ATTORNEY is a person substituted ( atourne; attornatus), from atourner, attor aare, to substitute, and signifies one put in the place or turn of another to manage his concerns. He is either a private at torney, authorised to make contracts, and do other acts for his principal, by an in. strument called a letter of attorney ; or he is an attorney at law, practising in the several courts of common law. The lat ter description only will be treated of under this head.
An attorney at law answers to the pro curator, or proctor, of the civil and canon law, and of our ecclesiastical courts. Before the statute 13 Edward 1. c. 10, suitors could not appear in court by at torney without the king's special warrant, but were compelled to appear in person, as is still the practice in criminal cases. The authority given by that statute to prosecute or defend by attorney formed the attorneys into a regular body, and so greatly increased their number, that se veral statutes and rules of court for their regulation, and for limiting their num ber, were passed in the reigns of Henry IV., Henry VI. and Elizabeth : one of which, the 33 Henry VI. c. 7, states, that not long before there were only six or eight attorneys in Norfolk and Suffolk, " quo tempore magna tranguillitas regnabat," when things were very quiet; but that their increase to twenty-four was to the vexa tion and prejudice of the counties ; and it therefore enacts, that for the future there shall be only six in Norfolk, six in Suf folk, and two in Norwich—a provision which is still unrepealed, though fallen into disuse. It will be convenient to con sider :— 1st. The admission of attorneys to practise, their enrolment, and their certi ficates.
2nd. Their duties, functions, privileges, and disabilities.
3rd. The consequences of their misbe haviour.
4th. Their remedy for recovering their fees, Sze.
1. The admission of attorneys to prac tise, their enrolment, and certificates.— The earlier regulations as to the admis sion of an attorney (3 Jac. I. c. 7, § and rules of courts in 8 Car. I., and 1654) required that he should serve for five years as clerk to some judge, serjeant, counsel, attorney, or officer of court ; that he should be found, ou examination by appointed practisers, of good ability and honesty ; and that he should be admitted of and reside in, some inn of court or chancery, and keep commons there. These were superseded by the 2 Geo. II. a 23, § 5, which provided that no per son should practise as an attorney in the superior courts unless he had been bound by contract in writing to serve for five years as clerk to a regular at torney, and had continued five years in such service, and had been afterwards examined, sworn, admitted, and enrolled in manner in the act mentioned, under penalty of SOL and an incapacity to sue for his fees. This provision is, by sub sequent statutes, extended to practising in the county court or the quarter sessions ; and by 34 Geo. III. c. 14, § 4, any person practising as an attorney without due ad mission and enrolment shall forfeit 1001. and be disabled from suing for his fees. The 1 & 2 Geo. IV. c. 48, and 3 Geo. IV. c. ht. are repealed, except as to Ireland, but the following provisions are re-enacted in the new act respecting attorneys (6 & Vict. c. 73), with the addition of Durham
and London to the other universities : per sons having taken the degree of bachelor of arts or bachelor of law, in the university of Oxford, Cambridge, or Dublin [also Dur ham and London], and having served under contract in writing for three years with an attorney, and having been actu ally employed during the three years by such attorney or his agent in the business of an attorney, shall be qualified to be ad mitted as fully as if they had served five years ; provided the degree of bachelor of arts was taken within six years after ma triculation, and the degree of bachelor of law was taken within eight years after matriculation : the binding to the attor ney must also be within four years after the taking of the degree. By the 22 Geo. II. c. 46, which is now repealed so far as relates to attorneys and solicitors, al) affidavit was required to be made, within three months from the date of the articles of the execution thereof, by the attor ney and by the clerk, which affidavit was to be filed in the court where the at torney was enrolled, and be read in open court before the clerk was admitted and enrolled an attorney. Acts of indemnity were, however, occasionally passed, re lieving persons who had neglected to file their affidavits within the limited time. By the last general stamp act, a duty of 1201. is imposed upon the articles of clerkship of attorney, and 11. 15s. on the counterpart ; and by 34 Geo. III. c. 14, § 2, the articles, duly stamped, were to be en rolled or registered with the proper of ficer in that court where the party pro poses to practise as an attorney. No at torney is allowed, either by former acts or the one now in force, to have more than two articled clerks at once, and these only during such time as he is actually in practice on his own account, and not at any time during which he himself is employed as clerk by another attorney. The clerk, in order to be admitted an attorney, must actually serve five years under his ar ticles, unless he has taken a degree ; but by 6 & 7 Vict., in case the attorney dies, or discontinues to practise, or the articles are by mutual consent cancelled, then the clerk may serve the residue of the time under ar ticles to any other practising attorney, and the new articles are not subject to stamp duty. The articled clerk may serve one year, but not a longer time, with the agent of the attorney to whom he is articled : a plan generally adopted by country clerks, who thus acquire a year's experience of the practice in London, without delaying their admission : and by the 1 & 2 Geo. IV. C. 48, § 2, now repealed, an articled clerk who became bond fide a pupil to a barrister or certificated special pleader, for one whole year, might be admitted in the same manner as was done if he had served one year with the agent of the attorney to whom he was bound. Under 6 & 7 Vict. he may now serve one year with the London agent, and also one year with a barrister or special pleader, leaving three years only to spend with the attor ney to whom he was articled.