Abstract

Shakespeare’s Henry VI famously includes the line – “let’s kill all the lawyers.” While debate remains exactly what this line meant, it speaks to the fundamental role which lawyers play in the Western legal system, especially when defendants are accused of a crime. This article examines the creation of this role in legal traditions across space and time as manifested in diverse religious and cultural environments. The role of a legal advocate originated in continental Europe – based upon Canon law and Ancient Greek and Roman practices – far earlier than in England. While the formal role of a “lawyer” was unknown in non-western legal systems until relatively recently, Jewish, Islamic, and Confucian traditions had “legal assistants” who spoke on behalf of the accused. The Common Law, by contrast, did not provide legal counsel to all criminal suspects until the era of the telegraph and the Alamo. Although the relationship between participants, methodologies, and sources of authority may differ and evolve across time and space, these traditions are each respective chapters of the global story of law.

Keywords: Origins of the Right to Legal Counsel, Legal Traditions, Legal Advocate