How the Supreme Court and the Legislature Illegally Seized Control of the Practice of Law — and Why Every Citizen Should Be Alarmed
In 1967, without a single vote in the New Hampshire House or Senate, and without a single amendment to the State Constitution, the practice of law in the Granite State was quietly taken from the people’s elected representatives and handed to five unelected justices of the New Hampshire Supreme Court.
Most citizens have never heard of this transfer of power. Most lawyers dare not speak of it. Yet it represents one of the clearest violations of the New Hampshire Constitution in the past century — and its consequences reach far beyond the legal profession.
Here is what actually happened, and why it should trouble every New Hampshire citizen who still believes that “government by the people” means something.
1. The Bar Association Was Born Voluntary — and Was Killed by Force
The New Hampshire Bar Association was created by the legislature as a private, voluntary corporation under RSA 292. Its charter explicitly required that any change to its constitution or bylaws be approved by the legislature — the branch that gave it life.
In the late 1960s the Association simply ignored its own charter. It rewrote its bylaws to place itself under the Supreme Court instead of the legislature. No legislative vote. No public hearing. The charter was dead the moment mandatory membership was imposed.
2. Voluntary Became Compulsory Overnight
In most states a lawyer may choose whether or not to join a bar association. In New Hampshire, the Supreme Court decreed that every licensed attorney must belong to — and pay dues to — the New Hampshire Bar Association or lose the right to practice law.
That single rule turned a private voluntary group into an arm of the State, stripped thousands of attorneys of their First Amendment-equivalent rights under the New Hampshire Bill of Rights (Articles 4, 12, 14, 22), and created a compulsory tax (called “dues”) that funds political and ideological activity many lawyers oppose.
3. The Supreme Court Has No Power to Grant or Amend Corporate Charters
The New Hampshire Constitution is crystal clear:
- Part II, Article 5 reserves to the legislature the “power of granting charters of incorporation.”
- Part I, Article 37 forbids any branch from exercising the powers of another.
Yet the Supreme Court, without constitutional authority, effectively granted itself the power to charter and perpetually amend a mandatory corporation that now controls who may earn a living as a lawyer in this state. The legislature never delegated that power — because it cannot constitutionally do so.
4. A Monopoly in Open Defiance of the Constitution
Part II, Article 83 of the New Hampshire Constitution could not be plainer:
“Free and fair competition in the trades and industries is an inherent and essential right of the people… and monopolies are injurious to trade.”
A mandatory bar is the very definition of a state-enforced monopoly on the practice of law. No other profession in New Hampshire is forced to join and fund a single private organization as a condition of working.
5. The Real Danger: When Judges Make Law, No One Is Safe
The unified bar is not just about lawyers. It is about who gets to write the rules that govern your rights.
When the Supreme Court can regulate an entire profession by judicial fiat rather than by laws passed in the open by elected representatives, the separation of powers collapses. Today it is the legal profession. Tomorrow it could be doctors, teachers, electricians — any group the Court decides needs “judicial oversight.”
Due process (Part I, Article 15) requires that no one be deprived of life, liberty, or property “but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land.” “Law of the land” means statutes passed by the legislature, not rules invented by judges in Concord.
This Is Not Ancient History — It Is Happening Right Now
Every year, New Hampshire lawyers are disciplined, suspended, or disbarred under rules written not by the people’s representatives, but by the very court that will hear any appeal. The prosecutor, judge, and jury are all part of the same mandatory organization. That is not justice. That is a star chamber wearing a black robe.
There Is a Remedy — and It Lies with the People
The New Hampshire Constitution still gives every citizen the absolute right to petition the General Court for redress of grievances (Part I, Article 32). The legislature still possesses full constitutional authority to:
- Declare the 1967 takeover unconstitutional and void;
- Return regulation of the legal profession to the elected branches;
- Restore the bar to voluntary status or abolish mandatory membership entirely.
Until that happens, the Granite State lives under a quiet judicial coup that mocks the plain words of its own Constitution.
If New Hampshire is still serious about being the “Live Free or Die” state, it is long past time to end this 58-year abuse of power.
The courthouse doors may be controlled by five justices, but the State House doors still open to the people.
It is time we walked through them.
A formal Remonstrance under Part I, Article 32 is now circulating. Every citizen — lawyer or not — may sign it.
