ATTORNEY. One put in the place, turn, or stead of another, to manage his affairs; one who manages the affairs of another by direction of his principal. Spelman, Gloss.; Termes de la Ley.
One who acts for another by virtue of an appointment by the latter. Attorneys are of various kinds.
2. Attorney in fact. A person to whom the authority of another, who is called the constituent, is by him lawfully delegated.
This term is employed to designate persons who act under a special agency, or a special letter of at torney, so that they are appointed in !adapt, for the deed, or special act to be performed; but in a more extended sense it includes all other agents employed in any business, or to do any act or acts in pale for another. Baoon, Abr. Attorney; Story, Ag. 0 25.
3. All persons who are capable of acting for themselves, and even those who are dis qualified from acting in their own capacity, if they have sufficient understanding, as in fants of a proper age, and femes coverts, may act as attorneys of others. Coke, Litt. 52 a; 1 Esp. 142; 2 id. 511.
4. Attorney-at-law. An officer in a court of justice, who is employed by a party in a cause to manage the same for him.
Appearance by an attorney has been allowed in England from the time of the earliest records of the courts of that country. They arc mentioned in Glanville, Bracton, Fleta, and Britton ; and a case turning upon the party's right to appear by attorney is reported, Y. B. 17 Edw. III., p. 8, case 23. In France such appearances were first allowed by letters patent of Philip le Bel, A.D. 1290. 1 Fournel, Met. dee Avocate, 42, 43, 92, 93; 2 Loisel, Coutames, 14, 15. It results from the nature of their functions, and of their duties, as well to the court as to the client, that no one can, even by con sent, be the attorney of both the litigating parties in the same controversy. Farr. 47. The name of attorney is given to those officers who practise in courts of common law; solicitors, in courts of equity; and proctors, in courts of admiralty and in the English ecclesiastical courts.
5. In some courts, as in the supreme court of the United States, advocates are divided into counsellors-at-law and attorneys. The business of attorneys is to carry on the prac tical and formal parts of the suit. 1 Kent, Comm. 307. See, as to their powers, 2 Supp. to Ves. Jr. 241, 254 ; 3 Chitty, B. lacks t. Comm. 23, 338; Bacon, Abr. Attorney; 3 Penn. 74; 3 Wile. 374; 16 Serg. &R. Penn. 368; 14 id. 307; 7 Cranch, 452; 1 Penn. 264. In gene ral, the agreement of an attorney-at-law, within the scope of his employment, hinds his client, 1 Salk. 86, as to amend the record, 1 Binn. Penn. 75 ; to refer a cause, 1 Dall. Penn. 164; 6 Binn. Penn. 101; 7 Cranch, 436; 3 Taunt. 486; not to sue out a writ of error, 1 II. Blackst. 21, 23; 2 Saund. 71 a, b ; 1 Term, 388; to strike off a non pros., 1 Binn. Penn. ; to waive a judgment by default.
1 Archbold, Pract. 26. But the act must be within the scope of his authority. 'He can not, for example, without special authority, purchase lands for the client at sheriff's sale.
2 Serg. & R. Penn. 21; 11 Johns. N.Y. 464.
6. The principal duties of an attorney are —to be true to the court and to his client ; to manage the business of his client with care, skill, and integrity, 4 Burr. 2061; 1 Barnew. & Ald. 202; 2 Wils. 325; 1 Bingh. 347 ; to keep his client informed as to the state of his business; to keep his secrets confided to him as such.
And he is privileged from disclosing such secrets when called as a witness. 29 Vt. 701; 4 Mich. 414; 16 N. Y. 180; 21 Ga. 201; 40 Eng. L. & Eq. 353 ; 38 Me. 581. See CLIENT; CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION. For a viola tion of his duties an action will, in general, lie, 3 Cal. 308; 2 Greenleaf, Ev. 00 145, 146 ; and in some cases he may be punished by at tachment. Official misconduct may be in quired into in a summary manner, and the name of the offender stricken from the roll. 18 B. Monr. Ky. 472.