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-- AndrewMcCormick - 13 Nov 2009
Although I'm sure it needs no announcing, this project is still a work in progress | |
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< | This genesis of my curiosity about character and fitness standards was an online article discussing whether excessive student debt could be a disqualifying character and fitness criteria. As colossal student debt loads are a recent phenomenon, character and fitness must be an evolving standard. The professional expectations of lawyers and popular views of lawyers character as a class have, I suspect, changed over time. I suspect a(n) historical investigation of character and fitness as professional concepts would contribute to understanding the legal profession in America. To state my question broadly, I wish to explore how character and fitness of lawyers, as professional and social standards, have shaped the legal profession in America. I will begin with comments on the legal profession, such as de Tocqueville, and then explore documents within the legal profession, such as bar examiners' guides and caselaw. | >
> | This genesis of my curiosity about character and fitness standards was an online article discussing whether excessive student debt could be a disqualifying character and fitness criteria. As colossal student debt loads are a recent phenomenon, character and fitness must be an evolving standard. The professional expectations of lawyers and popular views of lawyers character as a class have, I suspect, changed over time. I suspect a(n) historical investigation of character and fitness as professional concepts would contribute to understanding the legal profession in America. To state my question broadly, I wish to explore how character and fitness of lawyers, as professional and social standards, have shaped the legal profession in America. I will begin with comments on the legal profession, such as de Tocqueville, and then explore documents within the legal profession, such as bar examiners' guides and caselaw in order to (1) explore the history of character as a professional credential and (2) to search out historic applications of character and fitness standards. | | | A related question is whether character and fitness examination as a portion of bar admission has been used selectively and as a barrier to entry. Realistically, I do not expect to find ‘smoking gun’ evidence of social policy making through character and fitness examination; the mere fact that historical bar exams were orally administered would likely prevent it in early cases. I propose that an interesting question exists of whether bar exam character and fitness standards are a serious hurdle to bar admittance on social grounds, and if they tend to be more or less progressive than widely held norms of the time regarding religion, political affiliation, and potentially homosexuality. I find this question interesting because I can readily imagine reasonable arguments supporting both positions, and scholarship in the field is thin. However, it is likely thin for a reason. | |
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< | Character and Fitness: a ubiquitous, historically present standard. And perhaps an empty one. | >
> | Character and Fitness: a ubiquitous, historically present standard. But a significant one? | | | Every state bar currently requires some form of character and fitness examination, as do most other countries (Rhode citing The Bar Examiner’s Handbook, S. Duhl 2d ed. 1980 - apparently unavailable online, in need of scanning). | |
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< | Rhode argues that, throughout its history and into the present day, character and fitness examinations are cultural showpieces, that they have never barred significant numbers of applicants, and rather have been a tool for delay and harassment and a “ritual” undermining the “ideals it seeks to sustain” (Rhode, Legal Ethics, 490-491). Despite her characterization of C&F standards as "showpieces", "within the American Bar moral character requirements have been a fixed star in an otherwise unsettled regulatory universe... virtue remained a constant prerequisite, in form if not in fact." (Rhode, Moral Character as a Professional Credential, MoralCharacterCredential, 491.) | >
> | Rhode argues that, throughout its history and into the present day, character and fitness examinations are cultural showpieces, that they have never barred significant numbers of applicants, and rather have been a tool for delay and harassment and a “ritual” undermining the “ideals it seeks to sustain” (Rhode, Legal Ethics, 490-491). Despite her characterization of C&F standards as "showpieces", she argues that "within the American Bar moral character requirements have been a fixed star in an otherwise unsettled regulatory universe... virtue remained a constant prerequisite, in form if not in fact," as "during the coure of the study [it became apparent that] bar examiners rarely exclude candidates on grounds of character, and generally report encountering few cases of serious misconduct" (Rhode, Moral Character as a Professional Credential, MoralCharacterCredential, 491.) | | | A cursory look at secondary sources indicates the first litigation over character and fitness standards was during the McCarthy? era, theoretically supporting Rhode's thesis of character as a non-effectual standard. However, the historical track of admission suggests early practices were personal, informal, and less likely to be litigated. Additionally, the screening future lawyers for character issues may take place earlier than bar exams; for example, at the time of gaining an apprenticeship, or upon applying for law school. | |
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< | Early American Lawyers and the Rise of Character as a Professional Credential. | >
> | Rise of Character as a Professional Credential for Lawyers.
In Britian... | | | In early America, lawyers were unwelcome. The practice was viewed as unnecessary and even evil. The "Body of Liberties" of Massachusets Bay, 1641. Available here: BodyofLiberties, fascinatingly prohibits legal representatives from taking fees in section #26. Similarly, the Fundamental Constitutions of the Carolinas (1669), Carolinas, article 70 proclaims lawyering for money as "base and vile". | |
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< | Friedman argues that "As soon as... society posed problems ofor which lawyers had an answer..., layers bagan to thrive, despite the hostility.", here, but it is understandable that such animosity could have led to developing character and fitness standards, either by the lawyers themselves, in order to improve their image, or as imposed by legislatures. Alternatively, as the profession grew a wish to create entry barriers would be well served by character and fitness standards and professional requirement. A third explanation is that between 1800 and 1900 the class of men composing the profession shifted from the "elite" to middle class and business backgrounds (Friedman, linked above). | >
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< | During 18th and 19th centuries, bar examinations were orally administered before a judge. | >
> | FIND:
J. McMaster? , A History of the Poeple of tThe United States: From the Revolution ot the Civil War (1927) (Rhode pincites 302 for "bloodsuck[ing] legal practices)
H. Lefler, North Carolina Histroy as TOld by COntemporaries (1956) (pincite to 87 for "will eat out the very Bowels of our Commonwealth") | | | | |
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< | The Role of Education in Character and Fitness
Early lawyers used apprenticeship which was a filtering device... (rhode, et al)
After the 19th century, law schools may have been responsible for legal ethics... (Stevens) | >
> | Friedman argues that "As soon as... society posed problems for which lawyers had an answer..., layers bagan to thrive, despite the hostility.", here, but it is understandable that such animosity could have led to developing character and fitness standards, either by the lawyers themselves, in order to improve their image, or as imposed by legislatures. Alternatively, as the profession grew a wish to create entry barriers would be well served by character and fitness standards and professional requirement. A third explanation is that between 1800 and 1900 the class of men composing the profession shifted from the "elite" to middle class and business backgrounds (Friedman, linked above).
During 18th and 19th centuries, bar examinations were orally administered before a judge...
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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< | The Uses of "Character and Fitness"
According TroublingRise "in the entire nineteenth century, there were virtually no reported instances in which applicants were banned for their character." (Comment on notes not played?) | | | | |
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> | The Uses of "Character and Fitness" as a Bar to Entry
According TroublingRise "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"
Despite their small number, the cases present do offer a mooring point.
TO FIND: | | | Schware v. Board, 353 U.S. 232 (communism)
In re Application of Stewart, 860 N.E.2d 729 (debt) | |
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> | Ex Parte Wall 1077 U.S. 265 (1883) (mob lynching)
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)
Gawalt. The Promise of Power: The Emergence of the Legal Profession in Mass. 1760-1840
Character Examination of Candidates, I B. Examiner (1932)
Douglas, The Pennsylvania System Governing Admission to the Bar, 54 Rep. A.B.A. (1929) (Rhode uses to demonstrate "unworthiness" standard) | | | | |
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> | The Role of Education in Character and Fitness
Early lawyers used apprenticeship which was a filtering device... (rhode, et al)
After the 19th century, law schools may have been responsible for legal ethics... (Stevens) | | | Character, Fitness, Race, and Gender. |
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