Judges The responsibility for maintaining order in the Old West belonged to men armed not with guns but gavels - the judges. At first, the brand of justice they dispensed was as makeshift as the towns that sprang up along the frontier. Many judges were tradesmen on the side and had little or no law book learning. The most infamous judge was Judge Roy Bean who dispensed rulings between games of poker and drinking bouts. He rarely opened a law book and completely ignored the laws he didn’t like.   On the local level, the administration of justice was at best haphazard, sometimes bordering on the absurd. The justice of the peace in charge often had nothing to recommend him for the post but his availability. His job was not complex or complicated, since territorial law mostly dealt only with minor offenses such as disorderly conduct or petty theft.   Many justices took solicited bribes, or used their authority to impose and pocket exorbitant fines. The post of judges had minimal standards of performance and many judges could bearly read or write. The job appealed to a large number of incompetents, drunkards and flamboyant eccentrics like Judge Roy Bean of Vinegaroon Texas.  Another Texas Justice kept a mail-order catalogue on his bench. He opened it at random and would quote the price of some article listed as the fine to be paid by the defendant. When one defendant protested the odd fine of $4.88 for some trifling misdemeanor, he was told, “be thankful he opened it at pants instead of pianos!” The location for these “proceedings” served only to underscore the lack of importance of the proceedings.  Cases were very often heard in the saloon as few towns had a formal courthouse.  This location no doubt added to the farcical nature of these trials. Honest justices, ones who did not yield to temptation, or penalize strangers harshly, even some learned justices - such men did exist. Probably there were more of them than eyewitness accounts suggest. Even so, the West was patently lucky that its lower courts had only a limited say over the lives of its citizens. The next level was the district court level. Continued violence forced communities to try and elect qualified judges and build facilities - places where justice could reign with the some sort of dignity and authority. These places were larger cities or county seats, not small towns such as Latigo. The district courts tried from time to time to temper gun law with actual statutory law. The difficulty of this task was discovered at considerable personal cost for the lone judicial innovator. He was often sent back on the trail if a decision was not favorable to the community. Judges who presided over district courts out West were usually men left over from judicial prospects back East.  If a judge could not find a court to preside over in the “civilized” part of the country, he could always go West. Despite all the failings of the district court, it was there that the Western criminal first met the some sort of actual codified law. He could expect a long prison term or even a death sentence as a very likely penalty if he was considered guilty.   Lawyers The frontier lawyer traveled constantly, consulting with clients, attending court in one small town or another and carrying the tools of his trade with him as he went. Travel on the frontier was difficult enough, but the frontier lawyer had a lot of stuff to carry: a journal, pens, ink, papers, a change or two of linen, and perhaps a law book (Blackstone) all of which had to be kept secure and dry.   Before 1830 the profession had experienced increasing prestige and exclusiveness. After 1830 the profession was characterized by greater openness, with fewer barriers to entry. In the latter years of the nineteenth century the pendulum swung back and the profession became again more exclusive, partly because of attempts to exclude poorly-trained shysters.   What was the motivation for a man to take up the arduous profession of frontier lawyer? What many lawyers wanted was an increase in honor and status. The concept of honor became transfixed into exclusive membership in a specialized profession, such as a lawyer, clergyman, or doctor. Becoming a lawyer was an accepted activity for the “gentlemen” not the gunman or lower class farmer. A professional gentleman’s relationship to his clients was a superior one. He acted as advisor and occasionally told his clients what was best for them, not what they wanted to hear. The lawyer influences the client’s case and future; this is a powerful position in society.  In America, genuine aristocrats were few and many a bright young man, entered the profession in order to become a gentleman rather than starting out as a gentleman and entering the profession for community good. The lawyer also enjoyed the status of appearing as an educated man. In reality the frontier lawyer did not have a lot of law book knowledge. Some lawyers suffered the same ills as judges.   Could John Wesley Hardin be the inspiration for Clay Culhane? One famous western lawyer was actually the deadly Texas gunman John Wesley Hardin. This outlaw turned lawyer was rumored to have killed 41 men throughout his life. Because of his quick temper and fast draw, many Texans believe he was the most dangerous man to come out of the reconstruction era.  He was a handsome gentile man who tried to be a pillar of the community. At the same time, he claimed he always killed in self-defense and is quoted as saying he never "killed a man that didn't deserve it!" Having being sentenced for murder for 25 years his sentence was commuted to five because he took up pre-law during incarceration. He practiced law in El Paso Texas before being shot in the back of the head by a lawman who he hired to investigate a case. The lawman was upset because the dashing Hardin was having an affair with his wife.         Sources: Excerpt from the website: Frontier Judges & Lawyers : http://www.jcs-group.com/oldwest/law.html       John Westley Hardin BIBLIOGRAPHY: John Wesley Hardin, The Life of Wesley Hardin As Written by Himself (Seguin, Texas: Smith and Moore, 1896; new ed., Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1961). Leon C. Metz, John Selman (New York: Hastings House, 1966; 2d ed., Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980).