# How and when did "Esquire" come to mean "lawyer", and only "lawyer", in the U.S.? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 2, 2014, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-and-when-did-esquire-come-to-mean-lawyer-and-only-lawyer-in-the-u-s/685146 "2014-04-02T06:24:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-and-when-did-esquire-come-to-mean-lawyer-and-only-lawyer-in-the-u-s/685146/1 "2014-04-02T06:24:50Z")
Originally, in England, an esquire was a sort of servant or apprentice to a knight, usually himself of high birth and likely to become a knight in his turn. In its shorter form _squire_ the word came to be associated with untitled members of the upper classes, particularly but not only if they owned extensive working estates that yielded an income. As such, these squires often retained certain powers and duties that had gone with the land since the remote past, such as appointing vicars to local parishes and acting as a justice of the peace in minor cases. This seems to have lasted well into the 20th Century, when it was a plot point in a number of P.G. Wodehouse stories. In time the postnomial _Esquire_ or _Esq._ would be extended by courtesy to most professionals or to just about anyone who possessed an advanced degree (very few, of course, until fairly recently). However, an important caveat was that you didn’t sign yourself esquire; rather it was a title accorded to you by others as a mark of respect, or at least of what one might call exalted courtesy. You wouldn’t use the title in the return address of your stationery, but your friends and colleagues might append it to your name when addressing mail to you. Today in the United States, the title Esquire is virtually synonymous with “Attorney at Law”. And although one traditionally wasn’t supposed to apply the title to one’s own name, one often sees it now on attorneys’ business cards, and in the directories of office buildings. One very obvious advantage in the use of Esquire or Esq is that it requires far fewer letters than “Attorney at Law”. But when did this usage become so widespread? I’m pretty sure it was within my lifetime. Growing up in the 1960s and 70s, if I thought about it at all, an Esquire was a quaint figure from a Victorian novel. The eponymous character referred to by Disneyland’s “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” was an Esquire, but he certainly wasn’t a lawyer. For a period in the early 1970s, a friend and I would call each other Esquire when joking around; but the allusion here was to fictional characters like Phileas Fogg, or IRL to those late Victorian Englishmen who belonged to posh clubs and/or mounted daring long distance balloon flights and the like. I don’t think lawyers were using the title then the way they are now. But suddenly by the mid to late 1980s, it seemed to be nearly universal. If memory serves, none of the fifty states actually prohibits non-lawyers from using the the title Esquire, but the ABA does caution against doing so in any way that might improperly imply a privileged attorney-client relationship. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-and-when-did-esquire-come-to-mean-lawyer-and-only-lawyer-in-the-u-s/685146/2 "2014-04-02T08:42:02Z")
I’m pretty sure I remember the title Esquire being used by lawyers in the late 1960’s, when I was still in high school. My big brother was studying to be a lawyer at the time, and I remember hearing that from him at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-and-when-did-esquire-come-to-mean-lawyer-and-only-lawyer-in-the-u-s/685146/3 "2014-04-02T11:02:11Z")
Yeah, I get a little tingle of aristocratic largesse when I get letters addressed to me as ‘Malden Capell, _Esquire_’, but I’ve never known what it signified. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-and-when-did-esquire-come-to-mean-lawyer-and-only-lawyer-in-the-u-s/685146/4 "2014-04-02T18:50:44Z")
One can also acquire the term “Esquire” through unknown means in San Dimas, California. Now why is “Master” used only to address rich children and guys unfortunately named Bates? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-and-when-did-esquire-come-to-mean-lawyer-and-only-lawyer-in-the-u-s/685146/5 "2014-04-02T19:35:52Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > One can also acquire the term “Esquire” through unknown means in San Dimas, California. It is rumored that one must: a) be excellent to each other, and b) party on, dudes! ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-and-when-did-esquire-come-to-mean-lawyer-and-only-lawyer-in-the-u-s/685146/6 "2014-04-02T19:42:24Z")
I should have said at the outset that I didn’t know any lawyers, really, while I was growing up so that might account for my impressions on the custom. Still, in my city at least it didn’t seem to be so widespread. For example, it wasn’t until fairly recently that I saw the title in the lobby directory of a building. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-and-when-did-esquire-come-to-mean-lawyer-and-only-lawyer-in-the-u-s/685146/7 "2014-04-03T03:10:02Z")
The Master [speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1465/how-can-i-go-about-getting-the-title-esquire): > [@](#): > > The answer is that any snob in the world (or at least in the U.S.) can use the title. In fact, “squire” is a contraction of “esquire.” I went to Black’s Law Dictionary and they say (5th Ed., p. 489): “In Eng. law, a title of dignity above gentleman and below knight. Also a title of office given to sheriffs, serjeants, and and barristers at law, justices of the peace, and others. In the U.S., title commonly after the name of an attorney; e.g., John J. Jones, Esquire.” The entry for Gentleman reads: “In its Engl. origin, this term formerly referred to a man of noble or gentle birth; one belonging to the landed gentry; a man of independent means; all above the rank of Yeomen.” (Id. at 618.) Knight means: “In Eng. law, the next personal dignity after the nobility.” (Id. at 783.) > > Now of course in England there’s this whole business about hereditary nobility and getting knighted and all that, so it might be a little risky to start calling yourself esquire there. (Although what’s going to happen? The Snob Cops arrest you?) But we’re not in England, we’re in America! The land of the free, the home of the brave! You can call yourself anything you want … although you do take the risk that you will be thought a snooty jerk. Since this has never bothered lawyers, they have gotten into the habit of calling each other esquire. This is a little like elected officials addressing each other as “honorable,” which to me seems a classic case of advertising something after it’s gone. But I digress. It appears to have begun as a courtesy title given to justices of the peace in the 18th century: > [@](#): > > This case is, in all respects but one, the same as Rue v. Mitchell. In that, the presiding magistrate was expressly averred to be a justice of the peace. “You have taken a false oath before Squire Rush (meaning that the said plaintiff had committed perjury before William Rush, Esquire, one of the justices of the peace, &c.”) Such were the words and the innuendo. Here they are: “You have before this taken a false oath for your father against me in a suit before Squire Housel, and swore me out of some money (thereby meaning in a suit by the father of the said James against the said John, before Philip Housel, Esquire, he, the said James, had sworn falsely and committed perjury.”) The express averment of magisterial character is, therefore wanting. But its office is at most only to show with more certainty the existence of jurisdiction. It, however, by no means necessarily shows it. The jurisdiction of a justice is limited, not only in its amount, but in the range of its objects; and to call the presiding magistrate a justice is just as far from saying he had jurisdiction in the particular cause as to call him, in popular language, a squire. There was no averment of jurisdiction in Rue v. Mitchell; and it would therefore seem to be inferrible from the imputation of perjury as a consequence of it. Beside, **the import of the word esquire, or squire, is, in popular parlance, of which the court will take notice, precisely the same as that of justice** ; and in this respect, too, the difference is but a formal one. > > _Call v. Forseman_, 5 Watts 331, 1836 WL 3037 (Pa. 1836). Almost every lawyer styles himself or herself as esquire, but relatively few do it in nonprofessional settings. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-and-when-did-esquire-come-to-mean-lawyer-and-only-lawyer-in-the-u-s/685146/8 "2014-04-03T12:15:48Z")
Note that this is an American thing. Lawyers in Canada don’t. It’s always puzzled me why lawyers in a republican country cling to this fossil from a hierarchical, monarchical society. ---
**Author:** ![Oswald\_Bastable](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oswald_bastable/32/214_2.png) [@Oswald\_Bastable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oswald_Bastable)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-and-when-did-esquire-come-to-mean-lawyer-and-only-lawyer-in-the-u-s/685146/9 "2014-04-03T12:36:11Z")
In the UK, it’s still used, by some, as an old fashioned and very formal form of address (replacing Mr, but as a suffix, obviously) for any man, when contacting them on a formal matter. It’s a traditional way of being complimentary to the rank and file by inflating their social standing. I remember, at least up to some time in the 90’s (1990’s that is) still receiving paper bank statements addressed to O.Bastable, Esq. Can’t remember the last time I got a paper bank statement, so I have no idea if UK banks still use it as a standard term of address for male customers. OB ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-and-when-did-esquire-come-to-mean-lawyer-and-only-lawyer-in-the-u-s/685146/10 "2014-04-03T12:59:55Z")
Two previous threads on this topic: [Use of ‘esquire’ illegal?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=246479) - commenting on the Cecil column linked to above. [Why don’t lawyers have titles?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=283002) The first thread got extraordinarily heated, for a thread commenting on one of Cecil’s columns; almost Pit-like. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-and-when-did-esquire-come-to-mean-lawyer-and-only-lawyer-in-the-u-s/685146/11 "2014-04-03T13:13:54Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Note that this is an American thing. Lawyers in Canada don’t. It’s always puzzled me why lawyers in a republican country cling to this fossil from a hierarchical, monarchical society. We are a hierarchical society. We just like to pretend we’re not. ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-and-when-did-esquire-come-to-mean-lawyer-and-only-lawyer-in-the-u-s/685146/12 "2014-04-03T17:33:50Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Note that this is an American thing. Lawyers in Canada don’t. It’s always puzzled me why lawyers in a republican country cling to this fossil from a hierarchical, monarchical society. > [@](#): > > We are a hierarchical society. We just like to pretend we’re not. If any group is impressed by their own status and prestige, surely lawyers are near the front of the line. It always semi-amuses me when I call a law office and ask to speak with a lawyer (I do so for work on occassion), and the response is “I’ll see if _Attorney_ Jones is available.” Increasingly (or at least it’s increasing to my attention), lawyers want to use “Attorney” as an honorific, in much the same manner as physicians like to be called “Doctor”. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-and-when-did-esquire-come-to-mean-lawyer-and-only-lawyer-in-the-u-s/685146/13 "2014-04-04T00:42:40Z")
Again, that is not a universal trait amongst lawyers; maybe it is in the US. Just like I’ve not seen the use of “esquire” in Canada, I’ve never heard “Attorney” used as an honorific. (We don’t use the term at all, anyway, but as an honorific? That would trigger some serious ribbing from colleagues at the bar.) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-and-when-did-esquire-come-to-mean-lawyer-and-only-lawyer-in-the-u-s/685146/14 "2014-04-04T00:51:08Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > If any group is impressed by their own status and prestige, surely lawyers are near the front of the line. It always semi-amuses me when I call a law office and ask to speak with a lawyer (I do so for work on occassion), and the response is “I’ll see if _Attorney_ Jones is available.” Increasingly (or at least it’s increasing to my attention), lawyers want to use “Attorney” as an honorific, in much the same manner as physicians like to be called “Doctor”. That might be a function of the type of lawyers you work with. ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-and-when-did-esquire-come-to-mean-lawyer-and-only-lawyer-in-the-u-s/685146/15 "2014-04-04T13:27:44Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > That might be a function of the type of lawyers you work with. It isn’t very common here in the DC area. I’ve heard it maybe once or twice, and the it was calling a much older attorney’s office. It sounded extremely odd to me then. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-and-when-did-esquire-come-to-mean-lawyer-and-only-lawyer-in-the-u-s/685146/16 "2014-04-05T02:57:22Z")
I grew up in the 60’s in a family chock full of lawyers and nobody ever used Esquire, that I recall. Every time I saw it, it seemed a bit self-aggrandizing. It’s perfectly at home in a world where lawyers advertise on TV.