Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-03-03
F" QUACK LAWYERS"

In q case recently tried before
Judge Baxter, at Cincinnati, the
party on trial plead that he had
been advised by legal counsel that
the act for which he was being tried
was lawful On this point, in deliv-
ering his charge to the jury, the
judge made some "caustic " re-
marks, with which the Commercial
was particularly delighted. The
judge said:
Well, another position is as
sumed, that this defendant consulted
counsel, and counsel advised him
that the law was different from what
this court instrucbs you that it il
Well, gentlemen, the legal fraternity
to which I have belonged for forty
one years contains good many sen
sible and good useful mon contains
a great many men that are COM
petent to advise, and honest enough
to give correct counsel but then it
contains great many more, charla-
tass, superficial lawyers, honest or
dishonest, a. the case may be, and I
think [ may say that my observation
in courts for forty-one years leads
me to believe that at least one-half
of the litigation that we are troubled
with In the courts arises from
the misadvice of counsel. Never
theless the law, in its tenderness, in
some respects gives force and effect
to the advice of counsel If A has
B arrested upon charge Of larceny,
and B is tried and acquitted, and B
then sues A for what is termed q
malicious prosecution, that is for
prosecuting him when he was limos
cent, and without sufficient probable
cause to justify that prosecution, A,
the defendant in that civil suit, may
show in bis defense that he acted
upon sufficient cause and in good
faith, and IN action of that kind, if
A can show that he made fair pre-
sentation of his case to an attorney
in good standing, and that
counsel advised him that it
was sufficient ground for prose
cution, and that he thereupon,
acting in good faith upon the advice
Of counsel, instituted the prosecu>
ton, why, that would be good de-
tense But that has not been car
ried int the criminal law We don't
seem to need it now. We don't seem
to need defenses of that kind They
have got plenty of other defenses-
available. But ii it became necessa-
ry man might defend for murder,
Or assault and battery, or anything
else, forI fancy that anyone evilly
inclined could find in Cincinnati or
anywhere else in this broad country,
some man to advise him to do what
ever he wanted to do. That
is the rule which some coun-
sci act upon. They genoraly
find out what a man wants to be
advised. and then they advise him;
and he is the man that pleases him.
Now, it may be that this defendant,
and I expect he did, advised with
counSel, ana expect his counsel ln>
structed him that he had a right to
exclude this negro from the school,
and I take it, am willing to concede,
that he acted IN the matter In the
utmost good faith; that he thought
he was doing what he had right to
do; but the court charges you, gen.
tlemen, that Notwithstanding all that,
if he did what the act of Congress
forbids him to do, and did it under
color of authority, and because this
boy was colored boy, that it would
be no excuse; he would still be
guilty.
The New York Times makes
Judge Baxter's charge the founda-
ton for some well-considered re-
marks upon what are styled 'law
quacks," class of men who infest
all cities, and who, as the judge
truthfully says, are the source of
one-half the litigation which appears