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From: "John L. Busch" <jlbusch@optonline.net>
List Editor: Ken Aldous <aldous@MAIL.H-NET.MSU.EDU>
Editor's Subject: Re: 18th cent. legal ethics?
Author's Subject: Re: 18th cent. legal ethics?
Date Written: Wed, November 4, 2009 9:33 am
Date Posted: Fri, 05 Nov 2009 09:15:31 -0500

I do not think this type of legal "maneuvering" was unusual at that
time.  The legal system did not have anything like the kind of checks
and balances it does today.
In my own research from the early 19th century (circa 1820), I have
encountered a series of cases where an attorney jumped between
plaintiff and defendant in a way that could not possibly be considered
ethical by today's standards.
The country was young.   Jurisprudence had a long way to go (and some
would say still does).

Fine regards,
John L. Busch
independent historian
CT

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