is of another nature. When any person is killed, or dies suddenly, or dies in prison, the coroner must hold an inquest concerning the manner of his death. This inquest must be held upon the view of the body; for if the body cannot be found, the coroner cannot sit. He must certify his inquisition to the court of king's bench or to the next assizes.1

The lord chief justice of the king's bench is the supreme coroner of all England, and may exercise that jurisdiction in any part of the kingdom.2

From the statute of Wales, made in the twelfth year of Edward the First, and which, by the remedies provided for Wales, informs us, at the same time, what was the law and practice of England-from this statute we learn, that the coroner was directed to attend and summon a jury, when a man was wounded so dangerously, that his life was despaired. This branch of a coroner's duty is now totally neglected. "It is a regulation, however," says the learned observer upon the ancient statutes, "which deserves much to be revived: and I should conceive that this attendance of the coroner with a jury, when a dangerous wound had been received, was to prevent the dying words of the person murdered from being evidence; as this kind of proof, though allowed at present, cannot be too cautiously admitted. It is presumed, indeed, that the words of a person expiring cannot but be true, considering the situation, under which he gives the information. But may not a dying man, though a good Christian, deprived of expected happiness in life by a wound, received, perhaps, from an enemy, rather wish his punishment more eagerly than he should do? And may not those about the dying person, who are generally relations, repeat what he said more strongly on the trial, than possibly the words were delivered?" 3

11 Bl. Com. 349.

24 Rep. 57 b.

3 Bar. on St. 124.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE SUBJECT CONTINUED.

OF COUNSELLORS AND ATTORNEYS.

In our courts of justice there are counsellors and attorneys. In England, there are two degrees of counsellors -serjeants and barristers. How ancient and honorable the state and degree of a serjeant is, has been the ample theme of many learned and elaborate treatises.

My Lord Coke, in a speech which he made upon a call of serejants, compares the serjeants' coif-a cap of a particular form-to Minerva's helmet; for Minerva was the goddess of counsel. He also discovers, that the four corners of that cap indicate four excellent qualities-science, experience, observation, recordation.1

Pace tanti viri, shall the truth be disclosed? If the origin of coifs is investigated, we shall, perhaps, find that Mercury, and not Minerva, is entitled to the merit of the invention. At one period, the clergy were almost the only lawyers known in England; but, in a fit of resentment, they were banished from the bar. Its sweets-for its profits were sweet-could not be easily relinquished. The clerk still pleaded, but disguised in the serjeant's robe, and, by contriving the coif, concealed his clerical

tonsure.

But, like many other things, its first origin was lost in

1 Bar. on St. 453.

its subsequent splendor. The institution became honorable and venerable; and, as such, is still considered and preserved in England. "A serjeant at law," says my Lord Chancellor Fortescue,1 "shall not take off his coif, though he be in the royal presence, and talking with his majesty. No one can be made a judge of the courts of king's bench or common pleas, until he is called to the state and dignity of a serjeant." To America, however, it has not been transplanted. We leave it to continue and flourish in its native soil.

In the first ages of Athens, the parties pleaded for themselves; but, in later times, they were allowed to have the benefit of counsel.2 That the length of their speeches might not exhaust the patience of the judges, or prevent other business equally necessary, it was usual-perhaps the spirit of the custom might be revived with no disadvantage to measure their allotted portion of time by an hour-glass, in which they used water instead of sand So scrupulously exact were they in this particular, that an officer, whose name denoted his office-Evowo-was appointed to distribute the water equally to each side. While strict justice was required from the advocates, strict justice was done them: the glass was stopped while the proper officer recited the laws which they quoted. Nay, the water remaining at the conclusion of an argument might be transferred to the use of another speaker. Hence this expression-Let such a one speak till my water be run out.3

This custom was practised by the Romans. The time allowed, by the law, for the speeches of the advocates is termed, by Cicero, "legitimæ hora." The patient and indulgent Antoninus, who was a philosopher as well as an emperor, ordered, as we are told by his historian, plenty

1 De Laud. c. 50.

3 Pet. on Jur. 59, 63; 1 Pot. Ant. 118.

21 Pot. Ant. 106.

of water for the speakers at the bar; in other words, he allowed them full time for their speeches. "Quoties judico," says the younger Pliny, "quantum quis plurimum postulat aquæ do"-when I sit in judgment, I give to every advocate as much water as he desires.1

This instance of resemblance between the Athenian and Roman bars is not mentioned on account of its intrinsic importance, but because it proves, more strongly than an important instance could prove, the principle of imitation. The coincident practice could be dictated by no common principle of nature or of society.

Counsellors, or barristers at law, have been long known in England. Formerly they were styled "apprenticii ad legem," apprentices to the law; because they were considered only as learners, and were not permitted to exercise the full office of an advocate, till they were qualified by the knowledge and experience acquired during the long probationship of sixteen years.2 Edward the First, it is said, introduced the practice of permitting them to plead in the court of king's bench, before they attained the rank and dignity of serjeants.3

Attorney, says my Lord Coke, is an ancient English word, and signifies one who is set in the turn, stead, or place of another. Of these, some are private; and some are public, as attorneys at law. The business of an attorney at law is to manage the practical part of a suit, and to follow the advice of the serjeants or barristers, who are of counsel in it.5

At the common law, no person could appear by an attorney, without the king's writ or letters patent. In one part of his works, my Lord Coke admires the policy of this regulation. Its genius was to prevent the increase

1 Pli. Ep. 1. 6, ep. 2; Pet. on Jur. 134.

2 Fort. de Laud. c. 50.

52 Ins. 564; Wood, Ins. 466.

3 1 Reev. 491.

11 Ins. 51 b.

Wood, Ins. 466.

and multiplication of suits. But when statutes permitted the parties to appear by attorney, it is not credible, says he, how suits at law increased and multiplied. Such ill success has ever had the breach of the maxims and the ancient rules of the common law. In another part of his works, he expresses sentiments more favorable to the appointment of attorneys. The act commanding the judges to admit them, he styles "an act of grace," because the king gave his royal assent to a law for the quiet and safety of his subjects, giving them power to make attorneys, whereby he lost such profit of the great seal, as he formerly received in such cases.2

To correct the abuses, which arose from the admission of attorneys, whose heads and whose hearts were equally unqualified for the trust, it was enacted, so early as the reign of Henry the Fourth, that all the attorneys shall be examined by the judges; and such as are good and vir tuous and of good fame shall, by the discretion of the court, be received and sworn well and faithfully to serve in their offices; and their names shall be entered on the roll.

A barrister is not sworn.4

According to the law of the United States, parties may plead and manage their own causes personally, or by the assistance of such counsel or attorneys at law, as, by the rules of the several courts, shall be permitted to manage and conduct causes.5

By a rule of the supreme court, it is ordered, that it shall be requisite to the admission of attorneys and counsellors to practise in that court, that they shall have been such for three years in the supreme court of the state to which they respectively belong, and that their private and professional character shall appear to be fair. In the cir8 St. 4, H. 4, c. 18. 5 Laws U. S. 1 cong. 1 sess. c. 20, s. 35.

1 2 Ins. 249.

4 2 Ins. 214.

2 2 Ins. 378.