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GAZETTE
SEP
TE
MBER 1987
Role and Function of the
Lawyer in the Modern World
This article is intended to examine in general terms the role
of the lawyer from his original function to that which is
prevalent today. There is a crisis in the law in the sense that
there is doubt and uncertainty about the future path that
lawyers should take and hence the rules that should govern
the profession. Lawyers are, by nature, intensely conservative
and reactionary save for the few who like to shock and would
espouse any cause that was radical, extrovert or eccentric.
When doubt arises in any field it is best to return to basic
fundamentals and accordingly it is worthwhile examining the
original reasons for the calling or profession of lawyers.
There have been lawyers in ex-
istence since the world began
(although by tradition theirs is not
the oldest profession!). As soon as
human beings began living to-
gether in any kind of community'it
became necessary to formulate
rules for governing that com-
munity, in order to make it thrive
and develop its economy and cul-
ture for the sake of its existence
both in present and future genera-
tions. Lawyers were necessary to
assist in the making of laws and in
their interpretation and to assist the
administration of justice for the in-
dividual according to the particular
ethos to which a community found
itself by choice or circumstance
governed. Laws would vary in their
complexity depending upon
whether the community was small
and simple with few wants or
whether it was part of the
sophisticated civilisations of the
middle and far east. It was, from
these two cradles of civilisation
that culture spread to the rest of
the Mediterranean, to North West
Europe and the New World.
Perhaps the continent of Africa, as
a whole, stayed isolated in its own
culture.
Structure of Society
Briefly, communities were original-
ly nomadic, continual movement
being necessary to find food for
families and livestock. As the com-
munity grew in size and increased
in knowledge it remained in a set-
tled place relying for its existence
upon agriculture. It was not long
by
DAVID BIART
Lately Senior Partner,
Thomas Eggar & Son,
Chichester, England*
before the inquisitive and ac-
quisitive nature of the human
species could only be satisfied by
this led to the building of empires
depending for their structure upon
geographical boundaries rather
than those set by race or religion.
The First Literacy
The pace of development was acc-
elerated by communication
through the written word, however
simple may have been the original
hieroglyphs. There can be little
doubt of the power of the written
word, as distinct from the spoken
word. A document, however sim-
ple, was a data bank in its own
right and those persons, through
literacy, who could retrieve from it
and could communicate its con-
tents to each other had an advan-
tage over those who were illiterate.
The Second Literacy
The impact of printing dramatical-
ly increased the number of literate
trade between centres. Inevitably persons and speeded the whole
ATTENTION
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(in first three years)
INTRODUCTORY OFFER
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Irish Law Reports Monthly
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