Abstract

Abstract of Carol Rice Andrews, Paul M. Pruitt, Jr., and David I. Durham, Gilded Age Legal Ethics: Essays on Thomas Goode Jones' 1887 Code and the Regulation of the Profession (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama School of Law, 2003). Viii, 136 pages, index, illustrations. Occasional Publications of the Bounds Law Library, Number Four. This book consists of essays on Thomas Goode Jones (1844-1914) and his pioneering 1887 ethics code, a facsimile of the code, edited documents concerning its adoption by the Alabama State Bar Association, and a side-by-side presentation of the 1887 code and the American Bar Association's 1908 Canons of Professional Ethics. Carol Rice Andrews' essay The Lasting Legacy of the 1887 Code of Ethics of the Alabama State Bar Association places Jones' work in the context of legal ethics prior to 1887, noting the influence on Jones of David Hoffman, George Sharswood, David Dudley Field, and others. Andrews also discusses the modern legacy of Jones' code, especially its impact on the ABA's 1908 Canons and subsequent ethical codes. David I. Durham's essays A Call for Regulation of the Profession and An Improbable Journey discuss the code's institutional origins, Jones' composition process, and the mechanics of its adoption. Paul M. Pruitt, Jr.'s Thomas Goode Jones: Personal Code of a Public Man provides brief coverage of Jones' careers as Confederate soldier, railroad lawyer, politician and federal judge, commenting on his personal ethics as revealed over the course of a long and often controversial life.