Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 10.pdf/368

 William Shakespeare, Attorney at Law. "Nay, that I mean to do. Is not this a lament able thing, that the skin of a lamb should be made parchment — that parchment being scribbled o'er should undo a man? Some say the bee stings, but I say 'tis the bee's wax; for I did but seal once to a thing, and I was never mine own man since." Timon of Athens feeling towards the pro fession is no less unkind. "Crack the lawyer's voice That he may never more false titles plea Nor sound his quillets shrilly." The other mention of the lawyer can scarcely be considered complimentary. "Fairy Mab drives O'er lawyers' fingers who straight dream on fees," ' ' The scholar's melancholy is emulation The lawyer's is politic." Shakespeare seems to have had as poor an opinion of the jury as he entertained for the lawyer. Says Angelo in Measure for Measure : "I do not deny The jury passing on a prisoner's life May in the sworn twelve have a thief or two, Guiltier than him they try." Then he pays the administration of the law his respects by continuing: "What's open laid to justice That justice seizes; what knows the law That thieves do pass on thieves." We find in Coriolanus another statement of Shakespeare's conception of the law's administration, which is equally as harsh as the expressions quoted above. It may be admitted that these reflections may indicate considerable experience with courts, but they are hardly such expressions as would emanate from counsel. Lawyers may know the imperfections and abuses of the profession, but they prefer keeping such matters secret. The following extracts from the poet are more in keeping with a lawyer's expressed ideas of his profession, provided he has not lost a case for some days before : "Charity itself fulfills the law And who can sever love from charity?" "Pity is a virtue of the law And none but tyrants use it cruelly."

337

'' To pluck down justice from your awful bench To trip the courts of law and blunt the sword That guards the peace and safety of your person." '' Poise every cause in justice's equal scales Whose beams stand sure." One thought of Shakespeare, possessing both power and beauty, might well serve as a beacon to guide the course of judicial pro ceedings, especially in this day when prec edent is more powerful than principle. "We must not make a scarecrow of the law Setting it to fear the birds of prey And let it keep one shape till custom make it Their perch and not their terror." Litigants might profit by considering the words of Alcibiades. "The law is past depth To those that without heed do plunge into it." Lord Campbell and others represent Shakespeare as having been engaged for some years in the office of a conveyancer. The education acquired at such a place would naturally be, to a great extent, limited to real property law. We should, therefore, peruse the poet with an eye to the words and terms to be found in Lyttleton. Perhaps the most startling fact that such an investigation reveals is that Shakespeare never uses the word " mortgage," never em ploys the word "donor" or "donee," " ven dor " or " vendee," " grantor " or " grantee." We look in vain for such friends of the law yer as " estop," " escheat," " evict," " ap portion," " apportionment," " levy," " con tingent," " premises," for they are nowhere to be found in his works. It is to be doubted if Shakespeare ever heard of such words as " feoffment," " abey ance," " corody," " mortmain," " estovers," "emblements." Certain it is he never gives them a place in the vast structure of words known as his writings, although these words were, in Shakespeare's time, the every-day instruments of a conveyancer's shop. Im agine a real-estate lawyer, or anyone accus tomed to the preparation of deeds and conveyances, writing as often and as much