DISCOVERY 



205 



the principle of " equal pay for equal work." They 

 reported " that highly-qualified women inspectors 

 receive, in many cases, salaries little more than one- 

 half of those paid to men inspectors of similar grade 

 employed in the same department." On the other 

 hand, during the war many women with minor qualifi- 

 cations were paid on a much higher scale than men. 

 It is too soon yet to make regulations which can have 

 any permanency, as there are still a large number of 

 women occupying posts obtained at a time when there 

 was neither time nor opportunity to examine with any 

 exactness as to their qualifications for them. Some 

 years must elapse, therefore, before an estimate can be 

 made of the position of women in the Civil Service and 

 the developments which have resulted from the passing 

 of the Act. 



For some reason, which is not quite apparent, the 

 opening of the legal profession to women has attracted 

 special attention. The history of the efforts made to 

 enter under the old regulations is brief. In 1903 the 

 Benchers of Gray's Inn declined to admit Miss Bertha 

 Cave. From the decision of the Benchers of an Inn of 

 Court there is only an appeal to a domestic tribunal of the 

 Judges. Miss Cave's appeal was heard by eight Judges, 

 over whom the Lord Chancellor (Lord Herschell) 

 presided, and among them was the Lord Chief Justice 

 (Lord Coleridge). They took the line that there was no 

 precedent for women being called to the English Bar 

 and the tribunal were unwilling to create such a pre- 

 cedent. It is worth while to recall in this connection 

 that Miss Orme, who was the first woman to take the 

 LL.B. at London University, practised for some years 

 in the chambers of eminent conveyancing counsel, but, 

 in anticipation of a refusal, never applied for a certifi- 

 cate to regularise her position as a practitioner in that 

 branch of legal work. In 1913 Miss Bebb, who has now 

 become a member of Lincoln's Inn, sought a declaration 

 from the Court of Chancery that she was a ' person ' 

 within the meaning of the Solicitors and Attorneys 

 Act, 1843, and the amending Acts, and that she was en- 

 titled to be admitted to the preliminary examination 

 held by the Law Society under such Acts. Some 

 authorities were cited of women having acted as attor- 

 neys before the year 1322. In order to overcome the 

 necessity to follow the decision in the case of Bercsford- 

 Hope v. Lady Sandhurst it was contended that the office 

 of a sohcitor is rather in the nature of a private pro- 

 fession than a pubUc office. In the course of the 

 argument reference was made to the analogous appli- 

 cation of Miss Margaret H. S. Hall in 1901 to the 

 Court of Session for admission to the Incorporated 

 Society of Law Agents. The decision was the same in 

 both cases, and Mr. Justice Joyce in the English appli- 

 cation considered that only the Legislature could make 

 any alteration. 



Similar action has been taken in the Dominions. 

 In Canada the Ontario Legislature passed the necessary 

 enactment within a comparatively short time of the 

 first woman's application. First an Act was passed 

 enabling the Law Society to admit women as soUcitors, 

 and then in 1895 an amendment of the previous Act, 

 admitting them to the Bar. A complete list of women 

 admitted in the province was compiled by Mr. Justice 

 RiddcUof the Ontario Supreme Court in an article dealing 

 with women as practitioners of law in the Journal of the 

 Society of Comparative Legislation (vol. xviii, pp. 200- 

 209). At present Quebec is the principal province 

 which has refused to admit women to the practice of the 

 law, although for some time the legal profession has been 

 open to women in France. The total number in 

 practice throughout the whole of Canada is still very 

 small. The learned Judge svm;s up his conclusion : 

 " I do not think that the most fervent advocate of 

 women's rights could claim that the admission of women 

 to the practice of law has had any appreciable effect on 

 the Bar, the practice of the law, the Bench, or the people. 

 It is claimed that it was a measure of justice and fair 

 play, that it removed a grievance and has had no 

 countervailing disadvantage. That claim may fairly 

 be allowed ; in other respects, the admission of women 

 is regarded with complete indifference by all but those 

 immediately concerned." 



In connection with the admission of women to the 

 legal profession in England it has to be remembered that 

 the Act of last year has only opened the doors. There 

 is no woman yet ' at the Bar,' and there is not likely 

 to be for some time. The Act did not exempt them from 

 any of the qualifying conditions required of men. 

 Some have sought and obtained admission to an Inn 

 of Court, and it is perhaps their entrance to these 

 venerable foundations that has formed the centre of 

 interest. The Inns of Court are popularly regarded as 

 such close preserves that admission to them is 

 placed in almost the same category as the 

 admission of a woman to Masonry. It may be 

 recalled, however, that more than one hundred years 

 ago a woman was for eighteen years organist of the 

 Temple Church. As the organ was then, as it is now, 

 the finest in London, the Masters of the Bench of the 

 two Temples are entitled to claim that they were far in 

 advance of their time in their recognition of a woman's 

 gifts. In the interests of historical accuracy it is 

 necessary to add that she was called upon to resign 

 for neglecting her duty. The Inns of Court are semin- 

 aries of learning and education from which, as James I 

 said in his Charter to the two Temples, " many men in 

 our own times, as well as in the times of our progenitors, 

 have by reason of their very great merits been advanced 

 to discharge the public and arduous functions as well 

 of the State as of Justice," and if women are to con- 



