The amateur solicitor in eighteenth-century England : John Cannon of West Lydford and Glastonbury, 1684-1743

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dc.contributor.authorHustwick, Christopher T.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-08-14T17:26:26Z
dc.date.available2024-08-14T17:26:26Z
dc.date.copyright1998en_US
dc.date.issued1998
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of History
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts M.A.en
dc.description.abstractIn eighteenth-century England very few professions, if any, were the cause of as much scandal and outrage as the lower branch of the legal profession. Especially tarnishing to their reputation were those practitioners whose qualifications were of suspicious origin. Outside of London, away from the governing eye of Westminster, were a number of men who practised law with neither the proper education nor training typically associated with their calling. Numerous legal historians have commented on the notoriety of this fringe­ group of pseudo-lawyers, but no attempt has yet been made to study their specific history. With few exceptions, they have either been overlooked or dismissed as pettifoggers and hedge solicitors whose only contribution to society was detrimental at best. Given the need for a more replete history of the English legal profession, particularly for a period when occupational distinctions were much less clearly defined than they have since become, this paper describes the range of duties performed by one early eighteenth­ century amateur solicitor in an attempt to elucidate this hitherto enigmatic, yet infamous branch of the legal profession. It argues that amateur lawyers played a far more significant role in provincial society than is generally assumed; and it recommends a careful reconsideration of the motives behind the later eighteenth-century move for legal reform, and especially the conveyancing monopoly, which continues to be a subject of great controversy to this day.
dc.format.extent96 pages
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/18266
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.titleThe amateur solicitor in eighteenth-century England : John Cannon of West Lydford and Glastonbury, 1684-1743en_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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