lU'i-icic of Eevicirs, 1 /U/IS. 



95 7 



SIR RUFUS ISAACS. 



A Lawyer in Politics and a Great Adventurer in Life. * 



The office of Attorney-General has not 

 in England the importance it has in 

 countries where its holder is practically 

 a Minister of Justice and is always an 

 nnportant member of the Cabinet. It is, 

 nevertheless, a distinguished and a parti- 

 cularly lucrative office. When Henr\- 



viser of the Crown. Add also the al- 

 most certain prospect of becoming Lord 

 Chancellor or Lord Chief Justice, when 

 either of those posts fall vacant. 



Whether the present Attorney-General 

 will succeed the present Lord Chief Jus- 

 tice, whether the natural rewards of his 



VII. visited a country castle and found talents and the traditional privilege of 



that his host was keeping armed retainers his position will come to him as to 



contrary to law, others, or whether 



certain events will 

 act as a barrier, is a 

 subject upon which 

 m u c h intelligent 



he observed, in 



words that have 



become famous on 



account of their 



delightfully court- 



e o u s ominous- 



ness, " Mr. At- 

 torney will speak 



with you." Mr. x\t- 



torney, upon these 



occasions " spoke " 



with his victims 



not without profit 



to himself. He 



had an informal 



commission on the 



fines exacted. 

 The Attorneys, 



until the davs of 



Sir Roundel 1 Pal- 

 mer (the first Lord 



Selborne), carried 



on a private as 

 well as an official 

 practice. The enor- 

 mous sums to be 

 earned under these conditions, con- 

 sidering what fees so great an ad- 

 vocate was likely to ask of private 

 clients, can easil)- be imagined. 

 Bentham complained that the Attorney 

 of his day was receiving thirty thousand 

 a year, the equivalent of a larger sum 

 to-day. Add to this the prestige and re- 

 sponsibility of being the head of the 

 legal profession and the chief legal ad- 



SIR HUP^US 



Takhiii 



ISA.\CS-THE NEW 

 JUSTICE— 



is first case 



LORD CHIEF 



ifter being sworn. 



to 



curiosity has been 

 expended. Strange 

 as it may appear, 

 the present article 

 will not reflect it. 



The writer is 

 aware that the 

 Lord Chief Justice 

 is expected to re- 

 tire. He is quite 

 sure that Sir Rufus 

 Isaacs will be of- 

 fered the post. He 

 would be greatly 

 surprised if the 

 offer were refused. 

 He awaits with 

 equanimity a short 

 sharp scream from 

 a section of the 

 Press. And he is 

 assured that were 

 the appointment 



*\Vritten on the eve of Sir Rufus Isaacs' 

 appointment as Lord Chief Justice. Pub 

 lished by Sipecial arranpfenient with the 

 "World^s Work " (London). 



the objections 



ten times graver than they are they 

 would speedily melt away under the in- 

 fluence of the prestige of the great office 

 itself. 



Of course, Mr. Asquith will not be 

 frightened out of making Sir Rufus 

 Lord Chief Justice because a conscienti- 

 ous party Press has told him it will be 

 a dreadful thing to do. If the truth be 

 told, dreadful appointments, or rather 

 appointments of a slightly sensational 

 character, are very much in Mr. /\squith's 



