GUILD 307 )k care of the families of deceased members. Lt a later period a union of kindred guilds en- abled workmen to get employment in any city. Among the guilds of the middle ages which exercised a widespread influence, were the brotherhoods of artisans (masons, carpenters, workers in bronze and iron, painters of stained glass, &c.), who were employed on public con- structions. Even before the appearance of the ogival or Gothic style of architecture, the erec- tion of the beautiful round-arched cathedrals and municipal edifices of eastern and western Europe had employed hosts of craftsmen and artists. Their guilds had been everywhere special objects of favor from the civil and ecclesiastical authorities ; the popes themselves bestowing on them the most coveted franchises and immunities. They were taken under the pontifical protection and declared free from the burdens which weighed on the masses, and from which the other trades and professions were not exempt. They were in consequence denominated "free." Guilds were not limit- ed to merchants, mechanics, and laborers ; the liberal arts and the higher professions had also kindred organizations. In France the " order of advocates " has been, from the 14th century at least, a guild with its head in Paris and branches in all the cities. The distinction be- tween the judicial body and the bar (la magis- trature et le barreau) became at an early date quite marked, one profession excluding the other, although both were inseparable coordi- nates in the ^administration of justice. St. Louis in his JEtablissemens has several statu- tory enactments concerning the body of ad- vocates or avantparliers. The edicts of 1274 and 1291, issued by his successors, regulate the maximum fee to be paid an advocate in each case. In 1315 the advocates of Toulouse gave, as a body, a large sum toward the ex- penses of the war in Flanders. An order of the parliament of Paris in 1344 prescribes that no lawyer shall be heard in court whose name is not inscribed on the roll of advo- cates (rotulus nominum advocatorum) ; and a royal edict of 1364 commands all advocates to plead gratuitously the cause of the poor. In every city where there was a parliament they had their dean or bdtonnier, elected by them- selves, and a council which judged of the qualifications for membership. The applicant must be a graduate, licentiate, or doctor in laws, and after his admission pass three years as a stagiaire ; the council then decided whether his name should be placed on the roll. When this had been done, the advocate had the right of pleading in any court of the land where his services were asked for. The profession was incompatible with any salaried function, commercial pursuit, or labor for wa- ges, as well as with the position of notary, avoue, or clerk ; but not with any dignity that was purely honorific. The amount of their fees was left to the generosity of the client ; any attempt to exact them or sue for them entailed expulsion from the order. These qualifications and privileges are substantially true of the or- der in its present state. It was suppressed in 1790, and reestablished with many limitations in 1810, but was not looked upon with favor by Napoleon I. Connected with the " order of advocates " in France was la basoche, or guild of lawyers' apprentices (from Lat. basilica, a court of law, and old Fr. baseugue and basogue) of the parliament of Paris. This guild was authorized by Philip the Fair in 1303. It pre- served throughout its existence the character of an essentially lay organization. The title of kingdom (royaume de la basoche) was be- stowed upon it from its infancy, and its chief was authorized by royal edict to assume the title of king, to wear the robes of royalty, and to surround himself with high officers named after those of the crown, and vested within the brotherhood with supreme civil and crimi- nal jurisdiction. The king of this guild had his own great seal, kept by his high chancellor ; coined money of gold and silver, which was a legal currency in all transactions between members of the guild and all who trafficked with them ; and had his army, consisting of the members mounted and equipped. This army sometimes paraded as many as 10,000 cavaliers arrayed in blue and yellow ; it fur- nished a cavalry corps of 6,000 members to Henry II. in 1548, which aided effectively in quelling the revolt in Guienne. Their charter obliged them to parade annually; and the pageant never failed to draw immense crowds to Paris, all the more so as they soon added to the military spectacle dramatic representations, in which the vices of all classes in church and state were held up to merciless ridicule. This custom and their numbers so alarmed the cruel and superstitious Henry III. that he suppressed the office and title of king of la basoche, and forbade their parades and representations. Thus deprived of their prestige, they main- tained their organization down to the end of the last century, and furnished an armed bat- talion at the commencement of the French revolution, which figured prominently on sev- eral occasions, appearing for the last time at the assault on the Bastile. The basochiens were suppressed with all other corporations in 1791. Besides the above organization among the clerks of the Parisian parliament, the chd- telet and the cour des comptes had their ba- soches. The provincial parliaments organized guilds similar to that of the capital, and vying with it in influence, turbulence, literary activi- ty, and joyousness of spirit. The members of the Scottish bar form a guild, with the title of faculty of advocates, which has existed from immemorial custom, with constitutional privi- leges founded on no statute or charter. The body formed itself gradually from time to time on the model of the French guilds of advo- cates, appointing like them a dean, who is their presiding officer. A "guild of literature and art " was originated in 1851 by Charles Dick-
