| 释义 |
▪ I. attorney, n.1|əˈtɜːnɪ|
Forms: 4 aturne, -orne, attourne, 4–8 att(o)urney, 5–8 attorny, 6 aturney, atturnie, -eye, -eie, attornay, 6–7 atturny, 5– attorney.
[a. OF. atorné, aturné, atourné, pa. pple. masc. of atourner to attorn, in sense of ‘one appointed or constituted,’ whence all the specific uses. (The statement found in the law dictionaries for the last 200 years, that the word means one ‘who acts in the turn of another,’ is a bad guess.) For spelling cf. attorn.]
†1. One appointed or ordained to act for another; an agent, deputy, commissioner. In later times only fig. and perhaps with conscious reference to sense 2. Obs.
[1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 5503 So shulde eche aturne seriaunt, But many one holde no cunnaunt.] 1347Ord. R. Househ. 9 Clerkes, attorneys of the Victualles in sondry shiers. c1430Lydg. Bochas viii. vi. (1554) 181 a, From occupacion hys rest for to take Hys attorney Maximian he doth make. c1440Promp. Parv., Atturneye, suffectus, attornatus. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. v. i. 100, I will attend my husband..for it is my Office, And will haue no atturney but my selfe. 1642Rogers Naaman 382 His Minister, whom he hath made..his Attorney to receiue our acknowledgement.
2. (attorney in fact, private attorney.) One duly appointed or constituted (by letter or power of attorney) to act for another in business and legal matters, either generally, as in payment, receipt, and investment of money, in suing and being sued, etc., or in some specific act, which the principal, by reason of absence, is unable to perform in person. Hence the contrast between ‘in person’ and ‘by attorney,’ frequent also in fig. senses.
[1292Britton vi. x. §1 Des attournez sount acuns generals, acuns especials. (Nichols transl., Of attorneys, some are general and some special.)] 1466Mann. & Househ. Exp. 344 Paid to John Smythe of Yipswych, his attorney in the kervelle of the marchaundyse, viijs. iiijd. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. i. 94 Then in mine owne person, I die. Ros. No faith, die by Attorney. 1628Coke On Litt. 52 a, A fem may be an Attorney to deliuer seisin to her husband. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. ii. xix. 124 None may appear in Gods service by an Atturney. 1839Penny Cycl. XIII. 449/1 An attorney, unless power be specially given him for that purpose, cannot delegate his authority or appoint a substitute. Mod. ‘Received payment. (Signed) John Smith, by his Attorney William Taylor.’
3. (attorney-at-law, public attorney.) A professional and properly-qualified legal agent practising in the courts of Common Law (as a solicitor practised in the courts of Equity); one who conducted litigation in these courts, preparing the case for the barristers, or counsel, whose duty and privilege it is to plead and argue in open court.
(This sense slowly disengaged itself from the preceding, as a body of professional legal agents was recognized and incorporated. The actual duties and privileges of the Attorney-at-Law also varied with time and place; in earlier times, as still in some of the United States of America, the distinction between attorney and counsel did not exist. (Cf. next sense.) From an early period the name was often used reproachfully as almost = ‘knave or swindler’: see quotations under b. By the Judicature Act of 1873, the title, never used in Scotland, was abolished in England, ‘attorneys’ being merged in the ‘Solicitors of the Supreme Court.’)
c1330Pol. Songs 339 Attourneis in cuntré theih geten silver for noht. [1402Act 4 Hen. IV, xviii, Ordeignez est et establiz qe toutes ces attournees soient examinez par les Justices & par leur discretion leur nouns mys en rolle. (transl. It is ordained that all attorneys be examined by the Justices, and that at the discretion of these their names be entered on the roll.)] 1467J. Paston in Lett. 569 II. 299 He is an attorny..in the Baylys Coort of Yermouthe. 1536Wriothesley Chron. (1875) I. 57 An atturney of the lawe and felowe of Graies Inne. a1617Hieron Wks. II. 177 There needs no professed attourney to open his inditement. 1712Steele Spect. No. 456 ⁋4 The Law of the Land is his Gospel, and all his Cases of Conscience are determined by his Attorney. 1768Blackstone Comm. iii. iii. III. 25 An attorney at law answers to the procurator, or proctor, of the civilians and canonists. 1836Dickens Pickw. xx, Messrs. Dodson and Fogg, two of his Majesty's Attorneys of the Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas at Westminster, and Solicitors of the High Court of Chancery. 1873Act 36 & 37 Vict. lxvi. §87 From and after the commencement of this Act all persons admitted as solicitors, attorneys, or proctors of or by law empowered to practise in any Court, the jurisdiction of which is hereby transferred to the High Court of Justice or the Court of Appeal, shall be called Solicitors of the Supreme Court.
b.a1400Wm. of Nassington Spec. Vite, MS. Bodl. 48. lf. 166 A fals atorne Ffor he foloweþ wt al his myȝt As wel a wrong ple as a riȝt. c1538Starkey England iv. 119 Justyce schold not be so defettyd..by euery lyght and couetouse Sergeant, Proktor or Attornay. 1732Pope Mor. Ess. iii. 274 Vile attorneys, now an useless race. a1784Johnson in Boswell (1831) I. 385 Johnson observed, that ‘he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney.’ 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. vii. v, Attorneys and Law-Beagles, which hunt ravenous on this Earth.
4. transf. An advocate, pleader, mediator. ? Obs.
1537? Tindale Exp. St. John 21 We haue an aduocate and intercessour, a true attourney with the father. 1563Homilies Gd. Friday 1, He sytteth on the right hande of his father, as our proctoure and atturneye, pleading and suyng for vs. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, iv. iv. 413 Therefore, deare Mother, Be the Atturney of my loue to her; Pleade what I will be, not what I haue beene.
5. Specific title of the law officer of various councils, etc. and the clerk of various courts: see also attorney-general.
1494Fabyan vii. 633 In which fray a gentylman, beynge the quenys attourney, was slayen. 1587Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1286/2 Nicholas Bacon esquier, attourneie of the court of wards. 1633T. Stafford Pac. Hib. i. 27 Appointing two sufficient men to bee Clearkes or Attornies to that Councell. 1786Beatson Ann. Reg. iii. 84 King's Remembrancer..has under him eight attornies or sworn clerks. 1868Chambers Encycl. I. 540/1 The master of the crown office..is called the ‘Coroner and Attorney for the Queen.’
6. the King's Attorney: earlier (descriptive) designation of the legal officer now called attorney-general. Mr. Attorney, the ‘style’ used in addressing (formerly also in speaking of) him.
1414Act 2 Hen. V, iv, Attournes du Roy. 1546Berthelet transl., The kynges atturney. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, ii. i. 15 The kings Atturney, on the contrary, Vrg'd on the Examinations. 1660–1Marvell Corr. 16 Wks. 1872–5 II. 47 Yesterday I carryed it [the warrant] to Mr. Atturny's. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. I. iv. 280 The King's Atturney. 1689Sir R. Sawyer in Tryal Bps. 91 You have heard this charge which Mr. Attorney has been pleased to make against the Bishops. 1856Times 26 May, Witness. I'll tell you, Mr. Attorney. Sir A. Cockburn, Att. Gen., Don't ‘Mr. Attorney’ me, Sir! answer my question.
7. attrib., as in attorney-cunning, etc.: see 3 b.
1839Carlyle Chartism v. 138 Shiftiness..attorney-cunning is a kind of thing that fancies itself..to be talent. 1865― Fredk. Gt. III. x. vi. 269 Kingship was not a thing of attorney mendacity.
▪ II. aˈttorney, n.2
Also 5 atorne, 6 atturneie, -ourney, 7 -urney. (In 7 Sc. actorney, -ay.)
[a. OF. atournée, attornée, actournée, ‘action of attorning, function of the attorney,’ n. fem. from pa. pple. = L. *attornāta (but actually latinized in med.L. as attornātio, attornātus 4th decl., whence OF. atorné in same sense.]
†1. The action of appointing a legal representative, legal commission, procuration. (The phrase ‘by attorney’ perh. orig. belonged to this.)
1594Shakes. Rich. III, v. iii. 83, I, by Attourney, blesse thee from thy Mother. 1609Skene Reg. Maj. 168 For ilk actorney, and commission twa shillings. 1635Quarles Emblems v. vi. (1718) 270 Mine eye, by Contemplations great attorney, Transcends the crystal pavement of the skie.
Now used only in,
2. letter or warrant of attorney: a legal document by which a person appoints one or more persons to act for him as his attorney or attorneys, either generally or in a specific transaction. power of a.: the authority conferred by such a document, now used also for the document itself.
[a1432in Rymer Fœdera X. 500 Habet Literas Regis de Generali Attornatu.] 1461Paston Lett. 408 II. 37, I wold a new dede and letter of atorne were mad. 1586J. Hooker Girald. Irel. in Holinsh. II. 145/2 They deliuered..their letters of atturneie vnto their said agents. 1611Cotgr., Attournée, a letter of Atturney. 1750Carte Hist. Eng. II. 369 Letters of protection and attorney being still granted. 1753Hanway Trav. (1762) II. i. vii. 35 By his order..or by virtue of his power of attorney. 1858Ld. St. Leonards Handy-bk. Prop. Law xxii. 175 Payments and acts by any trustee..under a power of attorney.
▪ III. aˈttorney, v.
[f. the n.]
To perform by attorney or proxy.
1611Shakes. Wint. T. i. i. 30 Their Encounters (though not Personall) hath been Royally attornyed with enter-change of Gifts. |