Among the Men of the Law

Miss Jacqueline Hakimian kindly complied with the wish of "The Woman's Voice" by putting to a fine, select company of the men of the law the two following questions:

1 — Do you believe that woman is capable of succeeding in the practice of the legal profession?

2 — Have you changed your opinion of marriage after having experienced it?

For all my welcome to the woman lawyer, I believe that the lawyer's profession demands a special attention which cannot be reconciled with the attention a woman owes to her family and her home. As for the second question, I am, praise God, married and happy in my marriage. Naturally, I was afraid before I ventured upon marriage; now, however, it is marriage that is afraid of me.

I welcome the ladies' coming into the law. Their entry into this honorable profession will increase their number at the Palace of Justice... its atmosphere will brighten and its sky grow clear; our colleagues the lawyers will attend the more eagerly to their cases and their troubles, and we shall find refreshment for our souls on the day we leave the cares of politics and confine ourselves to the law...

2 — As for my opinion of marriage, it may be gathered from the fact that I have passed the bounds of forty and am still running away from it.

We must not forget that we live here in Lebanon. And we, especially in this era of independence, must preserve our virtues, among which is making woman a princess — but within the compass of the family. For that reason I do not care to examine how far woman would succeed in the field of the law were she to work in it, because I want her only at work building up the family — building it in a manner that accords with honorable morals and loftiness of soul and spirit.

2 — I have reached a great old age, and I am married, and I no longer remember anything but my opinion after marriage.

I have a companion who shares with me the sweet and the bitter of this life; that, as I see it, is the wish of the sensible man.

Woman cannot succeed in the field of the law, because the profession of the law requires of her a great deal of lying, and woman is no good at that craft. Moreover, the profession of the law calls for much chatter and empty talk, and woman is far from being like that. For this reason I advise her not to contend with man on his own ground.

I see every success for her in the practice of the fine arts and in playing poker — poker being counted among the fine arts.

2 — I have not married and do not wish to marry, for I have already married freedom, patriotism, dignity, and independence. And I wish to remain independent in my opinion: to stay up when I please, and sleep when I please, and render account to no one.

The burden of pleasing many women is lighter than the burden of pleasing one woman. So ask me nothing further...

I believe that woman would succeed brilliantly were she to practice the law, in proportion to her ability, her alertness, and her devotion to it.

It would be better for woman to specialize in penal cases — that is, those involving children's cases, divorce, and the like.

As for criminal and civil cases, which demand mental and bodily exertions, I do not believe she can outdo man in them.

2 — As for my marriage, I am waiting upon fate.

Woman's function is in the home. In my opinion woman should confine herself to acquiring the sciences, so that she may be a virtuous mother and a superior educator, preparing for Lebanon strong men and men of learning...

2 — Had I not considered marriage a social duty, I would not have married; and the man who seeks to satisfy duty is bound to be happy.

Our Palace of Justice — I want this palace to remain a palace of justice, not a stage for flirtation... Let their eyelids teach flirtation somewhere other than the house of the judiciary.

2 — I married long ago, and I have married off my daughter as well. I have found no difference in life before or after marriage; so let him marry who will, and let him remain a bachelor who will — for nothing changes for the man of sweet character...

I do not merely approve — I greatly desire that woman practice the law, for a fundamental reason in this field. And I greatly desire that she specialize in the penal branches, which demand of her an understanding of children's and women's cases beyond what we men understand of them. Woman must be wholly on man's level, especially in political matters; and the woman of high culture — the lawyer above all — makes a mother and educator who binds her son the more closely to her until the age of fifteen, so that he learns from her and dreams of being like her.

2 — I hold that marriage is one of the necessities of life. And in my view marriage is not fit for the young man of twenty; on the contrary, a man must complete his growth and marry at thirty, or forty — then the atmosphere of the home will be happy.

In my belief, woman will succeed in the law, for she is no less devoted than man in this field. And I am one of the deputies who signed the petition for granting woman the right to vote; there is no true independence except through woman's equality with man in rights.

2 — I have been married these twelve years, and I am the happiest husband upon whom time has eaten and drunk.

I want to examine the obstacles that stand in the way of woman's success in the field of the law, because I do not wish to examine the possibility of woman's invading