DOI issue:
July to December, 1844
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16520#0065
58
PUNCH, Oft THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
THE COUNSEL'S CODE OF HONOUR.
POOR BLOWN-UP GENERALS I
Common Honour, like Common Honesty, is a thing which, on this side, at least of
the Atlantic, is generally understood. The attempt, therefore, to explain it would
be either a superfluity, or an impertinence ; sins which were never yet laid at the
•door of Punch's Office.
The Bar is said to be an honourable profession. So different, however, is Forensic
Honour from Common Honour, that a frequent question in Society is — " What in
the name of goodness does it mean I " j confidently predicts, on the success of the invisible shell,
Forensic Honour is a mass of opinion floating about the legal profession. Like the
Common Law it is an unwritten code. Its code shall be unwritten no longer.
Should the following—[Punch's)—be incomplete, there may be found a Queen's
Counsel, or. peradventuie, a Bankruptcy Commissioner, to amplify it.
Artie!* 1.—Of Clients.—The client is the person whose cause is to be pleaded.
He may be a knave, rogue, or villain of the blackest dye. Yet it is perfectly
honourable in a barrister, well knowing him to be such, to undertake his ease for
hire ; and to promote his object, whether fraud, extortion, oppression, or the
evasion of justice, to the utmost of his ability.
Art. 2.—Of Briefs.—The brief contains the substance of the story to be told. 1 Punch has had a dream, which "was not all a dream."
This may be true, false, or doubtful. Whether true, false or doubtful, it is all one , The destructive power of the Warxer shell duly
to the counsel. He may doubt its truth, or have no doubt of its untruth. No matter. ' acknowledged, he thought that all the cannon from Dept-
He has to tell it. and try, as hard as he can, to make the Court believe it: and this .,,,?, ,, , n • ,
conduct is quite consistent with his t» nour. ford—all the shot-all swords and bayonets-in a word,
Art. 3.—Of Witnesses. — A witness U a person sworn by a solemn oath to speak all the metal cast and hammered by Vulcan for the sport
the truth. The barrister may honourably entrap him into speaking untruth. He of war, were put up for auction ; mere waste iron, to be
may confuse, intimidate, puzzle and bully him, as much as he likes, so as to force turneci jnto raihvavs and steam-engines. Punch in his
him to say what he does not mean, or not say what he means. It is a mistake to ! , " , . , .. ° , • •
: . , , ., •,; f • ' ! • , , dream saw a very taking advertisement, drawn out m his
Suppose that he thus draws the guilt ot perjurv on liis own head. • ° '
Art. 4. —Of Juries.—Juries are sworn to decide according to the evidence. most unctuous style by George Robins, who "had re-
Honour by no means forbids a counsel to make them falsify their oath ; by inducing j ceived orders from the Horse Guards to sell"—Puxch
them to decide according to their prejudices and passions.
Art. o.—Of Pleading.—Pleading is the advocacy of a case by argument and
With the prophetic spirit which is the sole property of
Puxch, he herewith supplies his million of readers with
the long hoped-for result—very graphically put—of the
invention of Captaix Warxer. Without waiting for
the opinion of Lord Brougham upon the matter, Punch
confidently predicts, on the success of the invisible shell,
a terrible decline in the world's market of all gunpowder
heroes. The great god, Mars himself, will have nothing
left him hut Basinghall Street ! he must give up wholesale
carnage, and for an honest livelihood—if he have still a
weak hankering after combustibles—sell Lucifer matches.
As for Bei.lona, it will be well with her, if now and then
she can get a day's; charing.
knows not the number—of helmets, which George, in his
prettiest manner, recommended to country wives and far-
orated* v. In argument a barrister mav very honourably have recourse to sophistry ,
in other words, to those verbal artifices which impose on unlearned and undScern'ng i mers as "exquisitely adapted tor bee-hives.
Hurrah, then, for the Warxer shell, from which—all
terrible as it is—peace may be hatched, to the true happi-
ness of man. and the best glorv of nations !
LORD ELDON'S LOVE VERSES.
Ttiaids a wrong conclusion, in plain English, a falsity. As to oratory, be may affect
any sort of enthusiasm which lie does not feel ; and he may malign, asperse, and
ridicule, to any extent, the character, however pure and estimable, of his opponent's
client and witnesses.
Art. 6._Of Honour among Barristers.—Notwithstanding that Common Honour,
even that which exists among thieves, prescribes mutual civility, it is allowable for
one barrister openly to accuse another, deservedly or not, of ignorance, meanness,
quibblinf, and trickery; provided always, that he speaks of him as his "learned
friend."^
Art. 7.—Summary1 of the Code —The counsel may, with unsullied reputation, be
the conscious mouth.piece of the swindler, the seducer, the libeller, the extortioner,
the thief, the pickpocket, the murderer. He has a carte blanche for aiding, under
the name of a gentleman, in the spoliation of the fatherless and the widow. He
may, for these noble ends, corrupt testimony, pervert judgment, traduce innocence,
deride worth, and call his neighbour all those names which, according to vulgar
notions of honour he has thereby earned for himself: and all this he may do for a
consideration—uns<.-outed, unkicked, unpumped upon.
All the world knew Lord Eldon to be a great lawyer, but
no one was aware—until Mr. Horace Twiss published the fact
—that the great ex-chancellor was a poet of no mean preten-
sions. His Lordship's lyrics to his Bessy contain all the
sweetness of Spencer combined with the copiousness of Coks
— all the melody of Moore, with nearly all the precision of
Petersdorff. We are happy in being able to furnish a
specimen.
lines to bessy.
My head is like a title-deed,
Or abstract of the same :
Wherein my Bessy thou may'st read,
Thine own long-cherished name.
Against thee I my suit have brought,
1 am thy plaintiff lover.
And for the heart that thou bast caught,
An action lies—of trover.
Alas upon me every day,
The heaviest costs you levy :
Oh, give me back my heart—but nay ?
I feel 1 can't replevy.
I 'II love thee with my latest breath,
Alas, I cannot you shun,
'Till t'he hard grasp of Sheriff death
Takes me in execution.
Say, Bessy dearest, if you will,
Accept me as a lover ;
Must true affection file a bill
The secret to discover.
Is it my income's small amount
That'leads to hesitation ?
Refer the question of account
To Cupid's arbitration.
GREENLAND FISHERY.
The 1ridoc>], C&fiain James Graham, has come in with a quantity of Seals on
hoard. The number is not yet ascertained ; but it is said the Seals are all more nr
Jess broken. The Vidocq will'shortly be brought into dock, and her cargo thoroughly Hie the last opportunity the public will have of enjoying a
overhauled bv Inspector T. Buncombe. j Nicht with Bums."
WILSON'S RIVAL.
Should the Comet really touch the earth, it willcertainly
PUNCH, Oft THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
THE COUNSEL'S CODE OF HONOUR.
POOR BLOWN-UP GENERALS I
Common Honour, like Common Honesty, is a thing which, on this side, at least of
the Atlantic, is generally understood. The attempt, therefore, to explain it would
be either a superfluity, or an impertinence ; sins which were never yet laid at the
•door of Punch's Office.
The Bar is said to be an honourable profession. So different, however, is Forensic
Honour from Common Honour, that a frequent question in Society is — " What in
the name of goodness does it mean I " j confidently predicts, on the success of the invisible shell,
Forensic Honour is a mass of opinion floating about the legal profession. Like the
Common Law it is an unwritten code. Its code shall be unwritten no longer.
Should the following—[Punch's)—be incomplete, there may be found a Queen's
Counsel, or. peradventuie, a Bankruptcy Commissioner, to amplify it.
Artie!* 1.—Of Clients.—The client is the person whose cause is to be pleaded.
He may be a knave, rogue, or villain of the blackest dye. Yet it is perfectly
honourable in a barrister, well knowing him to be such, to undertake his ease for
hire ; and to promote his object, whether fraud, extortion, oppression, or the
evasion of justice, to the utmost of his ability.
Art. 2.—Of Briefs.—The brief contains the substance of the story to be told. 1 Punch has had a dream, which "was not all a dream."
This may be true, false, or doubtful. Whether true, false or doubtful, it is all one , The destructive power of the Warxer shell duly
to the counsel. He may doubt its truth, or have no doubt of its untruth. No matter. ' acknowledged, he thought that all the cannon from Dept-
He has to tell it. and try, as hard as he can, to make the Court believe it: and this .,,,?, ,, , n • ,
conduct is quite consistent with his t» nour. ford—all the shot-all swords and bayonets-in a word,
Art. 3.—Of Witnesses. — A witness U a person sworn by a solemn oath to speak all the metal cast and hammered by Vulcan for the sport
the truth. The barrister may honourably entrap him into speaking untruth. He of war, were put up for auction ; mere waste iron, to be
may confuse, intimidate, puzzle and bully him, as much as he likes, so as to force turneci jnto raihvavs and steam-engines. Punch in his
him to say what he does not mean, or not say what he means. It is a mistake to ! , " , . , .. ° , • •
: . , , ., •,; f • ' ! • , , dream saw a very taking advertisement, drawn out m his
Suppose that he thus draws the guilt ot perjurv on liis own head. • ° '
Art. 4. —Of Juries.—Juries are sworn to decide according to the evidence. most unctuous style by George Robins, who "had re-
Honour by no means forbids a counsel to make them falsify their oath ; by inducing j ceived orders from the Horse Guards to sell"—Puxch
them to decide according to their prejudices and passions.
Art. o.—Of Pleading.—Pleading is the advocacy of a case by argument and
With the prophetic spirit which is the sole property of
Puxch, he herewith supplies his million of readers with
the long hoped-for result—very graphically put—of the
invention of Captaix Warxer. Without waiting for
the opinion of Lord Brougham upon the matter, Punch
confidently predicts, on the success of the invisible shell,
a terrible decline in the world's market of all gunpowder
heroes. The great god, Mars himself, will have nothing
left him hut Basinghall Street ! he must give up wholesale
carnage, and for an honest livelihood—if he have still a
weak hankering after combustibles—sell Lucifer matches.
As for Bei.lona, it will be well with her, if now and then
she can get a day's; charing.
knows not the number—of helmets, which George, in his
prettiest manner, recommended to country wives and far-
orated* v. In argument a barrister mav very honourably have recourse to sophistry ,
in other words, to those verbal artifices which impose on unlearned and undScern'ng i mers as "exquisitely adapted tor bee-hives.
Hurrah, then, for the Warxer shell, from which—all
terrible as it is—peace may be hatched, to the true happi-
ness of man. and the best glorv of nations !
LORD ELDON'S LOVE VERSES.
Ttiaids a wrong conclusion, in plain English, a falsity. As to oratory, be may affect
any sort of enthusiasm which lie does not feel ; and he may malign, asperse, and
ridicule, to any extent, the character, however pure and estimable, of his opponent's
client and witnesses.
Art. 6._Of Honour among Barristers.—Notwithstanding that Common Honour,
even that which exists among thieves, prescribes mutual civility, it is allowable for
one barrister openly to accuse another, deservedly or not, of ignorance, meanness,
quibblinf, and trickery; provided always, that he speaks of him as his "learned
friend."^
Art. 7.—Summary1 of the Code —The counsel may, with unsullied reputation, be
the conscious mouth.piece of the swindler, the seducer, the libeller, the extortioner,
the thief, the pickpocket, the murderer. He has a carte blanche for aiding, under
the name of a gentleman, in the spoliation of the fatherless and the widow. He
may, for these noble ends, corrupt testimony, pervert judgment, traduce innocence,
deride worth, and call his neighbour all those names which, according to vulgar
notions of honour he has thereby earned for himself: and all this he may do for a
consideration—uns<.-outed, unkicked, unpumped upon.
All the world knew Lord Eldon to be a great lawyer, but
no one was aware—until Mr. Horace Twiss published the fact
—that the great ex-chancellor was a poet of no mean preten-
sions. His Lordship's lyrics to his Bessy contain all the
sweetness of Spencer combined with the copiousness of Coks
— all the melody of Moore, with nearly all the precision of
Petersdorff. We are happy in being able to furnish a
specimen.
lines to bessy.
My head is like a title-deed,
Or abstract of the same :
Wherein my Bessy thou may'st read,
Thine own long-cherished name.
Against thee I my suit have brought,
1 am thy plaintiff lover.
And for the heart that thou bast caught,
An action lies—of trover.
Alas upon me every day,
The heaviest costs you levy :
Oh, give me back my heart—but nay ?
I feel 1 can't replevy.
I 'II love thee with my latest breath,
Alas, I cannot you shun,
'Till t'he hard grasp of Sheriff death
Takes me in execution.
Say, Bessy dearest, if you will,
Accept me as a lover ;
Must true affection file a bill
The secret to discover.
Is it my income's small amount
That'leads to hesitation ?
Refer the question of account
To Cupid's arbitration.
GREENLAND FISHERY.
The 1ridoc>], C&fiain James Graham, has come in with a quantity of Seals on
hoard. The number is not yet ascertained ; but it is said the Seals are all more nr
Jess broken. The Vidocq will'shortly be brought into dock, and her cargo thoroughly Hie the last opportunity the public will have of enjoying a
overhauled bv Inspector T. Buncombe. j Nicht with Bums."
WILSON'S RIVAL.
Should the Comet really touch the earth, it willcertainly