CHAPTER XV 
GREAT LAWYERS OF ENGLAND 
Some knowledge of the great practitioners, judges, and law 
writers and teachers of England and the United States should 
be possessed by every member of the legal profession. Such 
knowledge may not help them to win cases, but it will help 
them to be better members of society and of that profession 
which boasts a gallery of portraits unequaled by any other 
profession. The lawyer should be more than a money-grubber ; 
more than a hireling letting out his services to the highest 
bidder. He is a member of a profession which has under- 
taken to perform one of the greatest social services known 
to man, that of administering justice on earth. Such a task 
requires for its execution more than a knowledge of pre- 
cedents. It requires a knowledge of all the subjects of human 
study. While this requires especially a knowledge of the social 
sciences, yet the ideal lawyer is a broadly educated man; he 
is a man of culture; he is a member of a learned profession, 
and is himself a learned man ; and no lawyer can call himself 
learned unless he has an acquaintance with the names and 
the work of the great men who have preceded him in his pro- 
fession. 
Not all of the great lawyers of England and the United 
States can be referred to, even in a brief way. There have 
been too many. The lawyers for example have almost filled 
the benches of the Lords and the halls of Congress. But per- 
haps enough of the greatest can be referred to to give the 
modern law students and lawyers an appreciation of those 
who have lived in the past, and to enrich their minds with 
information that will be entertaining, cultural, and inspira- 
tional . 45 Other things being equal, preference has been given 
to the lawyers of the past who have stood the test of time. 
Archaic Period. The lawyers of the Archaic Period who 
made a lasting reputation for themselves are not numerous, 
and the facts preserved in regard to those who did are meager, 
but the few things of interest in regard to them will be related. 
45 Zane, “Five Ages of Bench and Bar of England”, 1 Select Anglo^Am. Essays, 
625 ; Foss, Dictionary of the Judges of England; Campbell, Lives of the Chief Justices; 
Campbell, Lives of the Lord Chancellors; Pollock and Maitland, Stubbs, Hallam, and 
other historians. 
( 137 ) 
