The Washington times., 1894-04-10
THE ADMISSION OF WOMEN TO THE BAR.

THE ADMISSION OEWOMEN TO THE BAR.
favor the admission Of
of women to the bar because
MRxBER OF THE can see nothing in reason or
NJ, In nature against It, and be-
cause from an experience Of
twenty years before the bar believe It would
be an advantage to the women themselves. to
the courts, and to male practitioners. OBJ
scenity and rbald jests, vile cross questions
and impurities, have been very largely ruled
out of courts of law in these later years, and
especially so where women have been ad-
mitted to practice. The attorneys for Breck-
inridge in the recent scandal case before the
courts introduced as evidence matter so vile
that Judge Bradley WIS not willing that even
male audience should listen to it, and
begged the newspaper men not to report 1t.
woman lawyer would never have offered to
introduce it. In long practice, in which I
criminals, from common assault to q murder,
and during which time have prosecuted over.
one hundred divorce cases. I have never
found it necessary to introduce matter as
evidence that would cause blush to those
compelled to listen to the recital, and be-
ieve that it is very rarely, If ever necessary to
the ends of justice.
I am in ia vor of the admission Of women to
the bar because believe that the discipline
required is more necessary to the female mind
than to the male mind, and that knowledge
of the law is quite as essential to the woman
as to the man. As woman is less able to earn
money than man, she ought to be better able
to protect her earnings, and not be, as she has
largely been in the past. an easy prey to de-
signing men. Usually when man dies
some male executor disposes Of his estate to
the best advantage to himself, taking q large
per cent. for his services and holding on to
the balance as long as possible for the bene-
fit of its use, when the widow herself should
be, in nearly every instance, If properly edu-
Gated, capable of administration herself. 1t
has long been the policy in England to have
every son Of gentleman educated in the law,
because in the very nature OF his position
he would some day have the law to dispense.
1t should be the policy of the United States to.
have every woman educated in the law, which
she must obey or suffer the penalty for an in
fraction in either civil or a criminal pro-
cedure, as the plea of ignorance of the law
will not avail her.
Although the law usually reads '.he" or
''him' in referring to a criminal, it has al
ways been held to include the woman II she
commits an offense, and no Judge dissents
when she is arrested for the crime, nor does
the tax collector ever forget her; but when
she innocently applies for admission to the
bar the learned judge deems the occurrence
OF the word ''he'' or ''him" so great an i'm
pediment in nearly every case that he declares
that either the rule or the law, or both, must
be changed before his conscience will permit
him to admit her. But if the words ''he" or
'him" do not chance to occur, he then resorts
to another subterfuge, and says: "There must
be some positive enactment"
1believe that women should be admitted to
the bar because it is lucrative industry-a
profession that, when assiduously followed, is
enlarging and ennobling to the character.
calculated to place the practitioner above
want, adds responsibility, is a pursuit of
happiness" contemplated in the Constitution,
and should be as free to the woman as to the
man. ,
In these days of industrial depression, when
the mass of the women Of the country must
earn their own livelihood. believe it to be
little short of crime TO throw barriers In the
way of any woman entering the learned pro-
fessions, or any other honest calling. if she
has the inclination and talent TO do so, and
she should be encouraged rather than dis
couraged and humiliated in such laudable
pursuit.
Twenty-six states out Of the forty-four have
admitted women to the bar, and the obiec-
tions raised at this late day, after the United
States Supreme Court has admitted women to
practice for fifteen years, belongs to past
decades rather than to the progressive pres
ent BELvA A. LOCKWOOD.