dvised his
clients to agree their business. Yet afterwards he abated much of the
scrupulosity he had about causes that appeared at first unjust, upon
this occasion; there were two causes brought him, which by the ignorance
of the party or their attorney, were so ill-represented to him that they
seemed to be very bad; but he inquiring more narrowly into them, found
they were really very good and just; so after this he slackened much of
his former strictness of refusing to meddle in causes upon the ill
circumstances that appeared in them at first."[12]

It may be delicate and dangerous ground to tread upon to undertake to
descend to particulars upon such a subject. Every case must, to a great
degree, depend upon its own circumstances, known, peradventure, to the
counsel alone; and it will often be hazardous to condemn either client
or counsel upon what appears only. A hard plea--a sharp point--may
subserve what is at bottom an honest claim, or just defence; though the
evidence may not be within the power of the parties, which would make it
manifest.

There are a few propositions, however, which appear to me to be sound in
themselves, and calculated to solve this problem practically in the
majority of cases: at least to assist the mind in coming to a safe
conclusion _in foro conscientiae_, in the discharge of professional duty.

There is a distinction to be made between the case of prosecution and
defence for crimes; between appearing for a plaintiff in pursuit of an
unjust claim, and for a defendant in resisting what appears to be a just
one.

Every man, accused of an offence, has a constitutional right to a trial
according to law: even if guilty, he ought not to be convicted and
undergo punishment unless upon legal evidence; and with all the forms
which have been devised for the security of life and liberty. These are
the panoply of innocence when unjustly arraigned; and guilt cannot be
deprived of it, without removing it from innocence. He is entitled,
therefore, to the benefit of counsel to conduct his defence, to
cross-examine the witnesses for the State, to scan, with legal
knowledge, the forms of the proceeding against him, to present his
defence in an intelligible shape, to suggest all those reasonable doubts
which may arise from the evidence as to his guilt, and to see that if he
is convicted, it is according to law. A circumstance the celebrated Lord
Shaftesbury once so finely turned to his purpose must often