Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1884-12-12
miscellaneous.
LAWYERS MORALS.

THE Century for November contains
an editorial under the b cad Of Lawyers
Morals" from which the following points
are quoted:
A lawyer ought to be u gentleman.
His function as an attorney gives him
no dispensation to disregard the ordi-
nary rules of good manners, and the or
binary principles Of decency and honor.
Tie has no right to SANDER his naighbor,
even if his neighbor be the defendant in
cause in which he appears for the
plaintiff. lie has no right to bully or
brow-boat witness in cross-examina-
ton, or artfully to entrap that witness
into giving false testimony. Whatever
the privilege of the Court may be, the
lawyer who is guilty of such practices in
Court is no gentleman out of Court,
2. A lawyer ought not to lie. He
may defend criminal whom he knows
to be guilty, but he may not say to the
jury that he believes the criminal TO be
innocent. He may not 10 any way IN
tentionally convey TO the jury the i'm
preston that he believes the man to be
innocent lie may not in his plea per-
vert or distort the evidence, so as to
weaken the force or conceal the mean
ing Of IT, He is sworn officer of The
Court and his oath should bind him
to the strictest veracity. Il would be
quixotic to expect him TO assist bis ad-
versary, but his obligation to speak the
truth out-ranks every obligation that be
owes TO his client. IL 10 notorious that
some lawyers who would think il scan
dalous to tell q falseho0d out OF Court in
any business transaction, lie shame lessly
in Court in behalf of their clients, and
seem to think it part Of their professional
duties. That bar Of justice. before which,
by their professional obligations, they are
bound to the most stringent truthfulness,
is the very place where they seem to
consider themselves absolvcd from the
common law of voracity. SO long as
the legal mind is infected with this
deadly boresy, We need not wonder that
our courts Of justice often become the
instruments Of unrightousncss.
B A lawyer ought not to sell bis SER
vices for the promotion Of injustice aud
knavery Swinders Of all types are
aided by lawyers in their depredstions
upon society. The mock broker who
operates in Wall street, and strips green
country spectators of their hard -earned
gains by the most nefarious rogusry, al
ways has an able lawyer as bis accom-
plice. The gentleman by whose agency
a nest Of these rascals was lately broken
up, says: The great difficulty IN stop
ping swindles Of this class 10 that the
rascals make enough money to be able
to employ the best of legal advice, and
are, moreover, careful to do nothing
which will render them liable to arrest"
This is the testimony Of a lawyer, Mr..
Ralph Oakley, of New York. The best
of legal advice" can be had then in New
York city for such purposes. 1t would
be more difficult TO believe this If its
truth were not SO often illustrated in the
stupendous frauds and piracies Of great
corporations, all Of which are carefully
engineered by eminent lawyers. Our
modern buccaneers--ou brave railroad
wreckers--are in constant consultation
with distinguished lawyers. They un-
deniably have 1.-THE best Of legal advice"
in planning and executing their bold
iniquities,