DISAFFOREST. To restore to their for mer condition lands which have been turned into forests. To remove from the operation of the forest laws. 2 Bla. Com. 416.
To deny the authority by which an agent pretends to have acted, as when he has exceeded the bounds of his au thority.
It is the duty of the principal to fulfil the contracts which have been entered into by his authorized agent ; and when an agent has exceeded his authority he ought prompt ly to disavow such act, so that the other party may have his remedy against the agent. See AGENT ; PRINCIPAL.
In England, to expel a barrister from the bar. Wharton. This is in England a colloquial term. The particular Inn of Court, in a case requiring its action, "va cates the call" to•their own Inn. The judges give and take away the "right of audience." See COUNCIL OF THE BAR, GENERAL; and BAR RISTER, as to disbarring barristers; LAW SO CIETY, as to the practice of striking solic itors from the rolls in England.
In the United States, to deprive a person of the right to practise as an attorney at law: Courts have jurisdiction and power upon their own motion without formal complaint or petition, in a proper case, to strike the name of an attorney from the. roll, provided he has had reasonable notice and an oppor tunity to be heard; Ex parte ,Steinman, 95 Pa. 220, 40 Am. Rep. 637; n Orton, 54
Wis. 379, 11 N. W. 584; In re Wall, 107 U. S. 265, •2 Sup. Ct. 569, 27 L. • Ed 552..
A lawyer may be disbarred only for mis demeanor in his professional capacity, or affecting his professional character, but not for a criminal offence without formal indict ment, trial and conviction. His office as at torney is property o; which he cannot be deprived except by judgment of his peers and by the law of the land; Ex parte Stein man, 95 Pa. 220, 40 Am. Rep. 637. But while this is true as a general rule, it iS not an inflexible one, and there may be eas es where it is proper for the court to pro ceed without such previous conviction; 1n re Wall, 107 U. S. 265, 2 Sup. Ct. 569, 27 L. Ed. 552. In this case the proof was clear, there was a failure to offer any coun ter proof, and an evasive denial of the charge which was that the attorney was en gaged in a tumultuous and riotous gathering for the purpose of lynching.
Courts have no inherent power to disbar an attorney for conviction of crime in a for eign jurisdiction, where the legislature has expressly provided what convictions shall result in disbarment and has not included those in foreign jurisdictions; In re Ebbs,