Legal Malpractice

Judiciary Law 487 - The Oldest Statute in Law?

By (Andrew Lavoott Bluestone)

It's not the 10 Commandments, and it's not the Magna Carta, but as this Court of Appeals case demonstrates, it's not far off.  Amalfitano v. Rosenberg is a new Court of Appeals decision which traces Judiciary Law section 487 all the way back to 1275. 

Deceit, or a chronic pattern of extreme deceptive practice is the touchstone of this almost 750 year old law.  The Court of Appeals found "remarkable" how consistent it has remained in the incarnations between the First Statue of Westminster (1275) to the deceit statute of 1787, to the 1836 Revision, through the 1881 Penal Code to Section 79 of the Code of Civil Procedure, to the Penal Code of 1909 to the Penal Code of 1965 to today's Judiciary Law.

Running as a thread through the entire history of this law is the concept that attorneys have a higher duty to truth and honest dealings, and in their absence, pay not only a criminal but an enhanced financial penalty.  There is little to scare an attorney more than jail and a treble fine.

Full post as published by New York Attorney Malpractice Blog on February 17, 2009 (boomark / email).