SOME HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF THE ESTABLISHMENT, DEVELOPMENT, AND SOCIAL PRESTIGE OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION AND LEGAL EDUCATION

SOME HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF THE ESTABLISHMENT, DEVELOPMENT, AND SOCIAL PRESTIGE OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION AND LEGAL EDUCATION

Vladimir Burkov

 entrepreneur, private investor, independent researcher,

Russia, Moscow, Tula region

«Profession» is a term of French origin that goes back to the Latin «profession» deriving from the verb «profiteri», which means «to speak in public». At first, the word «profession» meant «an official announcement of one's specialty».

The modern definition of the word "profession" can be formulated as follows: a type of work activity based on theoretical knowledge and practical skills acquired as a result of special training, the purpose of which is to provide services for certain compensation. A profession is also is a disciplined group of individuals who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are accepted by the public as possessing special knowledge and skills in a widely recognized body of learning derived from research, education, and training at a high level, and who are prepared to apply this knowledge and exercise these skills in the interest of others [1, p. 2.].

A profession as a group of related specialties can be represented in six main components:

- the area of ​​application of human skills, type of labor activity;

- a community of people performing certain socially useful labor functions;

- preparedness (knowledge, skills, qualifications);

- the activity of a specialist as a process of professional performance of labor functions;

- activities performed for a fee;

- an activity that gives a person a particular social status.

In the Middle ages, there were only three officially recognized professions: divinity, medicine, and law, which were called the learned occupations. Ancient Greece was ruled by merchants and lawyers, republican Rome — by lawyers and the military. The professions of a priest, lawyer, and doctor were considered the most prestigious until the 15^th century. The Age of Discovery, which began in the 15^th and lasted until the 17^th century, became the reason for the growth in the popularity of maritime professions, and the promotion of trade contributed to the enrichment of merchants and bankers. However, in the Anglo-Saxon legal system, the legal profession, whose popularity was favored by its links to commerce and land tenure, became the most prestigious again. Until the 19^th century, lawyers occupied the first line in the ranking of the most prestigious specialties of the United Kingdom, forming, along with journalists, the intellectual elite, which strived to modernize society and the state [2, p. 8].

According to futurologists, in twenty years the scientific and technological progress, social and climatic shifts will radically change the labor market. This is the conclusion reached by the research company «Fast Future» in the work «Shape of Jobs to Come», prepared for the British government. It is noteworthy that the legal profession is ranked in the top twenty in the «Fast Future» report.

Since 1947, the National Public Opinion Reference Survey in the United States has been systematically examining the level of prestige of various specialties, including legal. The prestige of each of the 90 professions under consideration is assessed by respondents in five positions ranging from 1 to 100 points:

• the best;

• good;

• average;

• slightly worse than average;

• the worst.

The analysis of the results obtained in 1949, 1960, 1972, and 1982 showed that the position of a police officer with 48 points took the place between the professions of office manager and musician, and judges and lawyers shared the third place on the list, receiving 76 points each and ahead of doctor (74), dentist (74) and banker (72) [3, p. 23].

A lawyer is a person with expert knowledge in the field of jurisprudence, a specialist in legal issues, a practitioner in the field of law, who gives advice to people about the law and speaks for them in court. The concept of «lawyer» includes specialists engaged in diverse professional legal activities — judges, prosecutors, investigators, notaries, attorneys, legal advisers, etc. [4, c.491].

In the legal profession, there are areas of public law and private law focus. To act on behalf of the state, a lawyer must clearly understand the public interests he represents, ensuring the legislative process, the work of executive authorities, local self-government bodies, law enforcement, and the administration of justice in accordance with the constitutional system of the public institutions. The activity of a lawyer related to the provision and protection of the private interests of subjects of legal relations — from economic corporations to individuals —  is different in its social orientation. If in the first case the lawyer is included in the system of public authority, then in the second one, he opposes this system, defending private rights and interests.

The legal profession has its origins in Ancient Greece and Rome. Although it was forbidden in Greece to get paid for the protection of the interests of another person, this rule was widely violated. Some of the first jurists were probably the orators of ancient Athens, as well as the Roman priests — pontifices, who knew religious traditions and explained them in case of conflicts. As the only professionals in the field of law, they actively created the latest legal norms, provided legal advice, assisted in concluding transactions, and taught competent dispute handling. Elected officials in Ancient Rome — the Roman magistrates, who applied the law, were not so good at it, which was often exploited by priests — augurs. The monopoly of the priestly college that had taken place was liquidated after the publication by Gnei Flavius ​​of the "book of judicial formulas", which contained information that until then had been the prerogative of the priests.

The first step towards the secularization of law was made by Tiberius Coruncanius, starting to teach law to those patricians who wished to master the profession, which can be considered the starting point for legal education and legal science in general. However, the legal profession was finally approved as a separate sectoral specification during the period of the Roman Republic. Gradually, the law became a secular phenomenon, separated from religious traditions and aimed at resolving conflicts associated with secular, and not just religious life.

After the reign of Emperor Claudius, jurists (iuris consulti) could practice openly. A skilled and regulated profession gradually developed during the late Roman and Byzantine empires: lawyers acquired a higher status and a separate class of notaries (tabelliones) emerged.

The heyday of the legal profession was the reign of Justinian I (527-565). The large systematized collection of excerpts from the famous Roman jurists’ articles — the Pandects —  contains the extracts from the works of 39 authors. In addition, about 50 more names of lawyers of the imperial period are known [5, p.22]. Such renowned politicians as Cicero, Tiberius, and Gaius Gracchi practiced law. The main reason for the popularity of the legal profession was that it quickly brought fame among various segments of the population of Rome.

In Western Europe, the legal profession withered in the Middle Ages and re-emerged in the 12^th and 13^th centuries. The profession began to spread to civil as well as ecclesiastical law. Since the 12^th century, the law has been associated with the activities of university legal scholars. The law of Europe is proclaimed by the law of universities [6, p. 78]. The first university in European history, the University of Bologna, was created only for future lawyers. Each of the universities founded later, including the Sorbonne, Oxford, Cambridge, and others, had a faculty of law as well.

In terms of the popularity of the legal profession, England was the successor to Rome. In the 15^th century, every wealthy Englishman had his own lawyer, who was paid high fees. The fact is that the land tenure system in England has always been extremely complex and confusing, so it was possible to appeal against anyone's rights of ownership in court, except for the monarch perhaps. 

A respectful attitude towards the legal profession was also the case in Italy. It is known that Leonardo da Vinci's father was a notary and dreamed that his son would follow in his footsteps. However, as biographers believe, the future genius was an illegitimate child, and therefore could not become either a lawyer or a doctor [7, p.59].

Currently, there are 193 Member States in the UN, and each of them has its own national legal system, which determines the content and status of the legal profession and legal education; within this system, the personnel of various legal institutions is formed.

It may seem like a truism to think that the legal profession is in demand in society to the extent that the law itself is respected. However, this statement is true only in those countries where the interpretation of the law is based on the recognition of the autonomy of the formalism of law, on the understanding of law as a specific institutional prerequisite for the impossibility of one of the parties to impose its will on the other.

According to R. David and N. Joffrey-Spinozi, the Romano-Germanic legal system is historically the first in the modern world and the most widespread [8 p.29]. Modern Europe cannot be imagined without lawyers who, on the one hand, ensure the functioning of the state apparatus, and, on the other hand, serve as guarantors of the protection and realization of human and civil rights, including abuse of power cases. The implementation of these important functions is impossible without high-quality education and high requirements for admission to practice.

References:

1. What is a Profession? Australian Council of Professions 2003. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
2. Kovalev P. Who was the most prestigious in the world? An overview of the most popular professions of all times // The Day newspaper. - 2012 .
3. Mishina E. What is it like to be a lawyer? - M: Foundation «Liberal Mission», 2010. - 280 p.
4. Rennenkampf N. Legal encyclopedia. - Directmedia, 2014. - 297 p.
5. Tomsinov V. Jurisprudence in Ancient Rome // Bulletin of Moscow State University. Series. - 1995. - V. 11. - P. 33-42.
6. Leger R. Great legal systems of our time: comparative legal approach / Translated from French by A. Gryadnova. - M .: Walters Kluver, 2009 . - 584 p.
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8. David R., Joffrey - Spinozi K. Basic legal systems of our time. / Translated from French by V. Tumanov. - M .: International relations, 1999 - 400 p.