Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-03
A Member of the Chicago Bar Re-
hearses the Reasons Given
WHY WOMEN CANNOT PRACTICE.
Single Ladies Admitted to the Bars of Some
States But
MATRONs ARE ALWAYS DISCOURAGED
rwRrrrEN FOR THE DISPATCH. /,

10 the Dencn appreciate the TACT that the
facility and accuracy of their judicial labors
largely depend on the legal training and
ability of the lawyers. Hence it we'll be-
comes courts of justice to be ever careful
and extremely solicitous for its bar, its rules
of admission and the requirements of its
candidates, with the view of fostering in its
ranks the highest possible order OF profess
slonal excellence.
In most of the States, in order to promote
the proper administration of justice. I"
women have not been permitted to practice
in the courts from which the common law
excluded them ever since its adoption in
this country. 1t might be we'll to state that
by expressed provision wehave adopted the
common law of England, and with three ex-
ceptions, the statutes of that country
passed prior to the fourth year of the
reign of James the First, SO far
as they were applicable to our courts. In
few of the Western States however, the bar
has among its practitioners some women
lawyers married as well as single. In 1869
Mrs. Arabella M. Mansfield, the wife of
Prof j. NJ. Mansfield, of Mount Pleasant,
Iowa, was admitted under a statute provid-
ing that any white male person" with the
requisite qualifications should be licensed to
practice by virtue of the statute that words
importing the masculine gender only NAV
be extended to females, and the Court held
the affirmative declaration that male per-
sons may be admitted does not imply de-
nial of
THE RIGHT OF FEMALES.
A few years later, in 1872, Mrs. c. II.
Nash, of Maine, was admitted, and I believe
this was the first case in which q woman has
obtained full standing in the legal pro-
fession of New England; and further, too,
we have no record save hers and that of Mrs.
Mansfield of any married ladies being ad-
mitted to the bar.
In the January term of 1870, Mrs. Myra
Bradwell, the well-known editor of the
Chicago Legal Netos, lady of remarkable
ability and the wife of Judge Bradwell,
petitioned the Supreme Court of the State of
Illinois, to be admitted to enter upon the
practice of law. Her certificate of qualifca-
Jion and attainments were certified to BY
the Hon. E. S. Williams, Presiding Judge
for the Seventh district, and the Hon.
Charles Reed, then States Attorney for
Cook county. The petition was heard, but
was refused by the late Justice Lawrence
on the ground, partly, Of her disabilities as
a married woman, and as such incapable of
making contracts. A few years before Mrs. |
Belva Lockwood was a candidate for Presi- |
admission to the Court of Claims for the |
District of Columbia purely on the same |
grounds as Mrs. Bradwell. A few single |
women have been more successful. Miss |
Barkalow, OF st. Louis, Mo-, was admitted |
under statute providing that "any person"
possessing certain qualifications "may be |
licensed" which admits women to all the |
Courts of the State, including the Supreme |
Court.
Michigan, too, admits feme sole though |
not feme covert to practice. Miss Char
lotte E Ray was admitted tn the District of |
Columbia on graduating from Howard Uni |
versity. The Federal District Court OF Il |
linois admitted Miss Hewitt in 1874. The |
Federal District Court of Iowa has also ad-
mitted a woman.
NO ENCOURAGEMENT FOR NATIONS.
: 1t appears while some courts have admit
ted unmarried women to their bars they have
given but little encouragement to the
married ladies. It looks as if there were
some good grounds for a distinction over
and above their disabilities as married
women. They would not be bound by the
necessary to be assumed, where
the relation Of attorney and client exists, by
reason of the disability imposed by their
married condition. If Mrs. Bradwell were
were admitted, she might, and very likely,
/
Judge Bradwell; and as the law in most
cases looks upon man and wife as nearly as
possible, as one; Judge Bradwell would
occupy the dual position of Judge
and attorney In the same case. overruling
his own objections and sustaining the OBJ
jections of his opponent, and in his capacity
as Judge he would disregard the well-known
and never-disputed axiom of law: Memo
Dotest judicare in sua csusa, that no one Is
able to judge in his own cause.
Notwithstanding that the admission of
women to the bar does not harmonic with
the common law nor with manv of the State |
nor meet with judicial sane
ton, many are the reasons advanced by the
advocates of their supposed rights. They
hold that class wholly unrepreSented in
courts of justice can never obtain full ius-
tice in such courts; that union of the pecu-
liar delicacy and conscientiousness attrib-
uted to women together with the decisive
frmness and vigor of men, are not only de-
sirable but necessary in the promotion of
Justice; that great injustice is done to one
half of the community by shutting them
)ut arbitrarily from an honorable and re-
field of industry, for which
many of them have a decided taste and
ability.
AN ATTORNEYS POSITION.
axes the turn or place OF another" Bou-
7ier, in his Institutes" is more explicit in
lis definition. "An attorney-at-law is an
,ficer in a court OF justice who is employed
by party in a cause to manage the same
or him." Attorneys are simply agents.
They transact business and appear for and
let in place of their clients, who have not
he requisite learning, experience, time or
lesire to appear in suits for themselves.
From time immemorial female attorneys
we're unknown In England, and should
ady ent0 Westminster Hall either in the
.apacity of an attorney or barrister, she
would create just as much astonishment as
she had just assembled the Bench of
Bishops or had been elected to a seat in the
House of Commons. 1 cannot but think
hat the rule adopted by the common law
md our Supreme Courts is a wise one. The
profession enters largely into the we'll being
# society and to be honorably filled exacts
ur best efforts. The law of nature l
lestines and qualities the female sex for the
'earing and nurturing of the children
+ our race and for the custody of the homes !
+ the world and their maintenance in love
nd honor. Surely the profession of the
aw, above all other callings, is inconsistent
nth those radical and sacred duties, and in 1
a departure from the order of
sture. 'Tis true the ups and down of life, I
ogether with its cruel chances, may leave
Iomen free from the peculiar duties of their
Il. These may need employment and A
hould be welcome to any not derogatory to
heir natures. 1t is matter of public pol.
" to provide for the weaker sex, but not
,r its superfuous members, and above all
OF to tempt them from the callings of their A
ature by opening to them duties peculiar +,
ours. There are other and many
nploymeDts in life not unfit for the female
ature. But the profession of the law can I
Of possibly be one of them. The natural 7