upon his being brought before the court in ſo defenceleſs a condition, the judges are bound to take care of his intereſts, and they ſhall admit the beſt plea in his behalf that any one preſent can ſuggeſt[1]. But, as in the Roman law "cum olim in uſu ſuiſſet, alterius nomine agi non poſſe, ſed, quia hoc non minimam incommoditatem habebat, coeperunt homines per procuratores litigare[2]," ſo with us, upon the ſame principle of convenience, it is now permitted in general, by divers antient ſtatutes, whereof the firſt is ſtatute Weſt. 2. c. 10. that attorneys may be made to proſecute or defend any action in the abſence of the parties to the ſuit. Theſe attorneys are now formed into a regular corps; they are admitted to the execution of their office by the ſuperior courts of Weſtminſter-hall; and are in all points officers of the reſpective courts in which they are admitted: and, as they have many privileges on account of their attendance there, ſo they are peculiarly ſubject to the cenſure and animadverſion of the judges. No man can practiſe as an attorney in any of thoſe courts, but ſuch as is admitted and ſworn an attorney of that particular court: an attorney of the court of king's bench cannot practice in the court of common pleas; nor vice verſa. To practice in the court of chancery it is alſo neceſſary to be admitted a ſolicitor therein: and by the ſtatute 22 Geo. II. c. 46. no perſon ſhall act as an attorney at the court of quarter ſeſſions, but ſuch as has been regularly admitted in ſome ſuperior court of record. So early as the ſtatute 4 Hen. IV. c. 18. it was enacted, that attorneys ſhould be examined by the judges, and none admitted but ſuch as were virtuous, learned, and ſworn to do their duty. And many ſubſequent ſtatutes[3] have laid them under farther regulations.
Of advocates, or (as we generally call them) counſel, there are two ſpecies or degrees; barriſters, and ſerjeants. The former are admitted after a conſiderable period of ſtudy, or at leaſt ſtanding, in the inns of court[4]; and are in our old books ſtiled
n Bro. Abr. t. ideot. I. o Inſt. 4. tit. 10. p 3 Jac. I. c. 7. 12 Geo. I. c. 29. 2 Geo. II. c. 23. 22 Geo. II. c. 46. 23 Geo. II. c. 26. q See vol. I. introd, §. 1.
