The question of amalgamating the two branches of the legal
profession, to which we have more than once alluded, has received fresh discussion in a pamphlet by Mr. C. T. Saunders, and the subject becomes all the more important from the late speech of the Lord Chancellor, as well as from the measures which he proposes to introduce this session. Mr. Saunders is an advocate of the system of Local Courts of First Instance, and of the removal of all distinctions between barristers and attorneys. He points out forcibly that attorneys are admitted to practice at present in those Courts which are fast absorbing the largest share of the business of the country, while barristers do not enjoy any reciprocal ad- vantages. The example of America shows us that it is quite possible for a division of labour to continue with the most absolute fusion of the two branches. As it is clear, too, that the tendency of all meditated legal reforms, from the foundation of a common Legal University to the union of Law and Equity, points in the same direction, the question raised by Mr. Saunders is not only practical, but pressing.
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