By Stephen Smoot
“The very definition of a Republic, is ‘an Empire of Laws, and not of men.’”
John Adams and John Marshall, two of the greatest jurists in American, possibly in world history, agreed on this point. Rule of law creates order. Rule by the whims of men, especially unfettered monarchs, often leads to chaos. America’s Founding Fathers endeavored to establish such a Republic as a benefit to its people and as a model to the world.
Even in an “Empire of Laws,” however, the system needs honest and capable men to interpret, advocate, administer, and explain those laws. The American “rule of law” system was always intended to remain clear and easily understood, but has increasingly run afoul of those qualities ever since. Those caught in problems with the law have also increasingly needed the services of attorneys to sort all that out.
Three generations of men named George Sponaugle have labored in Pendleton County to represent clients requiring advice, assistance, or advocacy within that “Empire of Laws.” George Sponaugle II’s five decades of public and private practice service to the law and his clients was honored earlier this month in a Charleston ceremony.
“I happen to be one of those that practiced for 50 years,” shared Sponaugle, but he also admitted that had not always been his plan. “When I started college,” he said, “my dad was an attorney. I thought I did not want that.”
He shared that he started off studying engineering, “but I didn’t like that either,” and then settled on geology, getting his bachelors of science in that field. Sponaugle had planned to work for an oil company when he concluded his studies.
But the law is rarely just a “job” for those who embark upon it. Many have seen service and work within it as a near-religious vocation and calling. As Sponaugle came toward the conclusion of his studies, that call grew more pronounced as he wrestled with the need to learn more, his thought process being “I’d like to know what the law is so I know what my rights are and what my rights are not.”
Or more succinctly, “what the government can do and what it cannot do.”
He followed that calling thus inspired to the Vanderbilt University School of Law.
Once he graduated and moved back to establish himself as a Pendleton County attorney, Sponaugle’s legal work and career followed two different tracks.
“I always enjoyed helping people out when they get into binds,” explained Sponaugle, who added, “I derived a lot of satisfaction from it.” Much of his private practice centered on civil law, where he could “explain what the law was, what they could do or couldn’t do.”
Some attorneys prefer to complicate the law for their clients, to present themselves as a sort of wizard who can master the mysteries. Sponaugle was never that type of lawyer. A proper system of rule of law keeps it simple enough for any citizen to understand. That said, complex problems sometimes require complex solutions, in the law and elsewhere. Lawyers should endeavor to make the complex understandable as much as possible.
Sponaugle takes pride in “explaining what the law was, what they could do and couldn’t do.” He went on to elaborate that his maxim was “don’t tell your clients that you can’t do something. Find a way for them to do it legally,” but also in the cause of serving or promoting justice.
He has shared that during his career, law and government has grown substantially more complex, providing the rules of criminal procedure as just a single example. Additionally, he explained that in former times “rules were forgiving” and provided flexibility. “Now they’re not so forgiving.” Additionally, the increase of procedures and protocols surrounding civil litigation means “it’s now impossible for the little man to afford litigation” because all of that is added work for the lawyer or legal team.
Public service in the law also called to Sponaugle. Sir William Blackstone, another of history’s great jurists, explained that “The law which restrains a man from doing mischief to his fellow citizens, though it diminishes the natural, increases the civil liberty of mankind.”
In practical terms, the county prosecutor serves as the sword and the shield of the law in terms of being a vital part of restraining people from doing mischief to each other. Isaac Sponaugle, officially the third generation of the Sponaugles who have also practiced as attorneys, shared that his father and grandfather had both served as Pendleton County prosecutors for about four decades.
George Sponaugle II started as an assistant, then became the county prosecutor until 1986. “Dad had two or three murder cases to prosecute in the 80s,” Isaac Sponaugle observed. The salary at the time only compensated the prosecutor at $10,000 per year, so at the time, it was seen in many areas as a part time position.
Isaac Sponaugle went on to share that his father is “extremely intelligent and thoughtful” and was “well-reasoned and deliberate” in conversation and in advocating for his clients…“a wise individual with a lot of knowledge,” he added.
That knowledge comes along with a mind that never tires of learning, regardless of whether that comes from books, professional, or life experience. “He’s seen, or had, or been involved in any kind of case there is . . . practically, literally any kind of case you can think of” Isaac Sponaugle stated, going on to say that success in these came because “his real world knowledge is unparalleled.”
And more than just George Sponaugle II’s son would say that “he’s been a treasure for the county.”
