PETITION OF MEN OF ORANGE AND ROWAN COUNTIES TO THE GOVERNOR, COUNCIL AND ASSEMBLY [In part.] "That we your poor petitioners, now do and long have laboured under many and heavy Exactions, Oppressions, and Enormity committed on us by Court officers, in ever Station: the Source of which our said calamity, we impute to the Countenance and Protection they receive from such of our Lawyers and Clerks as have obtained seats in the House of Representatives, and who intent on making their own fortune, are blind to and solely regardless of their country's interest; are ever planning such schemes, or projecting such laws as may best Effect their wicked purposes-witness the Summons and petition Act, calculated purely to enrich themselves, and Creatures at the expense of the poor Industrious peasant, beside a certain air of confidence, a being a Part of the Legislature gives these Gentlemen, to the perpetration of every kind of Enormity within reach of their respective offices; And seeing Numbers either from Interested views, for the sake of threats, or from other sordid motive, are still so infatuated as to vote for these Gentlemen, whereby to advance them to that important Trust; tho' themselves and their familys sink as a consequence, and seeing these inconsiderate Wretches, involve your poor petitioners together with Thousands of other honest industrious familys in the Common Destruction. We therefore implore your Excellency, your honours, and your worthys in the most supplicative manner, to consider of and pass an Act to prevent and effectually restrain every Lawyer and Clerk whatsoever, from offering themselves as Candidates, at any future Election of Delegates within this Province; and in case any such should be chose, that choice shall be utterly void in the same manner as the Law now allows in case of Sheriffs being elected."27 COMPLAINTS OF PETITIONERS OF ANSON COUNTY [In part.] "That Lawyers, Clerks, and other pensioners in place of being obsequious Servants for the Country's use were become a nuisance, as the business of the people was often tran Col. Rec. VIII-81-82. acted without the least degree of fairness, the intention of the law evaded, exorbitant fees extorted, and the sufferers left to mourn under their oppressions. "That an Attorney should have it in his power, either for the sake of ease or interest, or to gratify his malevolence and spite, to commence suits to what Court he pleases, however inconvenient it may be to the Defendant. "That unlawful fees should be taken on an Indictment, where the Defendant is acquitted by his Country, however customary it might be. "That Lawyers, Clerks, and others should extort more fees than was intended by Law." THEIR PROPOSALS FOR REMEDY "That all debts above 40s. and under £10 be tried and determined without Lawyers by a jury of six freeholders whose judgment shall be final. "That Lawyers be effectually barred from exacting and extorting fees."28 In answer to these petitions and in an endeavor to improve existing conditions, for the next few years there was much attempt at corrective legislation, the effort being in part successful. Governor Tryon had already, in 1766, announced that no county court clerk or practicing attorney should be appointed a justice of the peace.29 Now, in 1770, another fee-regulating act was passed, namely: AN ACT TO ASCERTAIN ATTORNIES' FEES I. Whereas it is necessary to ascertain what Fees Attornies may lawfully take and receive for their trouble in conducting Causes in the respective Courts in this Province: II. Be it therefore enacted by the Governor, Council, and Assembly, and by the Authority of the same, That it shall and may be lawful for each and every Attorney at Law to take and receive from their respective Clients the following Fees, to-wit: 25 Col. Rec. VIII-76-79. 29 Ashe, History of N. C.,-328. For every action in the Superior Court, except where the Title or Bounds of Land come in Question, the sum of... For every such action in any Inferior Court..... For every real action, or such as respects the titles of Lands For every Petition for the Recovery of Leg- For every opinion or advice in Matters Cog- For every opinion or advice in Matters Cognizable in the Inferior Courts, where no suit is or shall be brought or prosecuted, or defended by the Attorney giving such advice, but not otherwise........ And every Lawyer exacting, taking or demanding any greater Fee, or other Reward, for any of the above Services shall forfeit and pay Fifty Pounds for every offence; one Half to our Sovereign Lord the King towards defraying the Contingent charges of Government, and the other Half to the person who shall sue for the same; to be recovered by an Action of Debt, in any Court of Record in the Province having cognizance thereof. III. And be it further enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, That the Clerk of each respective Court within this Province is hereby directed, and required to tax in every Bill of Costs, where an Attorney shall have been actually employed by the Party who shall recover, or be otherwise entitled to receive, such Fee as is by this Act allowed, and no more. IV. And Be it further enacted, That if any Attorney, in any Superior or Inferior Court shall wittingly or willingly be guilty of any Neglect in any Cause, the Court before whom such Cause shall be depending, on Complaint and Proof thereof made within Six Months after such Neglect, shall have full Power and Authority to order such attorney to pay all costs occasioned by such neglect. And every Bill, Bond, Promise, or other Engagement, of what Denomination soever, for the Payment of any other Larger Fees than before enumerated shall be utterly Void and of no Effect; any Usage to the contrary notwithstanding. V. Provided nevertheless, That it may be lawful for any Person, after the Determination of his Suit, to make his Lawyer a Larger Compensation for his Trouble, if he thinks he has merited the same; any Thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding."30 A year after the passage of this act another one, providing for further regulation of lawyers, was introduced, but as the Council and Assembly could not agree on its provisions, it failed to pass. Therefore with the above act, legislation in regard to the North Carolina Colonial Bar came to an end. With it ends our account of the history of the Colonial Bar. It would be interesting to go into a detailed account of the part North Carolina lawyers played in the struggle preceding the Revolution and in the war itself; but to do so would require volumes. Everywhere among the patriot leaders we find lawyers in the front. Two of North Carolina's signers of the Declaration of Independence, for instance, were lawyers-William Hooper of Wilmington, and John Penn, of Williamsboro. On the Committee of Safety, in the Provincial Congress, in the North Carolina troops, and finally among the men who organized the government of the State, we find lawyer after lawyer. It is impossible to give the names of all-for in some cases we are not sure that men supposed to be attorneys were regular practitioners and it would be unfair to give a partial list. Suffice it to repeat that the Colonial Bar did honor to itself in the Revolutionary period. 30 Col. Rec. XXIII-788-789. In closing I will make one more quotation from the Colonial Records, namely: "In the matter of complaints against the lawyers of that day, it will be well enough for those of the present day, and for others, to remember generally that while as a rule lawyers have been among the boldest and best patriots and the earliest and most earnest advocates of civil liberty, there is no rule without its exception, and especially that the lawyers of that day were made such by License from the Governor, who received for his own use a fee for every license issued. It must be remembered too, that in those days the principal remuneration of the Chief Justice arose from fees in suits originating and pending before him."31 The writer was considering the complaints made by the Regulators, in particular, but his words apply to the whole Colonial Period. As said in the first part of this article, the majority of the records which we possess are of a hostile nature toward the lawyers. There is a continual chain of complaints made against them, and as a result a chain of legislation directed towards their regulation. When we consider the method by which they were licensed, however, we do not wonder that there were many attorneys who darkened the name of their noble profession. On the other hand we know that many of the lawyers of the period were good, honest men, ever caring for the welfare of the community. That they possessed ability in addition is proved by the fact that several of the province's governors were of their number, and that the majority of the attorney-generals and a large number of the judges of all the courts were chosen out of their number. Remembering, then, the prominent part played by the best lawyers in the province and forgetting the misdeeds of those who never attained any great eminence, we must conclude that honor and admiration is due the North Carolina Colonial Bar. 31 Col. Rec. VIII, Intro. XVIII-XIX. |