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WILLIAM PACA, Esq; Governor.
CHAP. XVII.
An ACT concerning the admission and qualification
of solicitors
and attornies. |
1783.
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WHEREAS it is of the highest consequence, not only
to the suitors,
but to the public, that no persons should be permitted to practise as
attornies or solicitors, in the courts of law or equity, or in the court
of admiralty or orphans courts, except gentlemen of integrity, ability,
and
known attachment to our present government, and principles of liberty
and
independence, as happily established by the late glorious revolution: |
Preamble. |
II. Be it enacted,
by the general assembly of Maryland, That no person shall
hereafter be permitted to act as an attorney or solicitor in this state,
or to sue out,
as attorney or solicitor, any writ or process, or to commence, carry on
or defend,
any action or suit, or any other proceedings, either before or after judgment
obtained,
in the name or names of any person or persons, in any court of law or
equity, or in the court of admiralty or orphans courts, unless he shall
be a person
of integrity, ability, and known and unquestionable attachment to our present
government, and the principles of liberty and independence, and hath been,
or shall hereafter be, admitted and enrolled, in the said respective courts,
as an
attorney or solicitor of the same; and that the chancellor, and the judges
and
justices respectively, shall have full power, at all times, to suspend,
remove, or
strike out of the roll of attornies or solicitors, any such who have been,
or may
hereafter be, admitted as attornies or solicitors, and who by them respectively
may be considered improper persons to act as such, by reason of ignorance,
want
of integrity, or disaffection to the government of this state, on consideration
of
all circumstances, and the whole conduct and behaviour of such persons;
and
taking the oath of fidelity and support to this state, since the preliminary
articles
of peace, by any person who was heretofore a nonjuror, shall not be considered
in itself as sufficient evidence of attachment to the government of this
state, or
affection to the independence of America. |
Qualification
of attornies,
&c. |
III. And be
it enacted, That the chancellor, before he admits any person as
a
solicitor of the court of chancery, and the respective judges and justices
of the
courts of common law, admiralty and orphans courts, before they admit any
person as an attorney of their respective courts, are hereby authorised
and required
to examine, by such ways and means as to them respectively shall seem
proper, whether such person is suitable and fit, with respect to his knowledge,
abilities and integrity, and whether, on consideration of all circumstances,
and
the whole conduct and behaviour of such person, he is well affected to
the present
government of this state, and the principles of liberty and independence,
as
established by the late revolution; and if the chancellor, or such judges
of justices
respectively shall be thereby satisfied that such person is duly qualified
to be
admitted to act as a solicitor of the court of chancery, or as an attorney
of the
respective courts of common law, admiralty and orphans courts, then, and
not
otherwise, the chancellor, or such judges or justices, as the case may
be, are
authorised to administer to such person the oaths directed by law to be
taken by
an attorney or solicitor, and to cause him to be admitted an attorney or
solicitor
of such court respectively. |
Chancellor to
examine persons,
&c. |
IV. And be it
enacted, That no person shall hereafter be permitted to practise
the law in this state, or admitted as an attorney or solicitor in any court
of law
or equity, or in the court of admiralty or orphans court, unless he
has been an
inhabitant and subject of this or some one of the United States, for two
whole
years next preceding his application to be admitted, nor unless, if he
hath been
an inhabitant and subject of some other of the United States, he shall
have been
regularly admitted an attorney or solicitor of some court of record in
the state of
which he was a subject, and shall produce from the judges or justices of
the said
court a certificate of his having been so admitted, and also a certificate
from the
judges of the said court, or of the supreme court, or from the governor
of such
state, of his attachment to the principles of the late revolution. |
Persons to reside
two years
before admittance,
&c. |
T t t t
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