Page:Race distinctions in American Law (IA racedistinctions00stepiala).pdf/260

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  • ture, which may prescribe the qualifications required and

designate the class of persons who may be admitted. The power of regulating the admission of attorneys in the courts of a State is one belonging to the State, and not to the Federal Government. As said by Mr. Justice Bradley in Bradwell's case:[5] 'In the nature of things it is not every citizen of every age, sex and condition that is qualified for every calling and position. It is the prerogative of the legislator to prescribe regulations founded on nature, reason and experience, for the due admission of qualified persons to professions and callings demanding special skill and confidence. This fairly belongs to the police power of the State.'" According to the opinion in this case, which has not been overruled so far as has been found, a State legislature may, in the exercise of its police power, limit the privilege of practicing law to white males or to white people, and thus debar the Negro altogether. In the latest collection of Maryland laws, however, that of 1904, no mention is made of race in the prescribed qualifications for admission to the bar, but no express repeal has been found in the annual statutes of the law of 1872 which limited the privilege of practicing law to white males. The presumption is, however, that Maryland, in common with the other States, now admits Negro applicants on the same terms as white.

It is generally known that Negro lawyers in the Southern States are few, and it is considered that the field there for the Negro lawyer is not promising. There were seven hundred and twenty-eight Negro lawyers in the United States in 1900. The following notice in The Emmanuel Magazine of July 3, 1909, a monthly publication by a Negro