Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1885-02-06
Lawyers Morals.
Legal Gentlemen Should not Lie, nor
Sell Their Brains to De-
fend In Justice.

fend In ustIce.
First A lawyer ought to be a
gentleman. His function as an at
torncy gives him no dispensation
to disregard the ordinary rules #
good manners, and the ordinary
principles of decency and honor.
He has no right to SANDER his
neighbcr, even if his neighbor lie
the defendant i'll cause 10 which
he appears for plaintiff. He has no
right to bully or browbeat witness
in cross-examination, or artfullv
to entrap that witness into giving
false testimony. Whatever the priv
ileSe of the court may be, the law
yes who is guilty of such practices
in court is no gentleman out of
court.
Second-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
believed this criminal to be inno-
cent. He NAV not in any way in
tentionally convey to the jury the
impression that he believes the man
to be innocent. He may not, in
his plea, pervert or distort the evil
dencs 50 as to weaken the force or
conceal the meaning of it. He is
sworn officer of the court, and bis
oath shall bind him to the strictest
veracity. 1t would be quixotic to
expect him to assist his adversary,
but his obligation to speak the truth
outranks every obligation that he
owes to his client. 1t is notorious
that some lawyers who think it scan.
dalous to tell a fa!sehood out of
court in any business transaction lie
shamelessly in court in behalf of
their clients, and seem to think it
part of their professional duty.
That bar of justice before which by
their professional obligations they
are bound to the most stringent
trutbfulness is the very place where
they seem to consider themselves
absolved from the common law of
veracity. SO long as the legal mind
is infected with this deadly hercsy
we need not wonder that our courts
of justice often become the instru-
ments Of unrishteousness.
Third-A lawyer ought not to sell
his service for the promotion of in
justice and knavefy. Swindlers Of
all types are aided by lawyers in
their depreciation upon society.
The mock broker who operated in
Wall street and strips green country
spectators of their hard earned
gains by the most nefarious roguery,
always has an able lawyer as an ac-
complice. The gentleman by whose
agency nest of these rascals was
broken up says: "Tbe great diff
Guilty of stopping swindles of this
class is that the rascals make enough
money to be able to employ the best
legal advice, and are, moreover,
careful to do nothing which will
render them liable to arrest" This
is the testimony of a lawyer, MIR.
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 diff
cult to believe this if its truth were
not so often illustrated in the stu
pendous frauds and piracies of great
corporations, all of which are GALE
fully engineered by eminent lawyers.
Our modern "buccaneers" - our
brave railroad wreckers-are in con-
slant consultation with distinguished
lawyers. They undeniably have the
best of legal advice in planning
and executing their bold iniquities.
Tile Century, Mdgazime.