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Zusatztext Meaty study ... Professors of the Law is a treasure trove of new analysis and information about the working lives and cultural impact of barristers in the long eighteenth century. Klappentext The story of the English barristers and the culture of common law between 1690 and 1820 is a complex one. In Professors of the Law David Lemmings provides a wealth of detail about barristers' numbers, education, working habits, reputation, and self-image, and compares them with colonial American lawyers. The broad-ranging conclusion suggests that the bar ultimately failed English society and contributed to the marginalization of the common law. Zusammenfassung What happened to the culture of common law and English barristers in the long eighteenth century? In this wide-ranging sequel to Gentlemen and Barristers: The Inns of Court and the English Bar, 1680-1730, David Lemmings not only anatomizes the barristers and their world; he also explores the popular reputation and self-image of the law and lawyers in the context of declining popular participation in litigation, increased parliamentary legislation, and the growth of the imperial state. He shows how the bar survived and prospered in a century of low recruitment and declining work, but failed to fulfil the expectations of an age of Enlightenment and Reform. By contrast with the important role played by the common law, and lawyers, in seventeenth-century England and in colonial America, it appears that the culture and services of the barristers became marginalized as the courts concentrated on elite clients, and parliament became the primary point of contact between government and population. In his conclusion the author suggests that the failure of the bar and the judiciary to follow Blackstones mid-century recommendations for reforming legal culture and delivering the Englishmans birthrights significantly assisted the growth of parliamentary absolutism in government. Inhaltsverzeichnis I. Introduction: Two Stories of the Law Historians, the Law, and Eighteenth-Century Society Another Story of the Law: the Reputation of Lawyers and the Courts II. The Work of the Bar and Working Life Advocacy and Pleading: The Shape of Barristers Work Counselling and Conveying Everyday Life III. Barristers and Practisers: Numbers and Prospects Barristers and Non Practisers Practisers: Supply and Demand The Characteristics of Litigation: A Crisis in Westminster Hall? Prospects for Barristers: Keeping Life Going IV. Gentlemen Bred to the Law: Induction and Legal Education Motives and Qualifications: Hopes and Dreams The Failure of Institutions: Education at the Universities and the Inns A Dry and Disgusting Study: Learning the Law A Cultural Challenge? V. Practice at the Centre: Westminster Hall and Its Satellites Starting Out: Launching A Practice Winners and Losers: The Distribution of Work in Westminster Hall Getting On: Practices, Fees, and Incomes VI. Practice at the Margins: The Old Bailey and the Colonies Tribunes of the People: The Old Bailey Bar Law, Lawyers, and Ireland and America: Colonial Bars and Barristers Law, Lawyers, and 1776: Contrasting American Attorneys and English Barristers VII. Advancement and Independence Rank and Status at the Inns of Court: Internal Promotion Patronage, Politics, and Office: External Promotion Serving the State? The Independence of Bar and Bench VIII. Conclusion: The Culture of the Bar and the Recession of the Common Law Collective Life and Rituals 24. Self-Images: Collective Self-Esteem and Legitimating Concepts Self-Images: Collective Self-Esteem and Legitimating Concepts Consequences? : The Failure of the Bar and Recession of the Common Law Appendix A: Methodology and Biographical Notes for Barrister Samples, 1719-21 and 1769-71 Appendix B: A Prescription for Educating a...
