Application Of Dodd.

Citation131 Conn. 702,42 A.2d 36
CourtSupreme Court of Connecticut
Decision Date21 March 1945
PartiesApplication of DODD.

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Motion by Thomas J. Dodd, Jr., to erase the appeal of William H. Shields, attorney, from the action of the Superior Court in New London County, Quinlan, J., in granting the application of the said Dodd for admission to the bar on motion and without examination.

Motion denied. 1 M. J. Blumenfeld, of Hartford, and Frank L. McGuire, of New London, for applicant.

Arthur M. Brown, of Norwith, and W. Arthur Countryman, Jr., of Hartford, for William H. Shields.

Before JENNINGG, ELLS, and DICKENSON, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

On August 23, 1944, Thomas J. Dodd, Jr., filed an application addressed to the Superior Court in New London County for admission to the bar upon motion and without examination. The motion was granted on January 17, 1945, judgment was entered and William H. Shields, an attorney at law resident in New London County, appealed. The applicant filed a motion to erase the appeal. The issue on this motion is, can this court entertain this appeal upon the face of the record? Klein v. Capitol Nat. Bank & Trust Co., 124 Conn. 685, 2 A.2d 489; Conn.App.Proc., § 147. The word ‘record’ is used with various meanings, but in a matter of this kind it includes all the papers filed in court, including those filed in connection with the appellate proceedings. Conn.App.Proc., § 159.

This record may be summarized as follows: The application was referred to the standing committee on recommendations for admission to the bar for New London County. Practice Book, 1934, pp. 22, 23, §§ 8, 9. That committee recommended that the applicant should be admitted to the bar without examination. The clerk of the Superior Court gave due notice of this report to every member of the bar of the county. The bar met and approved the report, and the committee filed with the clerk a copy of it with the action of the meeting indorsed thereon. The rule provides that the application for admission may then be claimed for the short calendar, of which claim the clerk shall give notice to every member of the bar of the county. This was done. Thereafter, Mr. Shields entered his appearance ‘in opposition to the granting of said application’ and claimed the case for the short calendar list for ‘Hearing on motion that application be denied and dismissed.’ On the same date he filed a written motion to dismiss the application, assigning four grounds therefor. A few days later counsel for the applicant claimed the matter for the short calendar for: ‘1. Argument Mr. Shields' motion to dismiss. 2. That applicant be admitted to the Bar without examination.’

Section 8, supra, provides that such an applicant ‘may be admitted by the court; it is the court and not the bar or a committee thereof which admits him. A hearing was held by the court in pursuance of the claims heretofore referred to. The record before us contains a lengthy memorandum of decision and a judgment, which recites that ‘the parties appeared and were at issue to the Court, as on file,’ and that ‘The Court, having heard the parties, finds that the report of the Committee and action of the Bar thereon should stand and the application granted, which is hereby ordered, and the motion to dismiss is denied.’ Judgment was entered and the applicant was admitted on January 17, 1945. On January 26, 1945, Mr. Shields appealed to this court, stating that he is aggrieved by the decision of the Court on questions of law arising during the trial and by the decision of the Court upon his motion to deny and dismiss the said application and by the granting of said application.’ The appeal was allowed on the same date. With it there was filed an assignment of errors which stated that the court erred in holding that the standing committee had reported to the bar that the applicant had complied with the rules, in holding that all the papers in the case the applicant had complied with the rule requiring ten years of actual practice in the highest court of original jurisdiction in South Dakota, in holding that he had actually so practiced, and in holding upon the record before the court that the application itself complied with the rule, when it did not appear in the application and all papers filed with it that the applicant had ever practiced in the highest court of original jurisdiction in South Dakota. On January 28, the applicant filed a motion to erase the appeal, so called, from the docket.’

The motion states two grounds. The first is: (a) Said William H. Shields is not a party to the action of the Superior Court in admitting said Thomas J. Dodd, Jr. to the Bar of New London County; (b) has no interest therein, and (c) is not aggrieved by the said action of the Court.’

The first objection, that the appeal should be erased because Mr. Shields is not a party, is without merit. There are no parties in the technical legal sense in proceedings of this character, Grievance Committee of Hartford County Bar v. Broder, 112 Conn. 263, 265, 152 A. 292; yet our reports contain many cases where appeals by applicants and grievance committees have been considered by this court.

Mr. Shields is an attorney at law, resident in New London County. The rule requires not only that every member of the bar of the county shall be given notice of a meeting of the bar at which the report of the standing committee on recommendations will be presented but also that each member shall be given notice that the application for admission has been claimed for a hearing before the court at short calendar. The obvious purpose of the latter notice is to give such attorneys an opportunity to appear for or against the granting by the court of the application for admission to the bar. It clearly recognizes them to be interested parties, else no such notice would be required, and the matter would have been left on the report of the standing committee. The...

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