at be good and virtuous, and of
good fame, shall be received, and sworn well and truly to serve in their
offices, and especially that they make no suit in a foreign country."
The present oath or affirmation is, that he "will truly and honestly
demean himself in the practice of an attorney, according to the best of
his knowledge and ability." Stat. 2 Geo. II, c. 23 (A. D. 1729); Stat. 6
& 7 Vict. c. 73. The qualification of a sergeant-at-law, is given at
large in 2 Inst. 213; and in the valuable old book, "The Mirror of
Justices," chap. 2, sec. 5, it is said that "every countor is chargeable
by the oath, that he shall do no wrong nor falsity, contrary to his
knowledge, but shall plead for his client the best he can, according to
his understanding."

[2] Hurst's case, 1 Levins, 72; 1 Sid. 94, 151; Raym. 56, 94; 1 Keb.
349, 354, 387.

[3] See Austin's case, 5 Rawle, 203. "An attorney at law," says C. J.
Gibson, "is an officer of the court. The terms of the oath, exacted of
him at his admission to the bar, prove him to be so;" "you shall behave
yourself in your _office_ of attorney," &c. Again: it is declared in the
Constitution, Article 1st, sec. 18 (Art. 1, sec. 19, of the amended
Constitution of 1838), that "no member of Congress, or other person
holding any _office_ (except _attorney at law_, and in the militia),
shall be a member of either House," &c., which is a direct
constitutional recognition. Prior to the Act of 14th April, 1834, which
expressly required from them an oath to support the Constitution of the
United States and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
attorneys at law were invariably held to be within the provisions of
Art. 6, sect. 3, of the Constitution of the United States, and of Art.
8, of the Constitution of Pennsylvania, requiring all officers,
executive and judicial, to take the oath to support those constitutions
respectively. In Wood's case (1 Hopkins, 6), solicitors in chancery were
held to be officers, within the meaning of a similar clause in the
Constitution of New York. "The admission of an attorney, solicitor, or
counsellor," says the opinion in that case, "is a general appointment to
conduct causes before the courts: this station, thus conferred by public
authority, has its peculiar powers, privileges, and duties, and thus
becomes an office in the administration of justice." Leigh's case (1
Munford, 468), in which it was held, that attorneys are not officers,
within the