Beck Breaks Through

American Law Officer Will Argue Before Privy Council James Montgomery Beck, Solicitor General of the United States, was called to the English bar. He is to argue a case for the United States before the Privy Council in July. No foreign barrister has ever been permitted to do so before.

When the matter came before the Privy Council for consideration, it was found that the Privy Council had no authority to allow Mr. Beck to plead before it, inasmuch as the privileges of the English bar are not dependent on the courts. It was necessary for him to be called to the bar by one of the four great English Inns of Court.

It happened that Mr. Beck was an honorary " bencher" of Gray's Inn, one of the four to which he was introduced by Lord Balfour. (The custom of admitting prominent foreigners as honorary benchers is not uncommon. John W. Davis, former Ambassador to the Court of St. James, is, for example, an honorary bencher of the Middle Temple.) This honor, however, does not entitle a man to practice as a barrister in England.

So when Mr. Beck received the following cablegram, a special vote had been taken by the Masters of the Bench of Gray's Inn in order to make an exception in his favor:

" With greatest pleasure inform you of your call to the English bar by the benchers of Gray's Inn today."

Attorney General Daugherty replied by cable thanking the bar of England for a " valued compliment to my department and to the bar of America." It transpired later that the vote by which the Solicitor General was called to the English bar was far from unanimous. In fact, legal passion and prejudice had been deeply stirred.

The prejudice was not against Mr. Beck, but against the making of an exception in his favor. The study and formalities required for admission to the English bar take three years for completion, and this is the first time that the requirements have ever been waived. Many lawyers fear that the present case may establish a precedent by which foreign barristers would compete with them and encroach upon their practice.

It seems, nevertheless, that the incident is closed and the Solicitor General is planning to sail for England in June.

Mr. Beck is an able lawyer, is 61 years of age, has previously served in various governmental capacities, and has practiced in New York. A forceful speaker, his favorite extra-judicial theme is the demoralizing effect of the mechanical age on working men: their tasks no longer require intelligence and they lose pride in their work.

During the war he wrote The Evidence of the Case, War and Humanity, The Reckoning and The Passing of the New Freedom, The first of these, written in 1914, is considered one of the ablest statements of the grievances which roused the Allies to war. For almost the first time in history there was cheering in the French Court of Cessation (the Supreme Court of France) when Mr. Beck visited that body. He was made an officer of the French Legion of Honor and a commander of the Belgian Order of the Crown.