We find that in the
history of the early English administration of justice, bailiffs,
undersheriffs, clerical attaches and the underlings of the courts had
gone into the business of acting as attorneys, of cheating their
clients, and of stirring up litigation. While statutes were directed
against their abuses, I cannot find that there was any English statute
forbidding lawyers to receive compensation for their services, although
the action of the Pope in forbidding his priests to study and practice
law in England may indicate some such abuses. It is certain that legal
services were not regarded as creating a debt due from the client to the
lawyer who had served him. By statute, now, attorneys and solicitors in
England are entitled to fixed fees for professional services. But in the
case of barristers, down to the present time, while they may demand a
retainer for their services in advance, they still cannot recover by
suit if the services are rendered without receiving it. This may
possibly be derived from the early Roman and Jewish view of the
professional relation and suggests the probability that early in English
history professional services were deemed to be gratuitous.
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