Know The History Of Our Robed Brethren Called Attorneys

As long as there are demands and struggles for resources, there will be disputes among people. So, there will be a need for attorneys. If these folks are not there, the affected people will be left in lurch and they will continue to fight among themselves and struggle. This will lead to more animosity. A society where there is more hatred will be chaotic. To avoid such a situation, there is a need for a legal system in which attorneys, who are otherwise called as our "robed brethren" play a major role. They hep in bringing discipline and order in the society and also in controlling crimes that may be committed due to animosity, hatred, jealousy and disputes.

Basically, these people who are also called attorneys at law, lawyers or counselors at law, are allowed to practice law and perform criminal and civil legal functions of the people who repose faith in them, in a specific jurisdiction. Additionally, they carry out many other functions that come under the legal purview such as giving legal counseling, drafting legal documents, etc. They also represent their clients in legal forums like courts, tribunals and other administrative bodies.

But, not every one can practice as an attorney. For doing so, you should get qualified and obtain a Juris Doctor degree from a law institution. This institution should have been accredited. But, this Juris Doctor degree can be obtained only if you already have a bachelor's degree. You should practice for a specified length of time and then only, you can practice in the bars of other jurisdictions. But, this is also subject to the rules and regulations of the other jurisdictions.

A peep into the history of attorneys will show that the date of the first attorney is still untraceable. But, experts say that attorneys were there even 1 to 1.5 million years ago. There are a few experts who also believe that a special gene called L1a should be present in the body of a person to acquire legal skills.

History shows that even 10,000 years ago, attorneys had to struggle for getting clients. During those days, small groups of attorneys were wandering from one place to another looking for clients. It was in the Ur valley that they settled finally and the invention of writing also coincides with this period.

Anthropologists have traced the first legal contract language to the 1880s when the ownership rights of a Sphinx called Stone were transferred for a consideration. This legal document was called the Rosetta Stone Contract. Story goes that the then Pharaoh got furious over this sale and he ordered for purging his land of all the attorneys. This led to the killing of a number of attorneys and many other lawyers fled the country. They could not settle in a place for practicing law. They were literally wanderers in the desert till the revival of the Greek and Roman civilizations.

The history of attorneys is clearly available from this period onwards. It was the famous attorney, Hamurabi, who gave the code of law and this paved way for the attorneys to get opportunities to handle the cases of other people. From this period onwards, the demand for the services of attorneys started growing. If you look at the Greek history, Pythagoras was an attorney. Attorneys ruled the roost in politics also. Roman history shows that the demand for attorneys grew in other fields also. So, there were sports attorneys, admiralty attorneys and international attorneys.

When more and more people started practicing law, there was a deterioration in the quality. This led to many defects in the legal systems. The so-called "Dark Ages" of this profession set in and this prevailed for many years. During this period, the legal profession and the legal theory were not respected at all. It was in the year 1078 in England, that the Dark Ages came to an end.

History shows that there were many famous personalities who were practicing law. Blackstone was considered the Father of legal Latin. Leonardo da Vinci, a multi-talented person, was practicing law also. When nations started conquering other lands and when the colonial rule started, Spain was relegated to the background and England came to the forefront as the leading colonizer. England had to send many attorneys to its colonies including America. American history shows that it was the grandchildren of the attorneys sent by England to America who defeated King George III in the famous case of King George III v. 100 Bags of Tea 14 F. Supp 34 (Colonial Supreme Court 1783).

Since England had to send a number of attorneys to its colonies, there was a dearth for attorneys in England. American history also shows that the new lawyers of America out-smarted and defeated the British in a legal war and the span of this legal war extended for 7 years. A nation called The United States of America was born when the legal war was won by the Americans. England learned its bitter lesson and decided to stop sending its attorneys to its colonies.

Since more and more people started practicing law, rules were passed that only those who studied in approved law schools could become attorneys. The present Harvard Law School was the first and the original model school that started giving such rules for becoming attorneys.

Raman Kuppuswamy has been writing articles on a number of topics for the last several years. Kindly visit http://dreamdamodar.hubpages.com/ to read his other articles on many other topics.

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