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6 Brief Case 1 (1931-1932)

handle is hein.journals/briecas6 and id is 1 raw text is: SE

VOL. VI                         DETROIT, MICH., NOVEMBER, 1931                           No. 1

It often has been said that, excluding
ihe clergy as sui generis, the law is th
noblest of the professions. Without ex-
planation, the statement must seem to a
layman to be a boast. Properly under-
stood. perhaps there is a modicum of
truth in it. In any event, it has some value
to the lawyer.
The assertion includes no reflection
upon the other professions nor minimiz-
ing of their contributions to the welfare
of mankind. On the contrary, it permils
full weight to be acco ded the invaluable
services of the physician in cleansing
plague spots of the earth, in the partial
but growing conquest of contagion and
infection, an.1 :tin  preseto .-:on  of  healt
and pro'ongation of life: of the engineer in
the development of means of communica-
tion and transportation; of the scientist
in the discovery and application of the
secrets of nature and the conversion of
waste products into economic assets; of
the teacher in reducing the culture, wis-
dom and experience of the ages to pres-
ent dav use; and of the others in their
various ways.
But, after all, the force which makes
the achievements of all professions and
trades possible and valuable is the law,
because it controls society and directs
the activities of persons. If, then, we
visualize the law as the profession which
takes the attainments of others and,
splendid as they are, uses them as raw
materials for the construction of a social
order in which humanity shall find free-
dom and happiness, the assertion that the
law is the noblest of the professions at
least may be taken as an ideal worth ac-
ceptance by its practitioners. As an ideal,
and like other ideals, its full attainment
is beyond realization. But its mere pos-
session has the me:it of inspiring in the
individual the cultivation of those qualities
which necessarily make for personal suc-
cess and, in the profession, the perform-
ance of a part of its duty to society.
Because gove.inment is the molding and
shaping element of society, the respon-
sibility of our profession. for public wel-
fare can neither be gainsaid nor escaped.
Through their background of education
and experience, lawyers, theoretically, are
fitted to carry the burden and are charged
with the responsibility of working out
governmental inspiration to sound social
growth, and of establishing and preserv-
;ng rules of human conduct which will
protect the individual from wrong and
accord him freedom to work out his as-
pirations. Practically, their influence is

unmeasured. In the legislative branches
of the government, they direct the making
of iaws. As chief executives of the state
and nation, or members of their official
families, they direct the enforcement of

HON. Louis H. FEAD
the law. And to the lawyer alone is corn-
mitted the third co-ordinate. branch of the
government, the judiciary, which con-
strues and applies the law. In fine, i. is
not an exaggeration to say that few acts.
of nation or state are done without the
direct impress of of a lawyer's hand.
It is not, however, of the responsibility
of the lawyer as a public official that I
wish to speak at this time, but of the
lawyer as a member of a profession, itself
charged with a public duty. It is the
mark of a profession that its members
shall devote their special knowledge and
talents to the advancement of civilization
rather than to purely personal gain. Nor
shall we attempt to scale the nebulous
higher rampants of the ideal, but will
try to consider it from a practical view-
point, in connection with the relation to
the court and pub!ic of the lawyer as a
builder of social order.
(CoutinueC4 on Pol@ 3)

Rev. C. C. Hung Discusses
Chinia-Japan Situation
Rev. Ching Chong Hung spoke Friday,
November 13, to the Cosmopolitan Club
on Present Day China. He just recently
returned from a three months' visit to his
home ci:y of Canton, China. My. Hung
stated that China recognizes that Japan
has economic interests in Manchuria, but
will not admit that the Japanese have any
ight to po itical domination there.
The most significant change that has
taken place since his last visit ten years
ago is the fact that now even the un-
schooled masses are conscious of events of
national intcrest. Interwoven throughout
this conciousness is the tise of modern
democracy. Formerly a man regarded
himself as a Cantonese or a Pekinese.
Their oyalty was to the family and to the
province, not to the nation. But today they
are awakening to the fact that they are
citizens of the Republic of China. Form-
erly rulers could act as they pleased. Not
so today. They realize that they cannot
disregard public opinion.
The Cosmopolitan Club of Detroit In-
stitute of Technology and Detroit College
of Law was fo:med last spring, but not
until this fall did it become active enough
to have its effect felt throughout the
school.
The nucleus around which the Club has
developed is composed of the twenty-four
foreign students who are attending Law
and Tech on the non-quota immigrant
basis. Each of these students was ad-
mitted to the United States for the sole
purpose of attending college, and he is
required to return to his native country
on the completion of his course.
Membership in the Club is open to all
students of the Detroit College of Law
and the Detroit Institute of Technology.
Plans are already under way which wi.1
eventually lead the Club into membership
in the International Association of Cos-
mopolitan Clubs. Those responsib!e for
the progress being made this year are:
President, John Gombos of Hungary;
vice-president, Mankwan Wong of China;
secretary, Remingio Martinez of Mexico;
and treasurer, Andrew Klein of Hungary.

El arnbri
Gltangitgiing Orerting

I

Duties. of the Lawyer to the Community
By LOUIS H. FEAD.
Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court.

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