XXIV. 'CALLED'-BUT
THEN ?
I have deferred saying anything up to now about the
purpose for which I went to England, viz. being called to
the bar. It is time to advert to it briefly.
There were two conditions which had to be fulfilled
before a student was formally called to the bar: 'keeping
terms,' twelve terms equivalent to about three years; and
passing examinations. 'Keeping terms' meant eating one's
terms, i.e. attending at least six out of about twenty
four dinners in a term. Eating did not mean actually
partaking of the dinner, it meant reporting oneself at
the fixed hours and remaining present throughout the
dinner. Usually of course every one ate and drank the
good commons and choice wines provided. A dinner cost
from two and six to three and six, that is from two to
three rupees. This was considered moderate, inasmuch as
one had to pay that same amount for wines alone if one
dined at a hotel. To us in India it is a matter for
surprise, if we are not 'civilized', that the cost of
drink should exceed the cost of food. The first
revelation gave me a great shock, and I wondered how
people had the heart to throw away so much money on
drink. Later I came to understand. I often ate nothing at
these dinners, for the things that I might eat were only
bread, boiled potato and cabbage. In the beginning I did
not eat these, as I did not like them; and later, when I
began to relish them, I also gained the courage to ask
for other dishes.
The dinner provided for the benchers used to be better
than that for the students. A Parsi student, who was also
a vegetarian, and I applied, in the interests of
vegetarianism, for the vegetarian courses which were
served to the benchers. The application was granted, and
we began to get fruits and other vegetables from the
benchers' table.
Two bottles of wine allowed to each group of four, and
as I did not touch them, I was ever in demand to form a
quarter, so that three might empty two bottles. And there
was a 'grand night' in each term when extra wines. I was
therefore specially requested to attend and was in great
demand on that 'grand night'.
I could see then, nor have I seen since, how these
dinners qualified the students better for the bar. There
was once a time when only a few students used to attend
these dinners and thus there were opportunities for talks
between them and the benchers, and speeches were also
made. These occasions helped to give them knowledge of
the world with a sort of polish and refinement, and also
improved their power of speaking. No such thing was
possible in my time, as the benchers had a table all to
themselves. The institution had gradually lost all its
meaning but conservative England retained it
nevertheless.
The curriculum of study was easy, barristers being
humorously known as 'dinner barristers'. Everyone knew
that the examinations had practically no value. In my
time there were two, one in Roman Law and the other in
Common Law. There were regular text-books prescribed for
these examinations which could be taken in compartments,
but scarcely any one read them. I have known many to pass
the Roman Law examination by scrambling through notes on
Roman Law in a couple of weeks, and the Common Law
examination by reading notes on the subject in two or
three months. Question papers were easy and examiners
were generous. The percentage of passes in the Roman Law
examination used to be 95 to 99 and of those in the final
examination 75 or even more. There was thus little fear
of being plucked, and examinations were held not once but
four times in the year. They could not be felt as a
difficulty.
But I succeeded in turning them into one. I felt that
I should read all the text-books. It was a fraud, I
thought, not to read these books. I invested much money
in them. I decided to read Roman Law in Latin. The Latin
which I had acquired in the London Matriculation stood me
in good stead. And all this reading was not without its
value later on in South Africa, where Roman Dutch is the
common law. The reading of Justinian, therefore, helped
me a great deal in understanding the South African law.
It took me nine months of fairly hard labour to read
through the Common Law of England. For Broom's Common
Law, a big but interesting volume, took up a good
deal of time. Snell's Equity was full of
interest, but a bit hard to understand. White and Tudor's
LeadingCases, from which certain cases were
prescribed, was full of interest and instruction. I read
also with interest Williams' and Edwards' Real
Property, and Goodeve's Personal Property.
Williams' book read like a novel. The one book I remember
to have read on my return to India, with the same
unflagging interest, was Mayne's Hindu Law. But
it is out of place to talk here of Indian law-books.
I passed my examinations, was called to the bar on the
10th of June 1891, and enrolled in the High Court on the
11th. On the 12th sailed for home.
But notwithstanding my study there was no end to my
helplessness and fear. I did not feel myself qualified to
practise law.
But a separate chapter is needed to describe this
helplessness of mine.
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