Is compelled representation of an indigent in a criminal case a taking of property without just compensation?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from Cunningham v. Superior Court (Ventura County), 176 Cal.App.3d 349, 222 Cal.Rptr. 44 (Cal. App. 1986):

In rejecting the claim that compelled representation of an indigent in a criminal case constituted a taking of property without just compensation, the court in United States v. Dillon, supra, 346 F.2d 633, 636, remarked that the bar's duty to represent indigents upon court order is "an ancient tradition of the legal profession" dating back to fifteenth century England and colonial America. "An applicant for admission to practice law may justly be deemed to be aware of the traditions of the profession which he is joining, and to know that one of these traditions is that a lawyer is an officer of the court obligated to represent indigents for little or no compensation upon court order. Thus, the lawyer has consented to, and assumed, this obligation and when he is called upon to fulfill it, he cannot contend that it is a 'taking of his services.' " (Id., at p. 635.)

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