In re Bradwell

Citations

• 55 Ill. 535

Syllabus

<p>1. Attorney at law—whether women, married or single, can be licensed as such. The ruling in the case of Carpenter et al. v. Mitchell, 50 Ill. 470, that the act of 1861, securing to married women the enjoyment of their separate property, gave to them no power to contract, except as to matters incident to, and growing out of, their right to hold and enjoy their separate property, is adhered to.</p> <p>2. So, even under the modifications of the rules of the common law on that subject, made by the act of 1861, a married woman would be bound neither by her express contracts, nor by these implied contracts which it is the policy of the law to create between attorney and client, and, therefore, if for no other reason, a married woman could not be granted a license to practice as an attorney at law in this State.</p> <p>3. But apart, from the disability arising from coverture, no woman, married or single, can be admitted, under the laws of this State, to practice as an attorney at law.</p>