The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-01-16

4 4 IdI1OuS bleDaIQeHb Cdcc-I1c htldlt
Some Interesting History of Such Case
"A Member of the Bar Cannot b
Guilty of Any Official Misconduct
County Attorney Boone is suspende,
D for One Year From Practicfng I'm Court
of This State.
The court room was crowded with
lawyers and citizens to hear Judge
Reeds opinion in the Boone disbar
ment case. The following is the opin.
} ion Of the court rendered yesterday:
This is a very rare proceeding You
can count upon the fingers of your
right hand the disbarments in the
state of Kansas and Missouri and Ohio
since the days these states were organ
lied. That indicates the extreme rar-
ity of the proceeding.
In this connection 1 will take occa-
sion to say that it also indicates the
high standing of the profession
throughout the country; and this very
fact that a member of the bar is rarely
disbarred is one of the greatest COM
pliments that can be paid to the in
tegrity and loyalty of the legal pro-
fession. | suppose one man as rule
is about as honest as another; but / am
led to believe that by reason of the fact
that the legal profession is impressed
with the solemnity Of their calling and
the high trust reposed in them, that
they are, taken as a whole, perhaps
more honest or more punctitious, not
because they are better by nature, or
nave better qualities by inheritance,
and not always because they are en-
doWed with better qualities Of mental
ity, but because they feel the solemn
consciousness of the trust reposed in
them and the desire to live upto it.
In this particulard case there has
been no haste. Whatever may be my
conclusion this morning, one thing can
be said at least, that there has been no
haste on the part of anybody This
proceeding was begun early in Decem-
Der; the trial was set for the 18th Of
December, and then continued until
the 9TH Of January. 1t is quite i'm
portant that there should be no haste
IN SO solemn proceeding as this. 1t
most certainly marks a very grave
epoch in the history of the bar in this
county.
Inc contention was made very stout
/ ly during the trial of this case that.
assuming the facts to be true as al
legged, that was still no ground for dis
barment or suspension under the law of
this state existed. That contention was
| overruled during the trial. The point
/
thoroughly investigated by the court
since the trial, and my judgment as a
lawyer is that the contention is not
tenable; and my judgment as a lawyer
is the supreme court Of this state in the
case OF the state against Smith, quoted
in the 50th Kansas, has never decided
that a county attorney could hold his
offlce without being a member of the
bar They have decided when a man
was convicted of murder and prosecuted
by county attorney not a member Of
the bar, that after such conviction the
mer fact that the county attorney was
not member Of the bar would not be
such fact as TOT constitute error.
But they nowhere hold expressly that
man can be county attorney with
out being member of the bar. | can
not take time to read the case because
1t is not my purpose this morning to de-
liver any lengthy remarks The dis
cussion of this case has already taken
place. 1t is simply my mission this
morning to announce my conclusion,
giving here and there some pertinent
reason for it.
Assuming, however it to be a fact
that one can be county attorney with
out being member of the bar, still it
must necessarily follow that one who
assumes the duties of county attorney
who is member of the bar cannot be
guilty Of any professional miscon-
duct, and then be able to separate by
any law Of mentality the two char
acters, the character of county attor-
ney and the character devolving upon
him as a member of the bar. So if In
the investigation of the case 1 have
reached the conclusion that a man
could be county attorney without be-
ing member of the bar, still would
be compelled by every process of reas-
70 oh
that member of the bar when elected
county attorney, and having been
guilty of professional misconduct as
county attorney, necessarily takes
along with him his membership in the
bar. You cannot separate the two
1t would be violation of the laws of
mentality and of the principles which
uphold all morality. 1 suppose the
supreme court will be given an oppor-
tlnity to pass upon this question, and
whatever they decide, whether right or
wrong, we as good citizens will ac-
quisce. Logically, there can be no
escape from the conclusion that, even
though man is not required to be a I
member of the bar to be county attor- !
ney, yet, being a member of the bar, |
he cannot assume the duties of county |
attorney and shield himself from the |
professional misconduct as county at |
torney by the fact, if it be a fact, that /
a county attorney is not required to be |
a member of the bar.
That brings US down to the question /
of whether or not the charges have |
been sustained. 1 have not the specif- |
cations before me and | do not need |
them for the purposes Of this opinion. |
1t would be quite idle for me to discuss |
all the facts involved in those charges,
and idle in me to repeat the evidnce. I I
could not add to il and / could not |
take from it. / have looked through /
the evidence carefully, have had
great deal of it transcribed by my
and have read it care
fully and have thought over it, and /
there is no escape from the conclu-
sion that most of the charges have been
sustained l have weighed the au-
thorities with reference to the facts in
volved in the charge, and there is in
my judgment no real conflict between
the authorities so far as the facts in
this case are concerned. Whatever
may have been the honest intention of
the county attorney. and whatever may
have been his honest effort to construe
the law-under the facts in this case
the law is so very plain that there can
not be any other conclusion but that
under the law the charges have been
sustained.
Now. the court having found that
these charges are sustained. what &C
ion ought the court to take in this case?
The law of the land provides two rene
dies: One is to disbar, the other is 10
Not until this case was pre-
sented did L ever have occasion to con-
slider what a disbarment means. And
undertake TO say that lawyers general
" repeat that word, scarcely thinking
Of its significance. It applies to no
1ther calling on earth than that OF the
lawyer. 1t is not necessary To discuss
the origin and rise of the procedure. 1t
IS enough to say that it has come