Mr. Justice Willes, confining himself to the subject in question, concluded, “they cannot before their admission maintain this rule.”
Lord Mansfield and Mr. Justice Yates said they gave no opinion how it might be upon a mandamus.
The Court were unanimous in discharging the rule.
The hint thrown out by three of the Judges was followed up by the Licenciates. On Thursday, 17th Nov. 1768, Sir F. Norton and Mr. Norton moved the Court on behalf of Doctor Edward Archer, and Mr. Walker on behalf of Dr. Fothergill, for writs of mandamus, to oblige the College to admit these two Licenciates, with an intention to try the question “whether the Licenciates had a right to be admitted Fellows;” and that litigation lasted till June 1771. But they only came round to the same point which had been already determined, as above; for these two gentlemen had accepted licenses under the by-law of 1737, and the Court were of opinion “that they ought not afterwards to desert it, and treat it as null and void; and set up a right of admission under the Charter, upon the foundation of this very license which they had accepted under the by-law, upon the supposition that the by-law was a bad one.” So that the return was allowed, upon that objection to their claim. And the intended question remained unsettled. See 5 Burr. 2740, where also will be found the form of the mandamus and the return.[[113]]
The last case on this subject is that of Doctor Stanger. (7 Term Rep. 282, which as the most recent decision, and for the luminous judgment of Lord Kenyon, we have inserted in the appendix.) This, like the cases in Burrows, was argued by the most celebrated lawyers of the day, Mr. Serjeant Adair, Mr. Law, (afterward Lord Ellenborough) Mr. Chambre, (afterward a Judge) Mr. Christian, (now Chief Justice of Ely) having argued in support of the rule; and Mr. Erskine, (afterward Chancellor) Mr. Gibbs, (Chief Justice C. P.) Mr. Dampier, (a Judge) and Mr. Warren, (now Chief Justice of Chester) against it. The rule for a mandamus was discharged;[[114]] it may therefore now be considered as a resolved point of law, that a Doctor of Physic, who has been licensed by the College of Physicians to practise physic in London and within seven miles, cannot claim as a matter of right to be examined in order to his being admitted a Fellow of the College. The College, who have power by their Charter (confirmed by Act of Parliament) to make by-laws, have made by-laws respecting the qualifications of persons to be admitted; by them it is ordained that no person shall be admitted into the class of candidates before admission into the College, unless he has taken a degree of M. D. at Oxford, Cambridge, or Dublin, except in two cases: in one of those cases the President may propose in every other year a Doctor of Physic of a certain standing, and if he be approved by the College, he may be admitted a Fellow; in the other, any Fellow may propose a Doctor of Physic of a certain age and standing, and if approved at certain meetings he may be admitted a Fellow. And it was ruled that these were reasonable by-laws.
The following may now be considered as the legal classes of Physicians. 1st. The actual members of the College of Physicians, divided into their several denominations of President, Elects, and Fellows.
2d. Those who, being graduates of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, are licensed to practise by the College in London and within seven miles during their respective periods of probation, previous to becoming Fellows; these are Candidates who, being Doctors of Physic, have undergone their examination for the Fellowship, and at the end of one year are capable of becoming members or Fellows of the College; and inceptor Candidates,[[115]] who being Bachelors of Physic aspire to the Fellowship.
3d. The medical graduates of our two Universities.
4th. The Licenciates who are admitted by the College to practise in London and within seven miles, and the extra Licenciates who are admitted to practise in the country but not within the privileged district of the College.
These are the laws respecting Physicians as a body Corporate; we have not added their Statutes as they are separately printed, although they have never been published by the authority of the College. It now remains for us to notice their rights as individuals, the exemptions to which they are entitled, and the actions to which they are liable.[[116]]