s a counsellor learned in the law, admitted to plead at the bar, and there to take upon him the protection and defence of clients. "Barristers," observes Mr Justice Blackstone, "are in our old books styled apprentices (apprentices ad legem), being looked upon as merely learners, and not qualified to execute the full office of an advocate till they were sixteen years' standing; at which time, according to Fortescue, they might be called to the state and degree of serjeants, or servientes ad legem." According to Dugdale, they seem to have been first appointed by an ordinance in parliament of 20th Edward I.

The rank or degree of barrister-at-law is conferred exclusively by the inns of court, and its possession constitutes an indispensable qualification for practising as an advocate in the superior courts at Westminster.

In order to be entitled to be called to the bar, it is necessary for the student to have kept commons for three years, that is, twelve terms, by dining in the hall of the society of which he is entered, three times at least in each term. The usual course is to attend as a student in the chambers of a practising barrister, conveyancer, or special pleader, in order to attain a knowledge of the practice and of the principles of the law. Under the new regulations of Hilary term 1853, no student is eligible to be called to the bar who shall not have satisfactorily passed a public examination, or have attended during one whole year the lectures of two of the readers appointed on—1. Constitutional Law and Legal History; 2. Equity; 3. Jurisprudence and the Civil Law; 4. The Law of Real Property; and 5. The Common Law of England. The Council of Legal Education have also instituted a public examination of candidates for honours or certificates, entitling students to be called to the bar two terms before the regular period; and such students rank in seniority over all other students called on the same day.

In accordance with the notions derived from the ancient Roman orators or patrons, who practised gratis for honour or to gain influence, the fees of counsel are given, not as locatio vel conductio, but as quidam honorarium, and hence no action can be maintained for their amount.

Counsel is not answerable for any matter spoken by him relating to the cause in hand and suggested in his instructions, even though it prove untrue and reflect on another's reputation; but it is otherwise if the matter be not pertinent; and under the statute of Westm. I (3d Edward I. cap. 28) they are punishable with imprisonment for a year and a day, and perpetual silence in the courts, if guilty of deceit or collusion; or they may for gross misconduct be disbarred by the benchers of their inn of court. See ADVOCATE. (H.M.—M.)