LIABILITIES OF INFANTS. 193 same, during the infancy of the ward, as that of a parent and child; with this difference, that the guardian, when the ward comes of age, is bound to give him an account of all transactions on his behalf and must answer for all losses by his wilful default and negligence. Marrying a ward of the Court of Chancery, without the consent of the court, is a contempt for which the party may be committed or indicted, though he was ignorant of the wardship. To clear such contempt, a proper settlement must be made on the ward; and even that does not necessarily purge the contempt, 8 Ves. 74. II. LIABILITIES OF INFANTS. In law, a person is styled an infant till he attains 21 years, which is termed full age; and, until that period, his actions are placed under a peculiar criminal and civil jurisprudence. Under the age of 7 years, he cannot be capitally punished for any criminal offence; but at 14 he may. The period between the age of 7 and 14 is subject to great uncertainty; for, generally, the responsibility depends on the capacity to discern the good and evil tendency of actions. Sir Matthew Hale gives two instances of capital convictions under the age of 14; one, of a girl of 13, who was burned for killing her mistress; another, of a boy, still younger, that had killed his companion, and hid himself, who was hanged for it appeared, by his hiding, that he knew he had done wrong and in such case, the maxim of the law is malice is equivalent to age. In civil matters, the law is so indulgent to infants as to allow them to contract for their benefit, but not otherwise. Thus, an infant may bind himself apprentice, because it is for his advantage. So, also, he may be bound, after he attains 21, to pay for meat, drink, physic, and other necessaries, furnished during his infancy; as, likewise, for good teaching and instruction. This binding means by parol: for, as an infant is not bound by any bond, note, or bill, which he may give, even for necessaries, the law will imply a promise, by the infant, to pay for the necessaries furnished for With respect his maintenance, where no promise has been made. to schooling, the infant is bound only where the credit has been really given to him. In all cases, however, where the infant is under the power of his parents, and is living in the same house with them, he will not then be liable even for necessaries. In order to recover, it must appear that the things were actually necessary, and of reasonable price, and suitable to the infant's condition, rank, fortune, and estate, which points must be left to the jury to determine. An infant is not chargeable on a contract for goods supplied to carry on trade; neither is he liable for money which he borrows, to lay out for necessaries, though he actually does not lay it out for necessaries. But if a person after attaining his full age and before any action brought, expressly and voluntarily promises to pay a demand upon him, though not for necessaries, he will thereby be rendered liable; therefore, an express promise made, after the infant's attaining maturity, to pay a bill of exchange accepted by him during his infancy, is binding on him, 4 Esp. 187. But by the 9 G. 4, c. 14, it is necessary, in order to sustain an action, that all such confirmatory promises be in writing, signed by the party to be charged therewith. If an infant be partner with another, and hold himself out as such, and do not, on reaching maturity, give notice of a dissolution, he is bound by the subsequent contracts of the firm, Goode v. Harrison, B. & A. 147. Before the passing of 1 W. 4, c. 65, a court of equity could not grant leases of an infant's estate beyond his infancy; in consequence of which, necessary improvements were not made, and the property became deteriorated in value. The court of Chancery may now exercise this power, whenever it appears for the infant's benefit; but, in order to guard against abuse, no fine or premium is to be taken, and the best rent is to be reserved. The law remains unaltered as regards the mansion-house, park, and grounds occupied therewith: no lease of which can extend beyond the minority of the infant. For facilitating the payment of debts out of real estate, a court of equity may direct mortgages or the sale of estates by infants to purchasers, for the benefit of creditors, 2 & 3 V. c. 60. CHAPTER XIII. Professional Classes. I. LAWYERS. LAWYERS, or counsellors, for the terms are nearly synonymous, are of two sorts or degrees, barristers and serjeants. The former are admitted to plead at the bar, and take upon them the advising and defence of clients, after a certain period of attendance in the inns of court. A serjeant is a more ancient description of the learned profession, created by the queen's writ, and who, from being more intimately acquainted with the practice of the common law, enjoyed, till the court was thrown open to all barristers of the superior courts by the act of 1846, the exclusive privilege of pleading in the court of Common Pleas. It is from the class of serjeants at law, or serviens ad legem, as they are termed in legal documents, that the fifteen judges are appointed. From both these degrees the queen's counsel are selected; the two principal of whom are the attorney and solicitor general. They are not allowed to be employed in criminal prosecutions against the crown without a license, which is never refused, but the obtaining of it costs about nine pounds. It is usual to grant patents of precedence to such barristers as the queen thinks proper to honour with that distinction; by which they are entitled to such rank and pre-audience as is assigned in their respective patents. These, as well as the attorney and solicitor general of the queen consort, rank promiscuously with the crown's counsel, and, together with them, sit within the bar of the court, but receive no salaries, and are not sworn, and therefore are free to be retained in causes against the crown. Pre-audience, or the right of serjeants and barristers to be first heard by the court, is a point of so much importance at the bar, that it may be proper to state the order of precedence as settled by royal mandate : 1. Queen's Advocate-General. 7. Queen's Serjeants. 8. Queen's Counsel, and Counsel In the court of Exchequer two of the most experienced barristers, called the postman and tubman (from the places where they sit), have precedence in motions. The general rules of qualification to entitle a person to be called to the bar in all the inns of court are,-that he must be 21 years of age, have kept twelve terms, and have been for five years at least a member of the society: if he be a master or a bachelor of arts of either of the English Universities, or of the Dublin University, it is sufficient if he has kept twelve terms, and has been three years a member of the inn by which he desires to be called to the bar. In the Inner Temple a candidate for admission to that house must, previously to his admission, undergo an examination by two barristers appointed by the bench, as to his proficiency "in classical attainments, and the general subjects of a liberal education." This rule has not been adopted at any of the other three inns of court. In forensic pleading, a barrister has privilege to enforce anything communicated to him in his professional capacity, if pertinent to the matter in issue, and is not bound to examine whether it be true or false. But to bring an observation within the rule of being spoken in judical course, it must be strictly relevant to the matter in issue; and the client's ignorance of what is, or is not, so relevant, will often protect him before the court, where the advocate, from the presumption of superior legal knowledge, would not stand excused. A counsellor can maintain no action for his fees, which are given, not as a salary or hire, but as a gratuity, which a barrister cannot demand without injury to his reputation. On the other hand, a client cannot maintain an action to recover back a fee to counsel for negligence, want of zeal, or skill in the conduct of his cause; nor even if he fail to attend to argue a cause for which he has received a fee, Peake's R. 122. But if counsel accept a fee, and become counsel, and discover his instructions to the opposite side, an action lies. And a counsel signing a bill in Chancery, containing scandalous or impertinent matter, is, on complaint, liable to pay с $. Both barristers and attorneys are entitled to attend, at sessions, take upon them the causes of others, and to prosecute for the crown. At sessions where a sufficient number of barristers attend, it is usual to give them sole audience, and the attorneys are, in consequence, not heard in person. At sessions where the bar do not attend, as in many boroughs and cities, it is usual to hear the attorneys, as advocates; and though it may be doubted whether in strictness they are entitled to prosecute indictments, it is customary, and certainly convenient, to allow them that privilege. In cases where the bar has not been accustomed to attend, but two or more barristers wish to do so, it is usual for them to intimate their desire to the chairman, and to request that they may have pre-audience; and, if this request be granted, the attorneys cannot afterwards be heard in their presence, unless they should be all retained on one side, Merrifield's Law of Attorneys. It appears neither counsel nor attorneys have a legal right to be present in any preliminary proceeding before a grand jury, 3 B. & A. 432; but by 6 & 7 W. 4, c. 114, counsel may defend prisoners (or attorneys, in courts where they practise) in cases of felony, as well as in treason and misdemeanor, and in summary convictions they may defend and examine and cross-examine witnesses. Serjeants and barristers rank as esquires; they are privileged from arrest for debt, while attending their professional duties: and in any action against them are entitled to have the venue laid in Middlesex. But as barristers were found not to be exempt from the late London Court of Requests (10 Bing. 335), they may be amenable to the city county court. II. ATTORNEYS AND SOLICITORS. Attorneys and solicitors are persons duly admitted into the queen's courts, where they act as the agents and representatives of their clients. They are considered public officers belonging to the courts in which they are admitted, and, as they enjoy certain privileges on account of their admission, so they are peculiarly subject to the control of the judges, who exercise summary jurisdiction over them, not merely in cases where they have been employed in the conduct of suits, or any matter purely professional, but wherever the employment is so connected with their professional character as to afford a presumption that it formed the ground of their employment. Thus, one attorney has been compelled to return part of an apprentice premium, 3 B. & A. 257; one to give up papers and deeds, which had been placed in his hands as steward for the owner of the estate to which they refer, 3 T. R. 275; and another to pay over money which he had received, when employed to collect the effects of an intestate by the administrator, although he had never been employed by him to prosecute or defend any suit or equity, 4 B. & A. 47. The court of Chancery exercises the like power over its solicitors and clerks in court. By 16 & 17 V. c. 59, articles of clerkship to attorneys of the county palatine courts may be stamped for admission into the superior courts of Westminster, on payment of the additional duty of £60. A suit is ended by the judgment, and the attorney is then entitled to call for the payment of his bill, 1 B. & Adol. 15. The taxed costs, termed costs between party and party, differ from the costs between attorney and client; the last including the extra charges to which the attorney has been liable pending the suit, and charged to his employer. An attorney, it seems, after the commencement of a suit, may insist on being supplied with the necessary funds for carrying the same to a conclusion, or abandon the suit on reasonable notice; but such demand of money on account is not deemed liberal, unless the client's circumstances are doubtful, or the proceedings very expensive. By 6 & 7 V. c. 73, thirty-two acts respecting solicitors and attorneys are wholly or partly repealed, but fifty-eight others relat ing to them are wholly or partly retained. Under this act power It is given, for the first time, to tax bills for conveyancing business; and permission may be given to attorneys to bring actions before the expiration of a month after their delivery of their bills of costs. There are seven provisions in the act relating to bills of costs. is enacted that attorneys and solicitors shall not commence an action until one month after the delivery of a bill of costs. Reference of bills to the proper officers may be made within a month, whether they relate to business transacted in the court or not. Taxation may be ordered after a month, but not after a verdict has been obtained, or twelve months have elapsed since the delivery of the bill, unless under special circumstances. Proceedings in actions |