In the Massachusetts body of liberties, it was provided
that a man unfit to plead might employ a person not objectionable to the
Court to plead for him, on condition that he give him no fee or reward.
In 1663 a usual or common attorney was prohibited from sitting in the
general court.
As society progressed, however, as commerce and trade increased, as
wealth grew, as business transactions became more extended and as
learning spread from the clergy to other persons, opportunity and
inducement were furnished for the study of the law, and professional
training became more general. The crying need for a learned and
honorable profession of the law was made manifest by the growth of a
class of advocates and advisers whose influence was most pernicious.
Litigants needed guidance in the presentation of their cases and no
learned profession being available, the underbailiffs, undersheriffs,
clerks and other underlings of the administration of justice began to
practice, without real knowledge. Greedy and lacking in principle, they
developed trickery and stirred up litigation for their own profit, just
as their predecessors had done three hundred years before in England.
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