A grave debate was raised on Monday, nominally on the
Attorney-General's salary, really on the question whether the Law Officers of the Crown should do other work or not. Sir Henry James thought they should not, on the ground that they could not do justice to the State and their clients, and -that there was a want of continuity in the practice of the -office which was injurious to the community. He did not, how- ever, draw the deduction which seems unavoidable,—that the Attorney-General, like the officer who drafts Bills, should be outside politics. The great difficulty in the way of prohibiting private practice is that a first-class counsel would fear to accept an office which would terminate his private practice, yet in which he could have no certainty from Session to Session. It would be easy to abolish the Law Offices altogether, and let Government get its advice where it could ; but the change would be a costly one, and the Government needs legal aid inside the House of Commons. Perhaps the best compromise would be to leave things as they are, but establish an etiquette that the Attorney-General should accept no contentious briefs requiring him to go into Court, except from the Crown. He could then still advise in important cases.
Previous page
