COUNSEL. Advice given to another as to what he ought to do or not to do.

2. To counsel another to do an unlawful act, is to become accessory to it, if it be a felony, or principal, if it be treason, or a misdemeanor. By the term counsel is also understood counsellor at law. Vide To open; Opening.

COUNSEL, an officer of court. One who undertakes to conduct suits and actions in court. The same as counsellor.

COUNSEL, practice, crim. law. In the oath of the grand jurors, there is a provision requiring them to keep secret " the commonwealth¹'s counsel, their fellows, and their own." In this sense this word is synonymous with knowledge; therefore, all the knowledge acquired by grand jurors, in consequence of their office, either from the officers of the commonwealth, from their fellow-jurors, or which they have obtained in any manner, in relation to cases which come officially before them, must be kept secret. See Grand Jury.

COUNSELLOR, government. A counsellor is a member of a council. In some of the states the executive power is vested in a governor, or a governor and lieutenant² governor, and council. The members of such council are called counsellors. See the names of the several states.

COUNSELLOR AT LAW, offices. An officer in the supreme³ court of the United States, and in some other courts, who is employed by a party in a cause, to conduct the same on its trial on his behalf. He differs from an attorney at law. (q. v.)

2. In the supreme court of the United States, the two degrees of attorney and counsel are kept separate, and no person is permitted to practise both. It is the duty of the counsel to draft or review and correct the special pleadings, to manage the cause on trial, and, during the whole course of the suit, to apply established principles of law to the exigencies⁴ of the case. 1 Kent, Com. 307.

3. Generally in the other courts of the United States, as well as in the courts of Pennsylvania, the same person perform's the duty of counsellor and attorney at law.

4. In giving their advice to their clients, counsel and others, professional men have duties to perform to their clients, to the public, and to themselves. In such cases they have thrown upon them something which they owe to the fair administration of justice, as well as to the private interests of their employers. The interests propounded⁵ for them ought, in their own apprehension⁶, to be just, or at least fairly disputable; and when such interests are propounded, they ought not to be pursued per fas et nefas . Hag. R. 22.

5. A counsellor is not a hired person, but a mandatory⁷; he does not render his services for a price, but an honorarium⁸, which may in some degree recompense his care, is his reward. Doubtless, he is not indifferent to this remuneration, but nobler motives⁹ influence his conduct. Follow him in his study when he examines his cause, and in court on the trial; see him identify himself with the idea of his client, and observe the excitement he feels on his account; proud when he is, conqueror¹⁰, discouraged, sorrowful, if vanquished¹¹; see his whole soul devoted¹² to the cause he has undertaken, and which he believes to be just, then you perceive the elevated man, ennobled by the spirit of his profession, full of sympathy for his cause and his client. He may receive a reward for his services, but such things cannot be paid for with money. No treasures can purcbase the sympathy and devotedness¹³ of a noble mind to benefit humanity; these things are given, not sold. See Honorarium. 6. Ridley says, that the law has appointed no stipend¹⁴ to philosophers and lawyers not because they are not reverend services and worthy¹⁵ of reward or stipend, but because either of them are most honorable professions, whose worthiness¹⁶ is not to be valued or dishonored by money. Yet, in these cases many things are honestly taken, whi ch are not bonestly asked, and the judge may, according to the quality of the cause, and the still of the advocate, and the custom of the court, and, the worth of the matter that is in hand, appoint them a fee answerable to their place. View of the Civil and Eccles. Law, 38, 39.