Showing papers in "American Journal of Legal History in 1973"

The Origins of Public Prosecution at Common Law

Abstract: However fundamental he may appear to us, the public prosecutor was an historical latecomer. Judge and jury we can trace back to the high Middle Ages. But the prosecutor became a regular figure of Anglo-American criminal procedure only in Tudor times. Further, his appearance then has not been noticed in our historical literature, an especially remarkable omission when we discover that the prosecutorial office was originally lodged with a much-studied institution, the English magistracy. Ever since Maitland coined his famous phrase, that under the Tudors and Stuarts the justices of the peace became the \"rulers of the county,\") they have attracted a substantial scholarship. Nevertheless, this major aspect of the work of the magistracy has remained unknown. The present article documents and accounts for the development by which the justices of the peace became the ordinary public prosecutors in cases of serious crime.

“Born to an Era of Insecurity”: Career Patterns of Law Review Editors, 1918–1941

Abstract: Not long ago periodicals as dissimilar as Time and the Harvard Law Review were commenting upon changing career patterns in the legal profession. Numerous articles cited the diminished attractiveness of traditional styles of private practice and described the increasing lure of social action agencies and law communes. Graduates who opted for a Wall Street firm often demanded, and received, \"released time\" for pro bono work. Former judge Simon Rifkind, senior partner in one such firm, found it necessary to reaffirm what once was considered axiomatic, that \"the old-fashioned practice of law ought not to be considered beneath anyone.\" But a significant number of recent law school graduates apparently disagreed. As one of their contemporary models, Ralph Nader, has explained: Law students began \"to sense, to feel, to participate....\" Several years ago the prestigious Cravath firm announced a fiftypercent increase in starting salaries for its new recruits, a striking indication that demand was greatly exceeding supply, despite the firm's public explanation that \"it was the right thing and the fair thing.\"! It is certainly too soon to assess the depth of these evident