BROTHERHOOD OF THE LAW.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3212, 6 May 1911, Page 4

BROTHERHOOD OF THE LAW.

A HIGH CODE OF HONOR. The high code of honor which should be maintained in the legal profession was a theme emphasised by Mr H. R. Curlewis in a lecture on “The Brotherhood of the Law,” delivered recently to the University Law Society in Sydney. He said lie was not sure that they were not a little lax in Australia, in this regard. If a man in the profession did something which placed him outside the pale of common decency they owed it to the; honor of the profession not to do as was too often done-—to treat him as lie had been treated before. In other countries there seemed to be a healthier tone. Men such as the man who defended the Ticliborne chninamt—who tried to rob an infant of his inheritance and to fix shame on an honorable woman—ought to be cast out, not only from the profession. A man declared unworthy of the profession ought not to be allowed to canvass its 'members for signatures to a petition for his reinstatement. He would not- advocate keeping a man who made one slip out of the profession for ever, but his petition should be laid on the table of the Law Institute, so that those who wished' to sign it could do so without canvass. Honorable men disliked hurting a man’s feelings and for that reason often signed petitions when canvassed. It was often said that the law was a close corpoation—a union. But the union of the law, whatever it was designed for. worked for flic protection of the public rather than for the legal profession.