The  right  to  practice  law  in  the  courts  as  a  profession,  is  a
privilege  granted  by  the  law,  under  such  limitations  or  condi-
tions in  each  state  or  government  as  the  law-making  power  may
prescribe.  It  is  a  privilege  and  not  an  absolute  right.  The
distinction  may  be  illustrated  by  the  difference  between  the
right  of  a  party  to  a  suit  in  court  to  defend  his  own  cause,  and
the  right  of  another  to  appear  and  defend  for  him.  The  one,
like  the  tight  to  lif6,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  is
inalienable.  The  other  is  the  privilege  conferred  by  law  on  a
person  who  complies  with  the  prescribed  conditions.
Every  state  in  the  Union,  and  every  civilized  government,
h£is  laws  by  which  the  right  to  practice  in  its  courts  may  be
granted,  and  makes  that  right  to  depend  on  the  good  moral
character  and  professional  skill  of  the  party  on  whom  the  privi-
lege is  conferred.  This  is  not  only  true  in  reference  to  the  first
grant  of  license  to  practice  law,  but  the  continuance  of  the
right  is  made,  by  these  laws,  to  depend  upon  the  continued  pos-
session of  those  qualities.
Attorneys  are  often  deprived  of  this  right,  upon  evidence  of
bad  moral  character,  or  specific  acts  of  immorality  and  dishon-
esty which  show  that  they  no  longer  possess  the  requisite  quali-
fications.
AH  this  is  done  by  law,  either  statutory  or  common ;  and
whether  the  one  or  the  other,  equally  the  expression  of  legisla-
tive will,  for  the  common  law  exists  in  this  country  only  as  it  is
adopted  or  permitted  by  the  legislatures,  or  by  constitutions.
