The Experiences of a Barrister, and Confessions of an Attorney

Samuel WarrenProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.1
Word count
634K words
Chapters
64

Tags

English Originals Law Social ObservationPortrait GalleryHuman NatureComplex HumanityCriminal PsychologyMoral DilemmaDocumentary Narrative

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Experiences of a Barrister, and Confessions of an Attorney by Samuel WarrenAuthor: Warren, Samuel, 1807-1877,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: May 1, 2004

Editor's review

Written by the English author Samuel Warren, this book presents, in the voices of a barrister and an attorney, episodes and cases drawn from legal careers, and is a typical example of nineteenth-century English popular legal narrative. Its appeal lies in turning professional experience both inside and outside the courtroom into highly readable stories, with suspense in the unfolding of cases as well as observations of the legal profession, social climate, and personal relations of the time. For today's readers, it is less a rigorous work of legal history than a window onto Victorian legal culture and popular reading tastes. The narrative reflects the limitations of its era, and some ideas and expressions should be understood in their historical context. It suits readers who enjoy old-fashioned legal stories, the popular tradition of English literature, or narratives about the legal profession; while reading, note how the narrator builds credibility for "experience" and "confession".

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Read it as a collection of stories, one piece at a time; there is no need to finish it in order.
  2. Note how the narrator shifts between barrister and attorney and what effect this has.
  3. Consult background material on the legal profession in Victorian England to understand institutional details in the stories.
  4. When a passage reflects clearly dated attitudes, record it first and judge later, rather than simply dismissing it by contemporary standards.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
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  15. 15
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  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64

FAQ

Is this book a record of real cases or a work of fiction? It presents professional experiences in the voices of a barrister and an attorney and is strongly shaped by narrative craft; it belongs to popular legal storytelling and should not be used directly as an archive of real cases. Readers may regard it as literature that reflects the legal imagination and social perceptions of its time.
Can I understand this book without a legal background? Yes. The book focuses on stories and professional experience rather than technical legal analysis, and general readers can follow the narrative. If you encounter terms from old institutions, a brief check is enough and will not affect your overall reading.
What are the features of the book's narrative style? It unfolds in first-person narration and builds credibility through "experience" and "confession"; the stories are relatively independent, with the unhurried pace of nineteenth-century popular narrative. Readers who like old-fashioned storytelling will find it flavorful, while those used to a modern fast pace may need time to adjust.
Is the Project Gutenberg edition suitable for citation? This edition is a free public-domain electronic text, convenient for reading and searching, but its layout and source information may be limited. For academic citation, verify the specific edition and, where possible, compare it with a reliable print or scholarly edition.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Samuel Warren Author · British · 1807–1877

Samuel Warren (1807–1877) was a British lawyer, novelist and Member of Parliament, born in Denbighshire, Wales. He was called to the Bar in 1837, served as Recorder of Hull from 1852, and sat in the House of Commons from 1856 to 1859. As a writer, his notable works include Passages from the Diary of a Late Physician and the satirical novel Ten Thousand a-Year, the latter set against the legal world, written in a humorous yet critical vein and widely circulated in its day, influencing authors such as Dickens. Other works include The Experiences of a Barrister, and Confessions of an Attorney, along with Volumes 2 and 3 of Ten Thousand a-Year. Public information on Chinese translations and exact sales figures is limited.