chines would our courts be if citizens were tried without legal aid? How long would the law be respected? Aye, how long would it stand?

It will be remembered that when Mr. Phillips, the eminent English barrister, was in the midst of the defense of Courvoisier, for the atrocious murder of Lord William Russell, his client, who had stoutly maintained his innocence, being suddenly confronted with unexpected evidence, confessed his guilt. The barrister was stunned, and inquired if his client was not going to plead guilty. His reply was: "No, sir; I expect you to defend me to the utmost." At this trying juncture, Mr. Clarkson, the friend and colleague of Mr. Phillips, suggested that they consult Baron Parke, who, though not presiding, had a seat on the bench with the trial judge. The facts being disclosed, this noble judge promptly declared that Mr. Phillips must continue to defend his client, using all fair argument, care being taken not to intimate to the court and jury that the accused was innocent. Mr. Phillips did discharge his duty, strictly following the admonitions of the learned judge, and his client was adjudged guilty and executed.

For years, at intervals, the enemies of the barrister severely criticised his conduct in that cause, and so maligned and misrepresented him, that, nine years after, he was advised to reply, and such good and noble men as Lords Denman and Brougham, as well as Baron Parke, came to his relief. Envious and slanderous tongues were silenced, and what was criticised as mean and unmanly, was proven to be a noble act of personal sacrifice in the defense of a client, and has been so handed down as a part of the history of the English law.

Critics are their own informers and the judges of causes of their own creation, and hence are frequently very unjust; and they would fain have the lawyer, who deals with humanity as it is, erect a standard of personal judgment far above the heads of finite beings.

Notwithstanding all that may be said, the lawyer does have regard for the justice and moral bearing of the cause in which he accepts a retainer, irrespective of the mere law involved. Sound policy alone, the policy of success, dictates this. There is neither money nor glory in engaging in a cause in which you are sure to

be defeated. The really successful lawyer refuses, discourages or adjusts, without legal proceeding, fully two-thirds of the causes submitted to him. The world seldom knows this, and when it does, attributes it to some sinister motive.

That a lawyer is often mistaken in his judgment, and more often deceived by the blind prejudices of his client, is true, and must ever remain so; and at last, who is right: the lawyer who presents the case, or the judge and jury who determine it? All may not be right, yet all are honest. The standard of right is at last but the emanation of the mind and conscience of mortal

man.

The successful lawyer not only has to be honest, but is honest. That he has the unbounded confidence of the financial world is conclusive evidence of his worthiness and integrity. He is the unbonded agent of states and nations, so constituted by the law itself; and if, in the handling each year of millions of treasure, with no guaranty save his personal integrity, one of his ranks becomes a defaulter, the guilty one is so pitiable and low, and his crime of such petty character, as seldom to create even local sensation. Fortune, virtue, happiness-yea, life itself-are reposed in his faithful hands, and how heavily these sacred burdens rest upon him none but the Divine Author of his being can know. Could it be successfully demonstrated that the lawyer and his works are immoral and dishonest, how many great fabrics that he has erected for humanity along the march of time would go down!

The germs of human liberty, planted in the ancient commonwealths of Southern Europe, were the work of the lawyer and the law.

From the time of the great court of the Areopagus lawyers have waged a relentless war upon tyrants and tyranny, and to their courage enlightened nations owe their guaranty of civil liberty.

The universal freedom now enjoyed under the British Crown was accomplished by the law element.

The Declaration of Independence, that divine oracle, which inspired the written constitutions of this Republic and of each of the States, was the conception of a lawyer.

We feel safe that our nation's prerogative is in the hands of the judiciary, whose mandate, so grave and silent,

"But executes a freeman's will,

As lightning does the will of God."

We are told of a mysterious ocean stream which finds the uttermost portions of the globe, and soothes the rigors of a climate where the rays of the sun themselves are powerless, and that it gets its vitality from southern seas. So, from the South, came the current of our law, bearing on its bosom Liberty, Light and Life; and the tempests of popular commotion no more disturb its onward flow than the ocean current is thwarted by the billows that lash the mighty deep.

CODE OF ETHICS.

Adopted July 24th, 1889.—Minutes 1889, page 25.

The purity and efficiency of judicial administration, which under our system is largely government itself, depends as much upon the character, conduct, and demeanor of attorneys in their great trust, as upon the fidelity and learning of courts, or the honesty and intelligence of juries.

"There is, perhaps, no profession after that of the sacred ministry, in which a high-toned morality is more imperatively necessary than that of the law. There is certainly, without any exception, no profession in which so many temptations beset the path to swerve from the lines of strict integrity; in which so many delicate and difficult questions of duty are constantly arising. There are pitfalls and man-traps at every step, and the mere youth, at the very outset of his career, needs often the prudence of selfdenial, as well as the moral courage, which belong commonly to riper years. High moral principle is his only safe guide: the only torch to light his way amidst darkness and obstruction."-Sharswood.

No rule will determine an attorney's duty in the varying phases of every case. What is right and proper must, in the absence of statutory rules and an authoritative code, be ascertained in view of the peculiar facts, in the light of conscience, and the conduct of honorable and distinguished attorneys in similar cases, and by analogy to the duties enjoined by statute, and the rules of good neighborhood.

The following general rules are adopted by the Virginia State Bar Association for the guidance of its members.

Duty of Attorneys to Courts and Fudicial Officers.

1. The respect enjoined by law for courts and judicial officers is exacted for the sake of the office, and not for the individual who administers it. Bad opinion of the incumbent, however well founded, can not excuse the withholding of the respect due the office, while administering its functions.