Justice is best promoted by heeding
the rules of justice to the utmost.
It is to be remembered that the lawyer occupies an uncertain position.
As an officer of the court he is sworn to promote justice; as a
champion in the battle he is under the deep obligation of performing
his utmost for his client. At times the conflict between his duties
seems real. As an officer of the court he has the privilege of the
floor. He can be heard and is admitted to the court. It is as though
he had joined a club in which dueling or gaming is permitted. The
obligation resting upon him is to act as a gentleman and obey the
rules and not to cheat. If he keeps to the rules he is presumably a
gentleman and can do what he pleases for his clients.
If there is any complaint about the courts it is held to be the fault
of the lawyers, if there are criticisms of the lawyers it is the fault
of the courts. They are interdependent and indissoluble. If a club
house is not suitable for its purposes, is old-fashioned, rickety, and
dirty, it is the fault of the members. If the members do not behave
the club house gets a bad reputation.
Courts are institutions, and not persons; the lawyers are the
individual stockholders.
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