The plaintiff in error was convicted, in the hustings court of the city of Richmond, of the misdemeanor, under the laws of Virginia, of practicing law as a lawyer without having first obtained a license so to do from the commissioner of the revenue.
To the information the plaintiff in error filed the following plea: 'And for a plea in this behalf the said William L. Royall comes and says that he is an attorney at law, duly licensed and qualified to practice law in the courts of the state of Virginia, under the laws of said state, and that he has been such for more than five years; that on the first day of May 1884, he paid to Samuel C. Greenhow, who is the treasurer of the city of Richmond, Virginia, twenty-five dollars and seventy-five cents, and received from him and the commissioner of the revenue a revenue license as a lawyer for one year from that date; that he has not practiced his profession as a lawyer in the courts of said state between the first day of May, 1885, and the eleventh day of July, 1885; that on the eleventh day of July, 1885, he tendered to Seaton G. Tinsley, who is the deputy for Samuel C. Greenhow, one coupon for fifteen dollars, and ten dollars in United States treasury notes, in payment of his license tax as an attorney at law for the ensuing year, and seventy-five cents in silver coin for the fee of the commissioner of the revenue; that said coupon was cut from a bond issued by the state of Virginia under the provisions of an act of the general assembly approved March 30, 1871, entitled 'An act to provide for the funding and payment of the public debt;' that it was overdue and past maturity, and bore upon its face the contract of the state of Virginia that it should be received in payment of all taxes, debts, demanded of said due to the said state; that when he made said tender he demanded of said Greenhow a certificate in writing, stating that he had deposited with him said coupon and money, but the said Greenhow, by his said deputy, refused to receive said coupon and money for any purpose whatever, and refused to give him said certificate or any other certificate; that he refused to receive said coupon and money, because an act of the general assembly of the state of Virginia approved February 7, 1884, forbade him to receive said license tax in coupons, and because the 112th section of an act of the general assembly of said state approved March 15, 1884, provides that all license taxes shall be paid in current money of the United States, and not in coupons; that thereupon the defendant made the affidavit hereto attached, marked 'A,' and presented it to R. B. Munford, who is the commissioner of the revenue for the city of Richmond, and demanded of him a revenue license, as an attorney at law, and at the same time he presented to the said Munford the paper hereto attached, marked 'B,' and at the same time he offered to pay the said Munford any and all fees that he was entitled to receive before issuing said license, but the said Munford refused to issue to defendant a license as an attorney at law; that thereafter defendant accepted the employment of a client who was being prosecuted for a misdemeanor in this honorable court, and assisted in his defense, and thus practiced his profession as a lawyer without a revenue license, but said professional act was done after defendant had made the efforts hereinbefore described to obtain a revenue license, and this he is ready to verify.'
The affidavit referred to in the plea set forth the facts of the tender, and the paper marked 'B' was the usual form of an application for a revenue license. To this plea the commonwealth filed a general demurrer, which was sustained by the court, on the ground that the defendant had no right to practice his profession as an attorney at law after the tender of the coupons and money, as described in the plea, without first having obtained a license therefor. The defendant then pleaded not guilty, and a trial was had, resulting in a verdict finding the defendant guilty and assessing his fine at $30.