Topeka ? Kansas’ highest court on Tuesday ordered an indefinite jail term for a man accused of practicing law without a license after having him arrested to force him to show up for a hearing.

The Supreme Court ruled that David Martin Price, 47, of Topeka, won’t be released until he signs an agreement not to practice law again. Price remained free on $5,000 bond, but the court directed him to report to jail on Thursday. It also ordered him to pay for court costs.

Court officials believe a 1989 case was the last time the justices dealt with someone accused of practicing law illegally.

Price is being jailed for contempt. The court concluded that he violated a December 2007 order designed to prevent him from providing legal advice. He also failed to show up for a July 20 hearing in his case, which led to his arrest.

Price argued that although he has tried to help people with legal problems, he has not actually practiced law. He also contends the state is persecuting him for helping an elderly Topeka-area man in a dispute with a state agency.

“The common person doesn’t have any justice,” Price said after the court’s decision. “They continue to violate law, to persecute me, to go after me.”

Ashley Anstaett, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office, said, “Our job is to enforce the law, which includes judicial orders.”

The attorney general’s office has tried for three years to prevent Price, his wife and an associate from providing legal advice through an association, Pro Se Advocates.

In 2006, the attorney general’s office said, it received a complaint from a couple who had relied on Price and his associates for research and advocacy. The office filed a petition directly with the Supreme Court because the court licenses and regulates attorneys in Kansas.

Price has been critical of state and local officials. In 2000, he and his wife, acting as their own attorneys, filed a federal lawsuit against Topeka police and four officers, alleging civil rights violations in an assault case against Price that later was dismissed. A federal judge dismissed the Prices’ lawsuit in 2002 before it went to trial.

The Supreme Court’s December 2007 decision prohibited Price from acting as anyone’s attorney or providing legal advice.

Price sent a letter in July 2008 to the attorney general’s office on behalf of Mayetta resident Eldon Ray, demanding that the state pay Ray $3,122. Ray, now 85, was hoping to recoup legal expenses he had incurred by overseeing construction of an addition at his church.

A state board had concluded in 2006 that Ray had acted as an unlicensed architect, which he disputes, and it fined him $500. Legislators criticized the board and directed it to not pursue the case further, but lawmakers have not agreed to let the state cover Ray’s expenses.

Ray said after the Supreme Court’s hearing that Price wasn’t acting as his attorney, just providing help. Price contends he is not practicing law unless he signs court papers or publicly identifies himself as someone’s attorney.

“He didn’t violate the law,” Ray said. “He offered to help because I needed help.”

Deputy Attorney General Angela Wilson, who leads the office’s consumer protection division, said practicing law involves “a vast array” of services outside filing court papers and representing someone publicly.

“If you’re going to practice in a certain area, you’ve got to be competent in that area,” Wilson told the justices.