Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1915-05-06
EVOLUTION OF THE LAWYER
The Legal Adviser Was Known as
Champion In the Days Of Wager
of Battle.

Champion In the Days Of Wager
of Battle.
Members of the bar in Chicago and
elsewhere, for that matter, will not
lose heart because of the announced
innovation of a lawyerless court In the
western metropolis According to re.
ports from Chicago, 1t is intended to
establish a tribunal, branch OF the
Municipal Court, where litigants may
plead their own causes. Almost any
lawyer you meet will tell you that
the scheme can scarcely fail to make
a good deal of business for the legaF
profession through the mistakes of
the laymen. AS a matter of fact,
ltigant may plead his own cause in
any court in the country, but such liti-
gants should recall the old maxim
that the man who is his own lawyer
has fool for client.
In the days when suits at common
law in England were settled by wager
of battle, the attorney was known as
champion. 1t will be understood that
this position was one of real import
ance, where one party to a cause or
one affected by 1t was either q woman
or child. 1t was customary even for
men to employ a champion to wage
battle for them for precisely the same
reason that litigant at present EN-.
ploys lawyer-because the champion
was experienced and learned in his
profession.
Under the Anglo-Saxons the ltigant,
II male adult, came into court him.
self and pleaded his own cause. The
Christian Kings in this period, had
abolished the earlier wager of battle,
which later was restored by the con-
| quering Normans. AS women and mi
nors could not come into court, they
were allowed to be represented by
whomsoever they choose.
The exact time when it may be said
that the recognized lawyer came upon
the scene in the English courts is open
| to considerable difference of opinion.
That there were officers of the Kings
court under William the Conqueror
who might be likened to attorneys,
seems probable, but under Edward l.
there is positive record of sergeants-
at-law. These officers of the court
were under oath to serve the King
and his people, and received small
compensation from the court.
In some of the ancient Illuminated
manuscript treatises on the laws of
England there are pictures of the SER
geants, standing beside the litigants
in court. They occupied peculiar po-
sition, acting for litigants and at the
same time being a part of the court.
The sergeants received the same kind
of legal training deemed necessary for
a Judge in those days, and the bench
was filed with men who had formerly
been sergeants-at-law. AS time wore
on 1t was found necessary to add coun-
selors at law to assist in keeping up
with the increase of legal business,
and from these to the modern attor-
ney, as we know him. was only another
phase in the development.
The attorney, even in this country
is technically an officer of the court
although he does not act directly fol
the court, but for his client. 1t has
long been recognized in the crimina
courts that it is imperative for 6
prisoner to be represented by counsel
and for that reason the court is author
ized to appoint an attorney for such
prisoners as are unrepresented.-P
adelphia Evening Ledger.