The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-06-11
A. BLOM. PROGRESS ss'' sp s:;''

him, with instructions to apply for a
writ of Quare Impedit Pavinento
which he actually did. Before Judge
E. D. Wheeler of California, a born
Chancellor, in a heavy case, an old
man, with a grimy beard, with a shirt
that seemed to have been worn for six
months. with hands that were Speckled
apparently with the accommodations OF
a century and with long finger nails,
stuffed with soil, once accidentally
represented an unimportant defendant.
The counsel for complainant deliber-
ately objected to him on the ground
that he violated a fundamental rule
of equity which required an applicant
to the Chancellor to come into court
with clean hands. The objection was
overruled but no exception was noted
and there was no process for con-
tempt.
A partial truce to these jocularities.
The first necessity of a young lawyer
Is to get cases, and, in modern times,
especially in large cities, competition
is very severe, and methods have be-
come heterodox. Still the studious,
modest and ambitious neophyte in the
law, who, for a time at least discar'is
politics and concentrates on his pro-
fession, is almost sure of ultimate suc-
cess. Lord Erskine, after struggling
for years, refused to get up in the
morning because he had nothing to
do. He became so famous that mis-
name shines among the lone stars of
the legal constellation. We all know
and we all appreciate the fact that
judicial independence is the corner
stone of the mighty fabric Of civiliza-
ton, that weakness or even corruption
may be endured in every other depart
ment of government, if the Bench is
pure and strong, and that the lawyer
who loses his seIf-respect in the Tenn
pie of Justice is d failure and a sole
cism. But it is also essential that the
just independence of the Bar be main
tanned. There are occasions, few tnd
far between, when the habitual court
esq of the advocate ought not TO re-
strain the firm assertion of his rights.
This was strikingly illustrated in the
Dean of ST Asaph's case, a prosecu-
ton for libel, when the jury found the
defendant guilty of publishing the
libel, and added the word 'only,
which controverted any criminal in
tent. Mr.. Justice Butler, who pre-
sided, wanted this word erased from
the verdict, but Erskine stoutly re
sisted, until judicial patience gave
way:
Butler, j: "Sit down, Sir: remember
your duty, or shall be obliged to pro-
coed in another manner"
Erskine: your Lordship may pro-
coed in any manner you think fit. [
know my duty as well as your Lord
ship knows yours. 1 shall not alter
my conduct"
This firm rejoinder stilled the con-
test, which was in a measure dupIic
ated in a California case, in which
the presiding judge, very very able
and vigorous, unfortunately had pre-
possessions and badgered the lawyer
who was arguing for his clients. The
scene occurred:
Lawyer Your Honor, L was train
ed to my profession in American
courts of Justice, and 1 cannot speak
in fetters.''
The Court: what do you mean,
Sir?"
Lawyer: IT mean that your Honor's
constant Interruptions, frequently in
the midst of a sentence, have the same
effect upon me, as manacles on the
wrists and gives on the ankles would
produce"
Again the incident was closed. These
occurrences bring to the trained minds
of lawyers, especially among the
young, the true limits of that subord-
nation to judicial authority, which
ordinarily it is the plain duty of the
Bar to maintain. Here, as everywhere.
judgment must begin in the House of
God. The statue of Lord Erskine, at
7 ! TnsS &c
to his manliness as a lawyer than to
his eminent capacity as a Chancellor.
1t is to such triumphs that the ''viginti
iucubrationes," accompanied
by unfailing diligence, patience,
and courage, inevitably lead.
The career of Lord EIdon, John
ScotD, who was said to have had IAN
admirable head for law but to know
little else, and who for years could not
ride the circuit for want of money,
furnishes a most shining example of
the result of untiring labor. 1t was
his arguments before Lord ThurIow,
in Akroyd VS.. Smithson, that raised
him in day to eminence. He wait
ed for his opportunity and, when it
came, he used it. Some time after
wards. when retainers were pouring
INTO his treasury in a golden stream,
he was employed for a client whose
position antagonized his former argu-
ment. Lord Ashburton, (Dunn:ng). !
when he arose to address the Chan
cellor, told him to sit down. The
Chancellor did not fall into the vulgar
error of suppOsfng that, in his repre-
sentative capacity. a lawyer might not
2ontrovert the attitude he had assumed
n another case, but he paid the high
est tribute on record to an uncontro-
vertible conclusion.
Lord Ashburton: Il believe your
name is Scott. Sir"
Eldon: Yes
Lord Ashburton: 81 have read your