is office of
attorney, with all fidelity to the court as well as the client; and he
violates it when he consciously presses for an unjust judgment, much
more so when he presses for the conviction of an innocent man.... The
high and honorable office of a counsel would be degraded to that of a
mercenary, were he compelled to do the biddings of his client against
the dictates of his conscience."[18] The sentiment has been expressed
in flowing numbers by our great commentator, Sir William Blackstone:--

"To Virtue and her friends a friend,
Still may my voice the weak defend:
Ne'er may my prostituted tongue
Protect the oppressor in his wrong;
Nor wrest the spirit of the laws,
To sanctify the villain's cause."

Another proposition which may be advanced upon this subject is, that
there may and ought to be a difference made in the mode of conducting a
defence against what is believed to be a righteous, and what is believed
to be an unrighteous claim. A defence in the former case should be
conducted upon the most liberal principles. When he is contending
against the claim of one, who is seeking, as he believes, through the
forms of law, to do his client an injury, the advocate may justifiably
avail himself of every honorable ground to defeat him. He may begin at
once by declaring to his opponent or his professional adviser, that he
holds him at arm's length, and he may keep him so during the whole
contest. He may fall back upon the instructions of his client, and
refuse to yield any legal vantage ground, which may have been gained
through the ignorance or inadvertence of his opponent. Counsel, however,
may and even ought to refuse to act under instructions from a client to
defeat what he believes to be an honest and just claim, by insisting
upon the slips of the opposite party, by sharp practice, or special
pleading--in short, by any other means than a fair trial on the merits
in open court. There is no professional duty, no virtual engagement with
the client, which compels an advocate to resort to such measures, to
secure success in any cause, just or unjust; and when so instructed, if
he believes it to be intended to gain an unrighteous object, he ought
to throw up the cause, and retire from all connection with it, rather
than thus he a participator in other men's sins.

Moreover, no counsel can with propriety and a good conscience express to
court or jury his belief in the justice of his client's ca