From lay advocacy towards the rise of trained lawyers
Advocacy in nineteenth-century Kuopio and Vaasa
Abstract
This article discusses advocacy at the town courts of Kuopio and Vaasa in the nineteenth century. Based on court protocols, it asks how common it was to use an advocate, who worked as advocates, how they functioned in the courts, and how advocacy reflects the legal literacy of nineteenth-century townspeople. Legal culture and the judiciary in Finland had traditionally
been lay-dominated, and this was still the case in the nineteenth century. In the early 1800s, educated fulltime advocates were very rare. Lay advocates and town officials often provided advocate services part-time. The legal modernization of the late nineteenth century created a modern, professional corps of educated advocates. This change began in the capital Helsinki. While educated, full-time advocates appeared also in smaller towns, such as Kuopio and Vaasa, laymen still continued to play an important part in advocacy even at the turn of the twentieth century. Town officials did not have a legal education, but they were legally literate, which enabled them to practice advocacy part-time. This article, thus, seeks to broaden the scope of who
we regard as legal actors.
