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-- AndrewMcCormick - 13 Nov 2009 |
| | George Sharswood, in An Essay on Professional Ethics, 1884, demonstrates the shift from wishing to eliminate the legal profession to a desire to hold it to a high standard, "the things we hold dearest on earth... we confide to the integrity of our legal counsellors[sic] and advocates. Their character must be not only without a stain, but without suspicion." Lawyers became an established fixture of American commerce, and character and fitness standards were present if unused. |
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< | During 18th and 19th centuries, bar examinations were orally administered before a judge, and according The Troubling Rise of the Legal Profession's Good Moral Character "in the entire nineteenth century, there were virtually no reported instances in which applicants were banned for their character." (Comment on notes not played? Thelonious Monk? Look to the importance of "reported instances" |
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> | During 18th and 19th centuries, bar examinations were orally administered before a judge, and according The Troubling Rise of the Legal Profession's Good Moral Character "in the entire nineteenth century, there were virtually no reported instances in which applicants were banned for their character." (Comment on notes not played? Thelonious Monk? Look to the importance of "reported instances"?) |
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< | End of 19th and beginning of 20th century saw formalization and stiffening, but number of those denied entry for character reasons remained very small. In 1878 the ABA formed in New York. At that time, there was no code of ethics and training remained informal. See, BarHistory... |
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> | End of 19th and beginning of 20th century saw formalization and stiffening, but number of those denied entry for character reasons remained very small. In 1878 the ABA formed in New York, including formalizing rules for character, "Court of Appeals fixed requirements for preliminary education and proof of character" and required that "as a condition precedent to admission to the Bar, the character of
each applicant will be subjected to a scrutiny which will be genuine and not perfunctory." (Smith, Admission to the Bar in New York, 16 Yale L.J. (1907), attached below as 16_YLJ_514). Before that time, there was no code of ethics and education remained informal. See generally, BarHistory. |
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< | The Uses of "Character and Fitness" as a Bar to Entry |
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> | The Uses of "Character and Fitness" as a Bar to Entry: Caselaw. |
| | Despite their small number, the cases present cases offer points of interest. |
| | In Re Application of Stewart - PDF? , 112 Ohio St. 3d 415, was a recent Ohio case to the point of my initial interest; there, the court affirmed the character and fitness board's decision that debt combined with sketchy disclosure was enough to deny admission to the bar. |
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> | Ex Parte Wall (with notes), 1077 U.S. 265 (1883) discusses a white Florida man involved in removing a black suspect from a jail cell and lynching him in front of a courthouse. The lynch mob participant challenged his bar rejection on character and fitness grounds and prevailed. |
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< | Ex Parte Wall (with notes), 1077 U.S. 265 (1883) a Florida man involved in removing a man from a jail cell and lynching him in front of a courthouse challenged his bar rejection on character and fitness grounds and prevailed.
Smith, Admission to the Bar in New York, 16 Yale L.J. (1907) (514, 518 pincited by rhode for an example of lax standards)
Smith, Abraham Lincoln as a Bar Examiner, B. Examiner, Aug. 1982 (rhode points to 35, 37) (obscure but available?) |
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> | Although not directly pertaining to character, several instances in a 1907 Yale Law Journal article suggest that bar admissions criteria were severely lax, and one might suppose the ease of entry would extend to character standards. In Kentucky, a candidate who was unable to supply any correct answers to legal questions was admitted on the theory that no one would employ him "anyhow." (Rhode in FN20, quoting Smith, Admission to the Bar in New York, 16 Yale L.J. (1907), attached below as 16_YLJ_514). |
| | Gawalt. The Promise of Power: The Emergence of the Legal Profession in Mass. 1760-1840 |
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