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Show 22 INTRODUCTION. of the Court of Common Pleas wa engrossed, (that is, originally, the entire pr[lctice in civil suit ,) and from "Yvhich the judges were exclusively selected, ixteen year '' study \vas required. The degree of ban·i ter, or, a it wa called, of apprentice, might be obtained by even years' tudy; and it was to these two clas e of e1jeant a11d apprentic s that the practice in the courts of Westlnin tcr Ilall was originnlly confined.* But sub equently there prang up a third inferior and still more numerous class, cnlled nttorneys, a ort of middle- men between the client and his coun el, not pennitted io speak in court, for which purpo e they n1u t retain a scijcant., or barri"ter, but upon whom was shifted off all the drudgery and re pon ibility of preparing the ea e, in which, however, no step of con .... equcnce could be taken without the ad vice of counsel learn ed in the law, i. e., a , CJjeant or barrister. t As the law and its practice thus beca1ne 1nore and 1nore a my tery, only to be learned by fre<1uenting the courts of Westminster Hall, and by the study of the ob cure and illprepared reports of their proceedings, '" bieh began now to be compiled by official reporters, and pnbli 'hell under the name of Year Books, the old local Anglo-Saxon courts fell still more into contempt. Already in the r eign of Ilcnry III. the free· holders had been released from theil' obligation of attendance * Ori orr inally ' and do'•v n t o a comparati·v ely recent pcn·o d, the I nns of .C ourt were real schools , "rc a a.e r.s " or 1e cturers hem· o- appo·m tct1 f'o r the mstruction of the st 11 t ·h . c- . • . t c en s, " o were only admtttcd to practice after a sharp ~xammahon. No·w, the examination is a mere form and the stnclcnt seeks ms truction wh er·e 11 e P1 e ases. Even the nominal t'e rm of study 11 as been reduced to five , an d m· some cases to three ye"I'0 t Th' a· · · " ,.,, . 18 Istmctwn between attorneys and ba.rri ' ters thourrh still in full v. ogue m E. ngland a n d m· several of the British coloni'e s is n>:> ot recogm•z c d m .t he Umted Sta t cs, w h ere, m· decd, it never had but a fe' eble and transiC· n t existence. INTRODUCTION. 23 upon thetn, and another blow was given to the e ancient tribunals when, in the r eign of Ed ward II., the appoint1nent of sheriffs, hitherto chosen by the freeholder , wa a 'Sun1ecl by the crown; and still another when, in the following reign, the election of conservator of the peace wa al::;o taken fro1n the people and a umed by the king. To the n1agi trate ., tbu, appointed by the king the new name of J u tice of the Peace was soon after·wards given, and the criminal jurisdiction conferred upon them, w hetber acting , ingly as examining and com1nitting magistrate , or met together at the courts of Quarter c ·sion ... , gradually super 'eded the mall remains of criminal authority hitherto left to ihe ol<l popular tribunab. 1'\vo circum tances, however, c01nuined to tran fu. e a certain portion of the spirit of these old tribunaL into the newly establi hed courts, thus standing in the ·way of the entire lllOnopoly of the auministration of justice at which the lawyers aimeu, and securing to the body of the people a certain participation in the n1ost i1nportant function of the government, to wit, the achninistration of justice ; which participation, derived fr01n the old Anglo- axon cu"to1ns, and transmitted to our ti1nes, constitutes to-day the 1nain pillar of both Briti ·h and An1erican liberty. Contemporaneously with the new organization above described of the court::; of common law, the British Parliament had tak n upon itself that organization which it still r etain - an upper house, (House of Lord" ) cornpo ed of great nobles and bishop ,-~ succes or of the Anglo-Saxon Wittenagemote and of the Anglo-Nonnan Great Council, and a lower house, * ~own to th~ period of the reformation the abbots of the greater monastcnes sat also m this house. |