Is it legal to use the title of Esquire in the state of Maryland?

Question

I can't find anything on any search engine. I found something on Wikipedia that said that it's illegal in some states, because they have laws that state that someone who is not in possesion of a law degree cannot say that they are a practicing attorney.

Answer 1

Why should you want to use it in the first place?

an esquire is a member of the landed gentry, or a younger son of nobility with no title of his own... the US have no gentry or nobility, so there is no population base to use that title, even if it's been appropriated by practitioners of law... Are you a lawyer?

Because otherwise, all you will achieve by conferring a meaningless honorific upon yourself is being ridiculous.

Answer 2

The title of Esquire is/was a title of nobility, prohibited by the Constitution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esquire

The wikipedia article states that the title has no legal meaning and can be used by anyone though it is generally interpreted as meaning that one is a bar member.
I'd search the Maryland Code, but I'm having an issue with the java code on lexis-nexis currently. I would guess that there is no specific restriction, but Maryland laws are rather strange sometimes.

In any case the following should be sufficient info and the opinion does refer to a Maryland SC opinion(?) is what the reference looks like.
------begin quote
"an 'esquire' has no relation to law. It is often added to the names of poets or artists; and the term may be applied to a landed proprietor or a country squire; that being one of courtesy. . . . Nowhere do we find that the term 'esquire' denotes an attorney at law.

Antonelli v. Silvestri, 137 N.E.2d 146, 147-48 (Ohio App. 1955).

"The only ethical question posed by the use of the title "esquire" by lawyers acting in a non-legal capacity is whether such use if misleading. See DR 1-102(A)(4) (providing that a lawyer shall not engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation); DR 2-101(A). We do not believe it is. DR 2-101(C)(1) permits a lawyer to use, in connection with his or her name, a designation indicating training in the law, such as "J.D." See ABA Formal Op. 321 (1969); N.Y. State 105(a) (1969); Maryland 85-21 (1984). Accord D.C. Op. 183 (1987); Iowa Op. 85-14 (1986). But see Philadelphia Op. 86-98 (1986). The title "esquire" does not legally designate an individual as a lawyer because it is not conferred in this country as an academic degree or license. It has, however, been adopted by lawyers by convention as a form of designation. Thus, one using the title in the United States is identifying himself or herself as a lawyer. But, just as a lawyer may identify his or her professional affiliation in a social context, see N.Y. State 105(a) (1969), and that a non-admitted law school graduate may use the title "J.D." on business cards and letterhead, see Maryland 85-21 (1984), the use of the title "esquire" by a lawyer in a non-legal context does not constitute an ethical transgression. "
-quoted from:
http://www.nycbar.org/Publications/reports/show_html.php?rid=177
which is also found here:
http://www.uslawbooks.com/books/esquire.htm

Of interest may also be this discussion thread:
http://www.abanet.org/soloseznet/threads/0505/esq.html

As an aside the 'original 13th amendment' providing for loss of citizenship for accepting a title of nobility has been argued to have been properly ratified.
See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_missing_thirteenth_amendment

And supposedly on December 2, 1817 John Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State, wrote to Buck (an attorney) regarding the position Buck had been assigned. The letter allegedly reads:

"...if it should be the opinion of this Government that the acceptance on your part of the Commission under which it was granted did not interfere with your citizenship.
It is the opinion of the Executive that under the 13th amendment to the constitution by the acceptance of such an appointment from any foreign Government, a citizen of the United States ceases to enjoy that character, and becomes incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under the United States or either of them... J.Q.A."

Though the question arises then had Buck received some title of nobility, was he in fact conferred an Esquire or other title by the Crown?