In Act 5, Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet and his friend Horatio walk through a cemetery where two men are digging a grave. Hamlet asks the gravediggers about one of the skulls uncovered during the digging, and the gravediggers tell him it is the skull of the king’s jester, Yorick. As he holds Yorick’s skull in his hands, Hamlet laments, “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times.” Just as Hamlet lamented the death of his beloved Yorick, lawyers must now lament the death of civility in the practice of law. But must we stand idly by as we lament civility’s death, or is there something we can do to revive civility as it gasps its last breaths?

What is civility? Webster’s Dictionary defines “civility” as “civilized conduct, especially courtesy and politeness.” The word “civility” has a long history. The Latin word “civis,” meaning “citizen” originated after the Romans founded their republic, about five hundred years before Christ. The word evolved into “civitas,” meaning the rights and duties of citizenship, and then into “civilitas,” meaning the art and science of citizenship. It meant good behavior for the greater common good. It was both a private virtue and a public necessity that helped bind the state together. The English word “civility” came from the French word “civilite,” which was transplanted to England by the French conquerors of England. In England, civility came to signify proper conduct between lords and the free men who interacted with them. It signified deference, cooperation, service and reciprocal rights and duties. During the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, civility came to be appreciated as an anchor of humanity that meant humans acting as their best, most noble selves.

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