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Reverting now from these generalisations to the problem of the
religious from which they arose, it will have become evident that
the essential work of anyone who is conversant with the existing
practice and literature of the law and whose natural abilities are
forensic, will lie in the direction of reconstructing the theory and
practice of the law in harmony with modern conceptions, of making
that theory and practice clear and plain to ordinary men, of
reforming the abuses of the profession by working for the separation
of bar and judiciary, for the amalgamation of the solicitors and the
barristers, and the like needed reforms. These are matters that
will probably only be properly set right by a quickening of
conscience among lawyers themselves. Of no class of men is the help
and service so necessary to the practical establishment of God's
kingdom, as of men learned and experienced in the law. And there is
no reason why for the present an advocate should not continue to
plead in the courts, provided he does his utmost only to handle
cases in which he believes he can serve the right. Few righteous
cases are ill-served by a frank disposition on the part of lawyer
and client to put everything before the court. Thereby of course
there arises a difficult case of conscience. What if a lawyer,
believing his client to be in the right, discovers him to be in the
wrong? He cannot throw up the case unless he has been scandalously
deceived, because so he would betray the confidence his client has
put in him to "see him through." He has a right to "give himself
away," but not to "give away" his client in this fashion. If he has
a chance of a private consultation I think he ought to do his best
to make his client admit the truth of the case and give in, but
failing this he has no right to be virtuous on behalf of another.
No man may play God to another; he may remonstrate, but that is the
limit of his right. He must respect a confidence, even if it is
purely implicit and involuntary. I admit that here the barrister is
in a cleft stick, and that he must see the business through
according to the confidence his client has put in him--and
afterwards be as sorry as he may be if an injustice ensues. And
also I would suggest a lawyer may with a fairly good conscience
defend a guilty man as if he were innocent, to save him from
unjustly heavy penalties. . . .
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