The Herald - Thursday, May 30, 1895
This report was originally published in English. Machine translations may be available in other languages.
TOPICS OF THE DAY.
Strange stories get into the newspapers. One such has come under our ("Law Journal's") notice which we refuse to credit. It is stated that Sir Edward Clarke has offered to defend Mr Oscar Wilde at the Old Bailey without a fee. It is clearly contrary to the etiquette of the Bar for counsel to defend any prisoner for less than the minimum sum recognised by old established usage, except by request of the presiding judge. Nor is Mr Oscar Wilde's a case in which such a nominal fee could properly be accepted. It has never been suggested that his circumstances are not such as to enable him to pay for his defence on the scale that counsel in the eminent position of Sir Edward Clarke is entitled to expect.