly stamped, were to be enrolled or registered with the proper officer in that court where the party proposes to practise as an attorney. No attorney is allowed, either by former acts or the one now in force, to have more than two articled clerks at once, and these only during such time as he is actually in practice on his own account, and not at any time during which he himself is employed as clerk by another attorney. The clerk, in order to be admitted an attorney, must actually serve five years under his articles, unless he has taken a degree; but by 6 & 7 Vict., in case the attorney dies, or discontinues to practise, or the articles are by mutual consent cancelled, then the clerk may serve the residue of the time under articles to any other practising attorney, and the new articles are not subject to stampduty. The articled clerk may serve one year, but not a longer time, with the agent of the attorney to whom he is articled: a plan generally adopted by country clerks, who thus acquire a year's experience of the practice in London, without delaying their admission: and by the 1 & 2 Geo. IV. c. 48, § 2, now repealed, an articled clerk who became bona fide a pupil to a barrister or certificated special pleader, for one whole year, might be admitted in the same manner as was done if he had served one year with the agent of the attorney to whom he was bound. Under 6 & 7 Vict. he may now serve one year with the London agent, and also one year with a barrister or special pleader, leaving three years only to spend with the attorney to whom he was articled. Formerly, before the clerk could be admitted an attorney, an affidavit was required of the actual service under the articles, sworn by himself or the attorney with whom he had served, to be filed in the court to which he sought admission; he also made oath (or affirmation, if a Quaker) that he had duly paid the stamp duty on the articles, and that he would truly and honestly demean himself as an attorney; and he then took the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and subscribed | of the proper duty, he is liable to a penalty of 50l. and an incapacity to sue for his fees. Acts of indemnity are occasionally passed to relieve attorneys who have neglected to take out their certificates in due time. The omission by an attor ney to take out his certificate for one whole year formerly incapacitated him from practising, and rendered his admission void; but the courts had power to re-admit him on payment of the arrears of certificate duty, and such penalty as the courts thought fit. (37 Geo. III. c. 90.) This part of the act is repealed by 6 & 7 Vict. the declaration against popery, or, if a Roman Catholic, the declaration and oath prescribed by the 31 Geo. III. c. 32, § 1. After paying a stamp-duty on his admission of 25l., his name was enrolled, without fee, by the officer of court, in books appointed for the purpose, to which books all persons had free access without payment of any fee. When the attorney was admitted, he subscribed a roll, which was the original roll of attorneys, which the court held as the recorded list of its officers, and from which the names were copied into the books. An attorney, duly sworn, admitted, and enrolled in any of the superior courts of law, may be sworn and admitted in the High Court of Chancery without fee or stamp duty; and may practise in bankruptcy and in all inferior courts of equity; and so a solicitor in any court of equity at Westminster may be sworn, admitted, and enrolled an attorney of her Majesty's courts of law; and an attorney in a superior court at Westminster is capable of practising in all the other courts on signing the other rolls. An attorney admitted in one court of record at Westminster may, by the consent in writing of any other attorney of another court, practise in the name of such other attorney in such other court, though not himself admitted in such court. But if any sworn attorney knowingly permit any other person, not being a sworn attorney of another court, to practise in his name, he is disabled from acting as an attorney, and his admittance becomes void. In addition to swearing, admission, and enrolment, an attorney, in order to be duly qualified for practice, must take out a certificate at the Stamp-office every year between the 15th November and 16th December for the year following, the duty on which is 121. if he reside in London or Westminster, or within the delivery of the twopenny post, or within the city of Edinburgh, and has been in practice three years; or 6l. if he has been admitted a less time; and if he resides elsewhere, and has been admitted three years, 81.; or if he has not been admitted so long, 41.; and if he practise without certificate, or without payment The following are the most important provisions of 6 & 7 Vict. c. 73. This act was passed in 1843, and consolidates and amends several of the laws relating to attorneys and solicitors practising in England and Wales. It repealed wholly or in great part thirty-two acts, but the provisions of fifty-eight other acts are retained either wholly or in part. The admission of attorneys is now entirely regulated by this act. No person is to be admitted an attorney or solicitor unless he shall have served a clerkship of five years (unless he has taken a degree) to a practising attorney in England and Wales; and have undergone an examination, § 3. No attorney is to have more than two clerks at one time, or to take or retain any clerk after discontinuing business, or whilst clerk to another. A person bound for five years may serve one year with a barrister or special pleader, and one year with a London Agent. § 6. Within six months after a person is articled, the attorney or solicitor to whom he is bound must make affidavit of his being a duly enrolled practitioner, with various particulars which are to be enrolled, § 8; and if not filed within six months, the period of clerkship will only be reckoned from the day of filing, § 9. Before the clerk can be admitted an attorney he must make an affidavit of having duly served; and the judges or any judge of the courts of Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer, may, before issuing a fiat for admission, direct an examination by examiners whom they shall appoint, and in such way as they think proper, touching the articles and service, and the fitness and capacity of such person to act as an attorney. The Master of the Rolls, before admitting any person as a solicitor, is to adopt the same course of procedure. If the clerk is found duly qualified on examination, the oath of allegiance is administered, and an oath to the following effect:-"I, A. B., do swear (or solemnly affirm) that I will truly and honestly demean myself in the practice of an attorney (or solicitor, as the case may be) according to the best of my knowledge and ability. So help me God." The masters of the several courts of law at Westminster, or such other persons as the Lord Chief Justices and Lord Chief Baron shall appoint, are the proper persons under the act for filing affidavits of the execution of clerkship, and for having the care of the rolls of names. The Incorporated Law Society is appointed as registrar of attorneys and solicitors; and an alphabetical book or books is kept of all attorneys and solicitors, and it is the duty of the society as registrar to issue certificates of persons who have been admitted and enrolled, and are entitled to take out stamped certificates authorising them to practise as attorneys and solicitors. The Commissioners of Stamps are not to grant any certificate until the registrar has certified that the person applying is entitled thereto, and the commisioners are to deliver all such certificates yearly to the registrar, with the date of granting the certificate. The examination of clerks, previous to admission as attorneys and solicitors, takes place at the Institution belonging to the Incorporated Law Society in Chancery Lane, in each term. Printed questions to the number of eighty or ninety are previously prepared. Four of these are preliminary, the third and fourth requiring a statement as to what law-books the clerk has read and studied, and what law-lectures he has attended. The other questions are arranged under the following heads: 1. Common and Statute Law and Practice of the Courts. 2. Conveyancing. 3. Equity and Practice of the Courts. 4. Bankruptcy and Practice of the Courts. 5 Criminal Law and Proceedings before Justices of the Peace. 2. The duties, functions, privileges, and disabilities of attorneys.-The prin cipal duties of an attorney are care, skill, and integrity; and if he be not deficient in these essential requisites, he is not responsible for mere error or mistake in the exercise of his profession. But if he be deficient of proper skill or care, and a loss thereby arises to his client, he is liable to a special action on the case; as, if the attorney neglect on the trial to procure the attendance of a material witness; or if he neglect attending an arbitrator to whom his client's cause is referred; or if he omit to charge a defendant in custody at the suit of his client, in execution within the proper time. When an attorney has once undertaken a cause, he cannot withdraw from it at his pleasure; and though he is not bound to proceed if his client neglect to supply him with money to meet the necessary disbursements, yet before an attorney can abandon the cause on the ground of want of funds, he must give a sufficient and reasonable notice to the client of his intention. When deeds or writings come to an attorney's hands in the way of his business as an attorney, the court, on motion, will make a rule upon him to deliver them back to the party on payment of what is due to him on account of professional services and disbursements, and particularly when he has given an undertaking to re-deliver them; but, unless they come to his hands strictly in his business as an attorney, the court will not make a rule, but leave the party to bring his action against the attorney. An attorney duly enrolled and certificated is considered to be always personally present in court, and on that account has still some privileges, though they are now much narrowed. Till lately he was entitled to sue by a peculiar process, called an attachment of privilege, and to be sued in his own court by bill; but the late act for uniformity of process, 2 Will. IV. c. 39, has abolished these distinctions, and an attorney now sues and is sued like other persons. By reason of the supposed necessity for his presence in court, an attorney is exempt from offices requiring personal service, as those of sheriff, constable, overseer of the poor, and also from serving as a juror. These privileges, being allowed not so much for the benefit of attorneys as of their clients, are confined to attorneys who practise, or at least have practised within a year. An attorney is also subjected to some disabilities and restrictions. No attorney practising in the King's Courts could formerly be under-sheriff, sheriff's clerk, receiver, or sheriff's bailiff; but that part of the act (1 Hen. V. c. 4) which related to under-sheriffs is repealed by 6 & 7 Vict. By rule of Michaelmas Term, 1654, no attorney can be a lessee in ejectment, or bail for a defendant in any action. By 5 Geo. II. c. 18, § 2, no attorney can be a justice of the peace while in practise as an attorney; and this clause is not repealed by 6 & 7 Vict., but there is an exception in favour of justices in any city or town being a county of itself, or to any city, town, cinque port, &c. having justices within their respective limits. No practising attorney can be a Commissioner of the Land Tax without possessing 100l. per annum. By 12 Geo. II. c. 13, which is repealed by 6 & 7 Vict., no attorney who was a prisoner in any prison, or within the rules or liberties thereof, could sue out any process, or commence or prosecute any suit, under penalty of being struck off the roll, and incapacitated from acting as an attorney for the future; and the punishment was the same for any attorney who suffered an attorney in prison to prosecute a suit in his name; but an attorney in prison might carry on suits commenced before his confinement; and the statute did not prohibit his defending, but only his prosecuting suits. 3. The consequences of an attorney's misbehaviour. The court which has admitted an attorney to practise treats him as one of its officers, and exercises a summary jurisdiction over him, either for the benefit of his clients or for his own punishment in case of misconduct. If he is charged on affidavit with fraud or malpractice, contrary to justice and common honesty, the court will call upon him to answer the matters of the affidavit; and if he do not distinctly deny the charges imputed to him. or if he swear to an incredible story in disproof of them, the court will grant an attachment. If the misconduct of the attorney amount to an indictable offence, the courts will in general leave him to be indicted by the party complaining, and wil. not call upon him to answer the matters of an affidavit. If the attorney has been fraudulently admitted, or has been convicted of felony, or any other offence which renders him unfit to practise, or if he has knowingly suffered his name to be used by a person unqualified to practise, or if he has himself acted as agent for such a person, or if he has signed a fictitious name to a demurrer purporting to be the signature of a barrister, or otherwise grossly misbehaved himself, the court will order him to be struck off the roll of attorneys. But striking off the roll is not a perpetual disability: for in some instances the court will permit him to be restored, considering the punishment in the light of a suspension only. An attorney may procure his name to be struck off the roll, on his own application; which is done when an attorney intends to be called to the bar. But it is necessary for him to accompany his application with an affidavit to the effect that he does not make the application in order to prevent any other person making it against him. 4. The attorney's remedy for recovering his fees.-An attorney may recover his fees from his client in an action of debt or indebitatus assumpsit, which he may maintain for business done in other courts as well as in that of which he is admitted an attorney. But an attorney cannot recover for conducting a suit in which, owing to gross negligence or other cause, the client has had no benefit whatever from the attorney's superintendence. The 2 Geo. II. c. 23, is repealed, but § 23 is preserved in the new act, which provides that no attorney shall sue for the rece very of his fees or disbursements till the expiration of one lunar month after he has delivered to his client a bill of such fees or disbursements, written in a legible hand, and subscribed with his own hand; and on application of the party chargeable, by such bill, the court, or a judge or baron of the court in which the business is done, may refer the bill to be taxed by the proper officer; and if |