In America Every Man Of Note Seems To Be A
Lawyer; And I Am Told That Any Lawyer Who Will Work May Make A Sure
Income.
If it be so, it would seem that Americans per head pay as
much (or more) for their law as men do in England.
It may be
answered that they get more law for their money. That may be
possible, and even yet they may not be gainers. I have been
inclined to think that there was an unnecessarily slow and expensive
ceremonial among us in the employment of barristers through a third
party; it has seemed that the man of learning, on whose efforts the
litigant really depends, is divided off from his client and employer
by an unfair barrier, used only to enhance his own dignity and give
an unnecessary grandeur to his position. I still think that the
fault with us lies in this direction. But I feel that I am less
inclined to demand an immediate alteration in our practice than I
was before I had seen any of the American courts of law.
It should be generally understood that lawyers are the leading men
in the States, and that the governance of the country has been
almost entirely in their hands ever since the political life of the
nation became full and strong. All public business of importance
falls naturally into their hands, as with us it falls into the hands
of men of settled wealth and landed property.
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