Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 18.pdf/450

 EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT JURISPRUDENCE. In the May American Law Review (V. xl, p. 384) F. Beecher writes of "Existing Economic Evils, How to Remedy." He pleads for a principle of fundamental law whereby the principles of association and of competition may be held in check so that one cannot assert itself over the other and so as to bring about a more equitable distribution of wealth and to create equal chances for all. JURISPRUDENCE (Stare Decisis). "Con formity of Legal Decisions to Ethical Stan dards of Right," by Alva Grover Tibbetts in the May American Law Review (V. xl, p. 391), contends that a decision which is inconsistent with morals should be disre garded if possible, and that while generally ethics are not sufficient to enable a court to overturn a well-established precedent it may do so where the precedent is clearly unreason able even though of long standing. JURISPRUDENCE (see Constitutional Law). LEGAL ETHICS. " The Legitimacy of ' Business Methods ' in the Law," by Ray mond D. Thurber, Bench and Bar (V. v, p. 51). LEGAL ETHICS. In the June American Lawyer (V. xiv, p. 244), under the title of "The Lawyer's Conscience," T. H. Marshall contends that the change in the nature of the lawyer's work from an advocate remedying the mistakes of his client to the adviser plan ning his course in advance necessitates a change in our code of morals. We have, he says, " been trained in that school of morals which teaches that the lawyer is but a blind instrument of fate; that he is but the sword wielded by the hand of justice; that in and of himself he is nothing; that there is no personal responsibility resting upon him if he can appear with clean hands in a court of justice and keep the solemn vows of his admission to the Bar. They do not hesitate to defend criminals, and believe that in defending one accused of crime they only discharge a duty, and that upon them rests no share of the re sponsibility of either punishment or ac quittal. So ingrained has become the idea of lack of personal responsibility of the lawyer in the discharge of his duties to his client, so

419

long as he keeps his personal attitude toward court, toward client, and toward opposing counsel clean, unspotted, and blameless, that a note of warning ouglit to be sounded to members of the profession in view of the changed condition of affairs brought about by the business age in which we live. "This is a marvelous condition of the lawyer's conscience. Only centuries of breed ing which have instilled into him the idea that he is separate and apart from the cause which he represents could thus induce men of such splendid morals to prostitute the finer sensibilities of their nature to the service of their clients. It seems to me that it but needs the bare suggestion that when the lawyer turns himself into the scrivener he is himself as much responsible as his client for any trickery, knavery, dishonesty, or sharp practice that may enter into the contract." LEGAL ETHICS. ' The Lawyer," Anon. Oklahoma Law Journal (V. iv, p. 368). LEGAL ETHICS. " Legal Ethics and Sug gestions for Young Counsel," by Henry W. Williams, late justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. George T. Bisel Company, Philadelphia, 1906. This book was apparently written some time ago and is more applicable to the situation of the country lawyer than of the modern city attorney. Amid much that is obvious and elementary it contains much sound sense and solid morality, and will be an aid to the beginner in applying to the difficult questions of practice the simple moral prin ciples which should be our guide. LITERATURE. "The Law of the Vaga bonds," by Joseph M. Sullivan, Canadian Law Review (V. v, p. 259). MORTGAGES (see Sales). MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS (Consti tutional Law). " Validity of Municipal Ordi nances Regulating the Inspection and Sale of Milk and Cream," by Eugene McQuillin, Central Law Journal (V. 62, p. 439).