The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-08-18
THE DSBARMENT
PROCEEDINGS
Editor Advertiser

4
= opinion of the members of our ST.
= preme Court, as to the culpability {
the various offenders under the recer
disbarment proceedings. the whole CON
! munity must rejoice that, at last, tn
courts have seen fit to take action i
, matters of this kind.
Heretofore, there have been case.
where attorneys have been judged gull
~ of obtaining money by undue in
fiuence arising out of their official DO
fed TO merely adjudge that the prop
erty so obtained should be restored
but now things have come to such :
pass, that men of many years exper.
fence, enjoying large practices, and the
apparent respect of the courts. have
requested that their conduct might be
investigated, in order to show they hao
not done anything, that by the custom
of the profession, here, would be DEEM
ed unbecoming the integrity and fdei-
ity required from its members; ana,
when the standard of what is required
by the custom of the courts of the ma
ton at large, has been applied, they
have been convicted by what they,
themselves, placed on the records of
the courts, and not by facts coming to
light which they attempted to conceal
If Davis and the other ATTORNEYS
whose conduct have been investigated,
hal not requested the investigation, it
appears probable that this gross mis-
conduct. which the majority of tue
court held merited disbarment. would
have been overlooked.
Now, in the face of these facts, the
citizen is disposed to ask
himself: How frequently have our at
torneys done things that merit dis
oarment? Since, it seems, we only
1isbar, when the person charged re-
quests the investigation, apparently |
that his acts have been such !
Is are here generally considered hon. |
,rable and professional. From this |
state of affairs, those only partially |
amiliar with our bar and courts
night be disposed to conclude, that in
idelity to clients and the obtaining of
of facts, were such
ommon proceedings here that they had
ecome recognized customs, belonging
D the privileges of our local bar, as
God.
The members of the profession here
now this is not true, whatever the
classes may think;
nd they also know, that there are
any attorneys in the Hawaiian ISL
nds of whose integrity and ability
~ bar might be proud; but on the
her hand, are they so confident that
ere are not more practitioners, whose
nduct and methods would appear no
.tter than those of their recently dis
lrred colleagues, if they were SUBJ
cted to an investigation as thorough
Id searching as that recently held?
Now that our authorities have taken
tion in the matter, and have discov-
ed canker spots of the worst kind,
places that might have been con-
Tered the healthiest, especially when
ose suffering from the canker evil
ntly thought they were no more dis
Gad II
ID in no way endeavored to cover up
cir condition, it becomes their evident
d unavoidable duty to make careful
arch, to see that we have no more
finishes on the administration of our
VS., on which the whole fabric of our
Iilization depends.
Il we do not keep the administration
justice clean, and so that the pub
may know it is clean and in good
'rking order, we can scarcely blame
iividuals, or bands of individuals,
they take the law into their own
nds; and that would be condition
ly one step, and that a short and
sy one, from anarchy.
I is one of the boasts of the more
of the Nineteenth Century,
It they have proved it true that it
not the severity, but the certainty
the punishment, that deters crime"
this principle is to be maintained
our courts, with regard to the con-
ct of their attorneys, they should
wait until the offenders challenge -
uiry, but when anything at all sus
ious occurs, the inquiry should be
'mpt, and when the suspected in '
idual is proved guilty beyond
lbt, the punishment should be equal
prompt. Such procedure would not
y tend to inspire public confidence
the courts, and their officers, the at
neys, but would be highly satisfac- y
v to those of our lawyers who really