The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-22 00:00:00

measures which since the opening of the present
session he has submitted to Parliament, he has no
introduced one which will, if confirmed, abolish the
system which at present regulates the remuneration
received by attorneys and solicitors from their
clients. This bill was read a second tims last even"
ing, and then, in consequence of some objections
raised by Lord St. Leonards and Lord Chelmsford,
referred for consideration to a select committee. Ia
this matter-of-fact age, when almost every business
transaction is susceptible of being made the subject
of special contract, it has furnished no little ground
for astonishment that law, which is the most costly
and the most undesirable of all luxuries, should be
sold according to a tariff over whose regulation the
purchasers are permitted to exercise no control.
The fee of the midwife or accoucheur under whop
auspices an individual makes his entrance into the
world, and that of the physician who watches bi°
exit, may be made the subject agree. of special
meat ,
an iand the same may be said of almost over)"
,tce wh
act of ass, ch, between those eventful
periods the inn Jidual in question may require t
the hands of his felit.'w men. But to this g
rule there is an important ',.
exception, If a man .
of a litigious temperament, and is desirotia"
gratifying what we may be pern.:itted to fault of
oat
morbid predilections, or if he throug,2 n° ae, ,I
his own, is compelled to have recourse to „
measures to caforre claims, or to resist unie° co
viands, he known beforehand that the asstatan,4
which he must of necessity seek must be Paid
o'r.
at a fixed, and at what he may consider an e3,oe.
bitant, price. He may bargain with his wdloc,
merchant, or his tailor, of his landlord, or
h;,,istature
tor, but bargaining with his lawyer the cif
does not allow. If he wishes to jog the memeryr.
a debtor who obstinately remains apparently °leen%
scions of the outstanding obligation, ann by g
tie threat of legal proceedings to procure 10 !arum
exs
diate liquidation, " an attorney's letter" is the it
pedient employed. But this expedient lisettir
marked price, from which an abatement is ne z
not allowed by the law, but is virtually PrObib;a
ox
and whether the threat accomplishes its purPle-tor
not, the attorney receives from either the cre'laje
or the debtor the statutory fee. But the setae„rroa
which obtains upon the threshold of all legs' Pr
ceedings is equally observed through that I°l3g„ti e,,
intricate course which, when once fairly in mot
they almost invariably run. The consequence
era!
well known, No man can form even a gende-to
estimate of the expense which he may be force ot;
incur in the vindication of its legal rights, er lin for
he believes to be so ; nor can his attorney ° de-
him. Everything, as the lawyer tells his ellen" are
pends upon " the other side." If difficulties
r-ne
raised they must be met, and, if possible, overe°;!.
but then the cost of the victory must of course c.
main uncertain. The attorney may corscientietusi ado
aver that he will perform his duties as cheaply is
any of his confraternity ; but the evil is that biy
promise fails to reassure him who not unreaser,bo
thinks that he ought to know beforehand
amount of remuneration he will eventually be ca
upon t.
upon to give for the fulfilment of n specified o,oyl
The main object of the Lord Chancellor uith.
is to abolish a system so obviously at Yarienee.rw
those general principles which regulate the ;rat
action of matters of business between the diaaes
that
of society, and which has nought t° -tabit
port it except its antiquity. It is provided -cod
henceforth it shall be lawful for every
solicitor to enter into a contract with his clreall
determining the amount of remuneration be "ios
receive for his professional services, and to stiPti:it
that such remuneration shall either consist ciara
gross sum or be ascertained according to a s!:1.13;,
attornel t
agreed upon between him and his client. of
fact, proposed that henceforth the rernunera,tnre
attorneys, like that of all other persons wu° hall
entitled to recover payment for their services, s on
be made dependent, if the parties so wish it, llby
special agreement, and shall not be regillated.m,
those arbitrary rules which have hitherto been 1-1,
posed by the Legislature settling the rates of pay"
ment. AVe are well aware that objections writ
raised to the proposed scheme upon the groan"; iy
it will open a door for what will be aPPer,e-ht 0
cheap, but will be in reality dear, litigatioc•
objections, however, rest upon the narrove-a
grounds, and are utterly unimportant when vieWaeas
beside those cardinal objections, based upon ;at
first principles of economical science, which Presi-oa.
-
themselves to the existing system. DismiE,l3-8-1
from consideration the fact that the costs of leg
proceedings are, even under the supervision of
ing masters, scandalously great, there can exist :ps
just reason why they should not, like the expen's
entailed by any other transaction of life, be no",
dependent solely upon the wishes and the conve-
nience of those whose pockets they alone affect.