I JUSTIFICATION OF THE RIGHT OF EVERY WELL EDUCATED PHYSICIAN OF FAIR CHARACTER AND MATURE AGE, RESIDING WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF LONDON, TO BE ADMITTED A FELLOW OF THAT CORPOR'ATIOy, IF FOUND COMPETENT, UPON EXAMINATION, L\ LEARNING AND SKILL. TOGETHER WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THOSE LICENTIATES WHO LATELY ATTEMPTED TO ESTABLISH THAT RIGHT ; INCLUDING THE PLEADINGS OF THE COUNSEL, ^ AND THE OPINIONS OF THE JUDGES, AS TAKEN IN SHORT-HAND BY MR. GURNEY. CHRISTOPHER STANGER, m. d. CRESHAM PROFESSOR OF PHVSIC, AND PHySICI.iN TO THE FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. THUCVDIDES, LIB. I. C. I20 LONDON: PRINTED BY C. VVIIITnNGHAM, (•OR J. JOHNSON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH VARD ; AND J. BUTTERWOKTH, FLEET STRKET. 179S. PREFATORY ADDRESS TO THE LICENTIATES ENGAGED IN THE LATE CONTEST WITH THE COL- LEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF LONDON. GENTLEMEN, YOU have been engaged in an lionour- able attempt to establish the right of every well educated physician, of unim- peached character, competent learning and skill, and mature age, residing within the jurisdiction of the college of phvsicians, to be admitted a member of thK. corpora- tion. This right was original^fy obtained by your predecessors, whose claims were precisely similar to your own, and was granted to them on the specific conditions upon which your claim is founded. It was conferred on them and their suc- cessors for ever, by charter, and con- firmed to them by repeated acts of parlia- ment. The franchise was long amicably enjoyed by them in conjunction with the very class of physicians which now deprive A 2 you iv [ ] you of it. The judicial opinion of Lord Mansfield, repeated and recorded, in which the able judges who were his colleagues in the court of King's Bench concurred, confirmed with the weightiest authority this right, after it had been demonstrated, upon the fullest investigation, by the clearest proofs. Under the sanction of these decisive proofs and conclusive authorities, clearly stated and authenticated, you respectfully claimed of the college an amicable exten- sion of the fellowship, to such of your body as they themselves should ascertain to be within the express description of fitness, pointed out by the charter, repeated in the act of parliament, and explicitly described by Lord Mansfield, as giving a legal title to incorporation. The college had not even the liberality to reply to this just and respectful application. After this contumelious treatment, you consulted three eminent counsel, in order to be assured whether, notwithstanding the strong evidence of your right, and tiic appa- rcntlv V [ ] rently incontestible authority of the court of King's Bench in your favour, any concealed obstacle could be brought forward to evade or defeat the attainment of legal redress. They unanimously, and in the strongest terms, confirmed the legality of your claim, and were decisively of opinion that there could be no legal bar to its establishment. Thus assured, you appointed a member of your body to stand forward, and bring the question to a decision, under the direction of counsel, at the joint expence of those who had the liberality to vindicate the rights of the profession. After much delay, and after having been defeated upon the first application, on ac- count of what was considered by the court an informality in procedure, a decision has been obtained in the court of King's Bench. However astonishing it may appear," after the proofs and authorities which have been asserted to exist, and which it is conceived are proved in the sequel both to exist and govern this case, that decision is fatal to your claim. 11 vi [ ] It has been decided that a physician, whatever his talents, education, attain- ments, and character may be, even a Sy- denham or a Boerhaave, has no right to an examination of his qualifications for incor- poration into the college of physicians, un- less he has obtained a doctor's degree at Oxford or Cambridge, or unless (after he has completed liis thirty-sixth year, and been seven years a licentiate) he be pro- posed through the favour of a fellow on one particular day in the year, at a comitia ma- jora, and be also approved by a majority of the fellows present. It has been determined, that the a,dven- titious circumstance of local study, eveii in the most inadequate medical schools in Europe, gives not only a prior right, but, a right, which operates virtually as an ex- clusive privilege to be examined for the fellowship. This decision is also final in law, with re- gard to the generiil right. From the stage of the process in which it was given, it even precludes an appeal to the House of Lords. vii [ ] Lords. There remains, however, a tribunal which can take cognizance of the justice of your pretensions, of the equity, and even the legahty of the grounds of this decision. That tribunal is the pubHc, and you have sufficient confidence in the goodness of your cause to submit the whole merits to its judg- ment. The public cannot indeed redress the actual grievance, but it can do justice to the pretensions and efibrts of a body, who have stood forward and persevered at con- siderable expence, and with considerable exertion, to vindicate the claims of their predecessors, to emancipate themselves, and to establish the rights of posterity, and the true interests and dignity of their profession. This is a cause which demands public tention. It involves the immediate interests and dignity of a great majority of the phy- sicians of this vast metropolis and its vicinity, and implicates the respectability of nearly all the physicians in Great Britain and its dominions. The decision impeaches the title of this numerous and important body, to the fair honours of their profession. It tends to depreciate the first, and in fact, the only ^iii [ ] only schools ot" physic in Europe. It de- prives the community of the corporate ser- vices of the great hody of those who are qualified to discharge them as. members of the college. It virtually disfranchises a great majority of those who are eligible, and pos- sessed of an inchoate right of admission into a corporation under a charter and act of par- liament. It overturns the legal doctrines and opinions of Lord Mansfield, and of the able judges who filled the bench with him, and shakes the stability of precedent, the solid basis of law. These are circumstances which strongly interest the community; which claim the peculiar attention of the phy- sician, the lawyer, and the legislator; and which forcibly called upon you to lay be- fore the public the whole of this important contest. It has devolved on me to try the issue of this question, in which the claims of an in- dividual are of little importance. Had per- sonal merit been considered, I am sensible that many of our body have much higher pretensions. 1 feel however, I hope, an ho- nourable elevation in having been actively engaged ; [ ix ] engaged in such a cause, and with such co- adjutors. While the facuUy of London re- tain a sense of their own dignity, your exertions will not be forgotten. I have, with your approbation, prefixed a justification of the right for which we have been contending, to an account of our pro- ceedings, and added notes, of considerable extent, to the pleadings of the counsel and opinions of the judges ; the latter are ac- curately printed from an eminent short-hand writer's reports. What I have written has extended much beyond my original inten- tion, from a desire of omitting nothing which might elucidate or corroborate our claim. The work has in consequence been consider- ably enlarged, and the arguments and illus- trations may probably, in some parts, appear redundant. The able and elaborate work of Dr. Ferris upon the subject, to which I am much indebted, as well as the pleadings of our eminent counsel, in a great measure precluded the necessity of farther argument but an ardent desire of confirming the jus- lice of our cause would not suifer me to remain [ ^ ] remain silent, or to restrain my pen where is was perhaps unnecessary to expatiate. I confide, however, in your candour for ex- cusing whatever may be thought either su- perfluous or deficient, as well as the delay in publication, which has been occasioned by various avocations. I cannot conclude without expressing a firm reliance, that though we have failed in establishing our claim in a court of law, we shall succeed in convincing every candid mind which shall investigate the subject of the equity of our title. I hope we shall yet see that claim actually established by the just concession of the college, or the wisdom of the legislature. Till that period arrives, I trust we shall secure all the advantages of the fellowship by an association which shall surpass the college in numbers, utility, and power. In a country enlightened and equi- table as ours, the rights and interests of an important profession must be finally estab- lished, if pursued with firmness and perse- verance. In all events, I shall ever remain firmly convinced, that the rights of the phy- sicians [ ] siclans of London are founded on the im- mutable principles of justice, are supported by the soundest maxims of law, are con- firmed by the weightiest authorities, and warranted by the truest expediency. I am, Gentlemen, With great esteem. Your obedient Servant, CHRISTOPHER STANGER. Lamb's Conduit Strtet, May 6, 1798. A JUSTIFICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE LICENTIATES, CORPORATE monopoly in a liberal and fcientific profeflion, which depreciates the great body of that profeffion, without the llighteft evidence of their inferiority or difqualification, would fcarcely be fuppofed to exift at the clofe of the eighteenth century, in the enlightened metro- polis of Great Britain.