The History of Lawyers

First published in 1849 in London under the title Hortensius: or, The Advocate, Forsyth's History of Lawyers is a spirited account of advocacy in ancient Greece, Rome, and England and of the bar in France. Acknowledging that "[w]e are too apt to cloth the ancients in buckram, and view them, as it were, through a magnifying glass, so that they loom before us in the dim distance in almost colossal proportions," Forsyth presents in familiar terms the language of the law and how advocates behaved. Frequently citing classical sources with his own translations, he describes in impressive detail such things as curious trials and the rights and obligations of counsel. William Forsyth [1812-1899] was an English lawyer and author of many works on law and literature, including History Of Trial By Jury (1852). CONTENTS CHAPTER I. Advocacy in Theory CHAPTER II. The Athenian Courts CHAPTER III. Sketch of the Roman Law and the Roman Courts During the Republic CHAPTER IV. Advocacy in Ancient Rome CHAPTER V. Some Account of the Advocates or Rome During the Republic CHAPTER VI. The Bar Under the Empire, and in the Middle Ages CHAPTER VII. The Noblesse de la Robe CHAPTER VIII. Advocacy in England CHAPTER IX. The Honorarium CHAPTER X. Forensic Casuistry