LITIGATION ARISING OUTSIDE OF LONDON
LOCAL SOLICITORS--SOLICITORS' "AGENCY BUSINESS"
--THE CIRCUITS AND ASSIZES--LOCAL BARRISTERS
--THE COUNTY COURTS--THE REGISTRAR'S COURT.
As has been said, solicitors are to be found in every town in
England, whereas barristers, with minor exceptions to be noted, all
hail from the London Inns of Court. People living in the country or
in provincial towns, especially the larger ones, such as Liverpool
and Manchester, of course consult local solicitors. If litigation is
contemplated, the solicitor advises his client and conducts the
sparring and negotiations which usually precede a lawsuit. But when
actual warfare opens, the provincial solicitor generally associates
himself with a London solicitor who is known as his "agent"; and
hence "agency business" constitutes a considerable portion of the
practice of a large firm of town solicitors. The Manchester or
Liverpool solicitor does all the work and receives the fees up to
the time he sends the "proofs" to the agent--that is, the documents,
statements of witnesses reduced to affidavits, and the other items
of evidence--and dispatches the witnesses to the trial in London,
which usually however, he does not attend himself, although, of
course, he sometimes does so. The London solicitor retains the
barristers, and is thereafter in complete charge of the case. The
newspaper reports of trials of cases from the provinces, after
giving the names of the barristers, always mention the London
solicitor as agent for the country solicitor whose name also
appears. The fees are shared from the time of association; one-third
to the country, and two-thirds to the town solicitor. This is not
unlike the manner in which our lawyers handle business in States
other than their own--but it is much more systematized. If, however,
the provincial solicitor prefers to await the Assizes (which he may,
except in divorce, probate, equity and some other kinds of business)
he may bring his action in the High Court, sub-offices of which are
available throughout the country for the issuance of writs, and,
having retained a barrister, may try the case in his own town when
the judge of the High Court comes down from London thrice a year on
circuit.
These Circuits of the High Court are arranged with regard to the
volume of business and the contiguity of centres of population,
without reference to county boundaries, and the same judge is rarely
designated to repeat his visit to a circuit until it is reached
again in regular rotation. To some circuits, like the Northern,
where the business is very heavy, two judges are sent. At these
Assizes, both civil and criminal business is handled, and, if there
be two judges, one court room is devoted to the former and the other
to the latter.
Every London barrister, early in his career, joins a circuit. He
usually selects one where he may be somewhat known to the
solicitors, and where, perhaps, his family have property or
associations. Formerly and, in fact, long after the advent of steam,
judge and counsel "rode the circuit"--as was done in the early days
of our own county Bars--and indeed, within the memory of barristers
still in middle life, a horse van used to stand in one of the Temple
squares to receive the luggage, papers and books of court and Bar
for the circuit. Each circuit has its "mess" with interesting
traditions of midnight carousals and records of fines of bottles of
port inflicted upon members for various delinquencies. The modern
mess, besides procuring special rates at the hotels, constitutes a
sort of itinerant club; rendering possible a discipline for breaches
of professional propriety by expulsion or denial of admission, which
is the most drastic punishment short of disbarment.
A few barristers, and their number is increasing, reside in large
towns other than London and practice exclusively at the Assizes and
in the county courts--of which something will be said later. They
are known as "locals". If successful, however, they gravitate to the
source of the High Court--London. Thus the local solicitor, if he
decide to eschew London and an agent and await the Assizes, has a
considerable Bar from which to pick his man.
A barrister never accepts a brief in a circuit other than his own
unless the solicitor has also briefed, as his associate, a junior
who is a member of the circuit. To do so would be a gross breach of
etiquette. But if this unwritten law be duly observed, the barrister
who is a stranger here, although a daily colleague in the London
courts, is immediately received with open arms and made an honorary
member of the mess.
Court and Bar having reached and disposed themselves in an Assize
town, as a flock of birds settle in a convenient cover, a
transplantation of a London court is effected until the disputes of
the neighborhood are resolved. An observer can find no difference in
personnel or general aspect, except perhaps, that the provincial
policemen at the doors are not so polite and patient as the London
"bobby"--that marvel which excites the envy, admiration and despair
of conscientious ministers of authority in the rest of Christendom.
If an action involve no more than £100, a solicitor may seek the
County Courts--for there are seven of such courts for the county of
London. The advantage in so doing is chiefly in the smaller costs,
which are a serious matter to all English litigants, and almost
prohibitive to the poor. The judge of a county court must be a
barrister of at least seven years standing and generally hails from
London. He is appointed by the Lord Chancellor and receives a salary
of £1,500. His title in court is "Your Honor", as distinguished from
a judge of the High court, who is addressed as "My Lord" or "Your
Lordship," and from a magistrate, who is called "Your Worship."
In the county courts, solicitors "have audience", that is, they
may, equally with barristers, address the court and jury; in other
words, they may be the actual trial lawyers, whereas, in the High
Court barristers alone are heard. In addressing the court, they must
wear a black gown, but no wig. Barristers, except locals, are
infrequently seen in the county courts; the amounts involved
scarcely warrant retaining them. But, for some years, the tendency
has been to increase the limit of jurisdiction of these courts and
their importance is steadily growing. In this connection it may be
mentioned, too, that agitation appears to be making some progress
for removing all limitation of the jurisdiction of the county courts
with, however, a right to the defendant to remove a cause to the
High Court when more than a certain sum is involved, thus creating a
sort of solicitor-advocate. But the outcome of all this is, at the
moment, problematical. At present, to prevent solicitors developing
into pure advocates even in the county courts, a law forbids one
solicitor retaining another to conduct the actual trial.
The Registrar's Court in a great town, like Birmingham, will be
found in the county court building. The court room is large, but
usually contains only a few people, of the lower class, and the
registrar, in black gown and wig, sits on a raised dais. In the High
Court, the American observer has been accustomed to associate a gown
only with the barrister--never with the solicitor. In the county
courts, however, he has seen solicitors practicing as advocates, in
minor cases, and wearing gowns; but until he visits a registrar's
court he has never seen a wig except upon the head of a barrister or
of a judge; and all judges have once been barristers. He is
therefore surprised to learn that, notwithstanding his attire, the
registrar is a solicitor, appointed to his position by the county
judge.
Beside the registrar stands a man who very rapidly passes to him
numerous printed forms upon which the registrar places a figure or
two, such as "4/6" or "7/6". This is done almost as fast as one
would deal a pack of cards. Occasionally, there is a pause, a name
is called and some one from the audience steps forward; whereupon
brief testimony is taken as to some small debt, claimed upon one
side and denied upon the other. Judgment for plaintiff follows in
nine cases out of ten, and then inquiry is made by the registrar
whether the defendant--or her husband, if she be a woman--has work
or is unemployed. A figure is then placed on the printed form which
is added to the pile.
The business dispatched is that of some large retail tradesman. Upon
payment of a small fee in the clerk's office, summonses have been
obtained which have been served on the debtors by a policeman, and,
in most cases, the defendants have signed their names admitting the
debt. The figures 4/6, 7/6, etc. signify the order of the court,
that 4 shillings and 6 pence, or 7 shillings and 6 pence, shall be
paid monthly until the debt is liquidated. In this way, the time of
a defendant who admits the debt is not diverted from his work to
attend court. The claims are fixed for hearing in batches of 100
every half hour of the court's sitting, when, if not admitted in
writing, a short trial of the contested cases ensues. In this way
about 400 cases a day are readily disposed of.
Payments are made in the clerk's office and each payment is endorsed
on the summons. If the debtor falls out of work, an application is
made, invariably with success, to suspend the payment until idleness
ceases. The costs are trifling and the whole system works admirably.
It is a prompt and businesslike manner of enforcing small
obligations with a minimum of loss and delay.