"The first thing we do is, let's kill all the lawyers." It's said by a character called Dick the Butcher in Act IV, Scene II, of William Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part II, which ostensibly was written between 1596 and 1599.
Approximately four hundred years after Shakespeare's death, this pithy phrase has become one of his most famous witticisms, often appropriated to disparage the legal profession or at least acknowledge the ubiquitous caricature of the crooked, overpriced lawyer.
But the context in which Dick utters this phrase is key to understanding its true meaning.
Dick is a villainous character. He is a large, threatening murderer, and he is also the right-hand man of Jack Cade, who is leading a rebellion against King Henry. Cade and Dick are aggressively anti-intellectual. They kill anyone who can read and burn all the books and documents they encounter. They know that they'll be able to take over an ignorant population with greater ease than one where everyone understands their rights.
One reading of this strange quote suggests, therefore, that society could not exist in a state of fairness and peace without the protectiveness of both the law and its staunch guardians. Dick is suggesting that, for their coup to prevail, they must eradicate society of the very defenders of justice who could both stop the revolt he intends to help spur and then remove the power he hopes to grab for Cade.
In other words, this suggests that Shakespeare represented lawyers as the most fundamental defence against the grossest manifestations of power-hungry antics wrought by the scum of humanity.
As is often the case with soundbites that trickle down through history, this quote has been stripped of its rich context. Rather than belittling the legal profession, Shakespeare was, in fact, demonstrating the importance of lawyers in maintaining the fabric of society.
The quote, spoken by Dick the Butcher, a follower of the rebel Jack Cade, has been used over centuries as a shorthand for lawyerly vilification. But the true intent behind Shakespeare's words was far from derogatory. In fact, it is the lawless anarchists, embodied by Cade and his followers, who dream of a world without law and order, where might makes right and justice is a foreign concept.
Viewed in context, "Let's kill all the lawyers" is not a condemnation of the legal profession but a recognition of its crucial role in preventing such dystopia. By suggesting the elimination of lawyers, Dick the Butcher highlights their importance as Caesar's line of defence. They are the bulwarks of society, preventing its devolution into anarchy and chaos. The proposal to kill them is a testament to their power, their value, and the threat they pose to those who seek to overthrow the rule of law.
This sentiment echoes through another of Shakespeare's works, Julius Caesar. Like the lawyers in Henry VI, Part 2, Caesar himself faces a cadre of individuals who plot his downfall. Brutus, Cassius, and their co-conspirators scheme to eliminate Caesar, not out of disdain for his character but in fear of his growing influence and power.
Caesar's line of defence, like the lawyers, are those who stand between order and chaos, between a structured society and anarchy. His loyal followers, his public support, his formidable influence-these are his defence and his legal counsel. The plot to remove these defences mirrors the call to "kill all the lawyers" in its recognition of their crucial importance to society.
But the conspirators' triumph is short-lived. With Caesar's death, Rome plunges into chaos, underscoring the importance of those lines of defence. Just as Rome suffered when Caesar's defences were removed, society would suffer from the loss of lawyers.
Putting those famous words in the mouth of a lawless rebel should tell us that Shakespeare's intention was not to degrade lawyers but to elevate them. It was to illustrate that lawyers, like Caesar's defences, are crucial to maintaining order, justice, and society itself.
Regrettably, the quote has been woefully misinterpreted over the centuries. It's wielded as a cheap joke or as a critique of the legal profession. But this does a disservice to both Shakespeare and lawyers. Lawyers are not just officers of the court; they are defenders of the principles that underpin our society: the rule of law, justice, and fairness.
Of course, in case you haven't noticed or temporarily forgotten, I happen to be a member of the legal profession. For one moment, you might rightly conclude that, as such, it is to be expected that I come out in defence of the legal profession. However, to be frank and honest, I concede that long years of experience show that there are a few downsides to the noble profession of lawyers.
It is a pleasant world we live in-a very pleasant world. There are bad people in it, but if there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers.
And just look at our politicians and parliament. It should come as no surprise, given the number of lawyers who have dominated Malta's part-time parliament. More than half of Malta's prime ministers since 1921 have been lawyers. Could it be that they were mostly people who'd had too little morals and ethics to stay lawyers? The minute you read or hear something that you can't understand, you can almost be sure that it is coming from a lawyer.
Still, many of you out there will unfairly continue to hate us lawyers, much the same way as we all probably hate and show an aversion to the dental profession. Nobody relishes a forced and inevitable visit to the dentist, whether for a routine visit or to somehow remedy an excruciating dental pain. Yet, at the end of the day, we all come out smiling from the dentist's clinic and thank the good Lord for them being around.
It's the same with lawyers.