Zealous Advocates: The historical foundations of the adversarial criminal defence lawyer

Smith, Thomas

Abstract

The place of the criminal defence lawyer in the modern criminal justice system is a given; everysuspect and defendant expects full representation as a right. However, the defence lawyer appeared surprisingly late in the long and venerable history of the English and Welsh legal system. Notwithstanding the defence lawyer's role as advocate for the accused, this unique professional role involves a variety of duties and obligations. This article will focus on the historical development of these core 'principles' of criminal defence as well as the expansion of the role in the general context of adversarialism.

Citation

Smith, T. (2012). Zealous Advocates: The historical foundations of the adversarial criminal defence lawyer. Law, Crime and History, 2(1), 1-20

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 1, 2012
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2012
• Deposit Date: Jun 13, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 13, 2016
• Journal: Law, Crime and History
• Publisher: SOLON
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 1-20
• Keywords: criminal defence lawyers, history, adversarialism, zealous advocate, legal ethics
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/955829
• Publisher URL: http://www.lawcrimehistory.org/journal/vol.1%20issue1%202012/Smith.pdf
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Originally published in Law, Crime & History, Vol 2 (1)