The Gazette 1987

GAZETTE

SEPTEMBER 1987

process of exchange of ideas and

communication of thought. John

Maynard Keynes propounded that

ideas were the most powerful in-

fluence in human society. The im-

pact of printing upon society was

tremendous and may be properly

termed the second literacy.

The Third Literacy

This is the mechanical assembly of

words and figures inaugurated by

computer technology. Without

doubt this is the most revolutionary

of the grades of literacy, boosted

as it is by the speed of modern

communications whether radionic

or cable.

Work patterns

The establishment of information

technology in all its forms has to be

coupled with a dramatic change in

work patterns in the world from the

reliance upon manufacturing in-

dustries (making things) for the

employment of labour and the ear-

ning of wages to a reliance upon

what are popularly called the ser-

vice industries (which may mean

different things to different people).

Transcendent influences

Superimposed upon the powers of

nation states and the privileges and

disciplines, or freedoms and restric-

tions, which those powers

prescribed through their Cons-

titutions for their subjects, have

always been the intellectual in-

fluences of human beings, no mat-

ter by which nation state they

might be governed. Hence religion

crossed the frontiers defined by na-

tional boundaries and interfered

with the laws of nation states.

Because of this influence and the

extra territorial use to which it was

put, individuals owed as much to

the head of their religious sect as

to the head of the nation state

which was their home. This was

the cause of savage war in all parts

of the world. In Europe it was the

conflict between Roman Catholics

and Protestants. In other countries

the conflict lay between Moham-

medan, Hindu and Christian. Life

and death were and are governed

by the allegiance of an individual to

religious belief and submission to

the rules of that belief in the place

of the rules of the nation state.

Religion transcended national

boundaries and still does, causing

grevious dissension in many parts

of the world from Ireland through

the Balkans into Russia, the Middle

East, India and beyond. It is true to

say that there is no part of the

world where these conflicts bet-

ween national loyalties and

transcendent loyalties and the

power that each brings has not

caused and does not cause not on-

ly comfort and joy but hardship and

tragedy.

In more recent times, from the

middle of the last century, there

has been the parallel influence of

humanist doctrines of which Marx-

ism is the most obvious example.

These ideologies, whether divine or

human, pay no regard to national

boundaries and the laws that

govern individual nations bounded

by a line upon a map. The

ideologies and the intellectual force

behind them have culminated in

the formulation of a new set of

laws generically called Human

Rights. Whatever may be said,

these are bound to conflict with na-

tional laws and 'interfere' with the

internal laws of nation states.

Role of the lawyer

The above is a brief and inadequate

thumbnail sketch, upon an enor-

mous canvas. What has it to do

with the role and function of the

lawyer and his service to the con-

sumer? The answer must surely be

that the impact of the Third

Literacy coupled with the change

in the pattern of work has altered

the function of the lawyer from

where it has lain in the developed

countries in the last two centuries.

This development, along with the

transcendence of ideas across na-

tional boundaries, requires the re-

assessment of the role and

function of the lawyer. Without

such reassessment it is difficult, if

not impossible, to know how he

can serve the consumer.

Function of the lawyer

The original function of the lawyer

was that of an advocate. He had to

represent the views of his client to

the power that administered the

law. He was necessary for two

reasons. He was articulate and

learned (that is to say that he could

read and write) and he also knew

what the law was. Initially, his con-

cern with the administration of pro-

perty was limited. By way of

example, in England, property was

transferred by livery of seisin. This

was simply the handing over of soil

pn the boundaries of land before

witnesses and was not committed

to writing. The writing of wills and

their proof (or probate) developed

gradually but was administered by

the Church and not by the State.

The necessity to prove a will and

involve a lawyer is only now com-

ing about in some places in the

world.

Hence, by degrees, lawyers ex-

tended their practice from re-

presentation of their clients before

a court and became more involved

not only in the law of property of

all kinds but in the use, develop-

ment and administration of it. Pro-

perty, in its scope, became very

wide. Corporeal hereditaments are

easy to recognise but the great

development has been in those

that are incorporeal. More and

more the lawyer is concerned not

just with land but with the use of

land and rights in it; with copyright,

patents, trade marks — intellectual

property of all kinds; with shares in

companies and the issue and

transfer of them; with the holding

of bonds and options for futures;

with the property in a job whether

secured by a service contract or by

means of a statute; with a licence

to do something whether to fly an

aeroplane or fleet of aeroplanes or

to extract minerals; with the pro-

perty rights of a state to levy taxes

and keep them; with the property

of an individual in a live perfor-

mance. The list is becoming

endless. All of these forms of pro-

perty have become more and more

complex and led to the develop-

ment of that person known as 'the

business lawyer'. He is quite

distinct from the advocate and his

function is quite different from that

of the advocate. The business

lawyer and the businessman are

complementary to each other.

Furthermore, the function and

knowledge of the business lawyer

overlaps those of other professions

— the accountant, the architect,

the surveyor, the patent agent, the

stock broker, the insurance broker,

the commodity broker, the actuary,

or the licensed dealer in investment

business. Not only is the business

lawyer involved in advising on the

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