ſubjedt[1]. A cuſtom has of late years prevailed of granting letters patent of precedence to ſuch barriſters, as the crown thinks proper to honour with that mark of distinction: whereby they are intitled to ſuch rank and pre-audience[2] as are aſſigned in their reſpective patents; ſometimes next after the king's attorney general, but uſually next after his majefty's counſel then being. Theſe (as well as the queen's attorney and ſolicitor general[3]) rank promiſcuouſly with the king's counſel, and together with them ſit within the bar of the reſpective courts: but receive no ſalaries, and are not ſworn; and therefore are at liberty to be retained in cauſes againſt the crown. And all other ſerjeants and barriſters indiſcriminately (except in the court of common pleas where only ſerjeants are admitted) may take upon them the protection and defence of any ſuitors, whether plaintiff or defendant; who are therefore called their clients, like the dependants upon the antient Roman orators. Thoſe indeed practiſed gratis, for honour merely, or at moſt for the ſake of gaining influence: and ſo likewiſe it is eſtabliſhed with us[4], that a counſel can maintain no action for his fees; which are given, not as locatis vel conductio, but as quiddam honorarium; not as a ſalary or hire, but as a mere gratuity, which a counſellor cannot demand without doing wrong to his reputation[5]: as is alſo laid down with regard to advocates in the civil law[6] whoſe honorarium was directed by a decree of the ſenate not to exceed in any caſe ten
- ↑ Cod. 2. 7. 13.
- ↑ Pre-audience in the courts is reckoned of ſo much conſequence, that it may not be amiſs to ſubjoin a ſhort table of the precedence which uſually obtains among the practiſers. 1. The king's premier ſerjeant, (ſo conſtituted by ſpecial patent.) 2. The king's antient ſerjeant, or the eldeſt among the king's ſerjeants. 3. The king's advocate general. 4. The king's attorney general. 5. The king's ſolicitor general. 6. The king's ſerjeants. 7. The king's counſel, with the queen's attorney and ſolicitor. 8. Serjeants at law. 9. The recorder of London. 10. Advocates of the civil law. 11 Barriſters. In the court of exchequer two of the moft experienced barriſters, called the poſt-man and the tub-man, (from the places in which they ſit) have alſo a precedence in motions.
- ↑ Seld. tit. hon. 1. 6. 7.
- ↑ Davis pref. 22. 1 Chan. Rep. 38.
- ↑ Davis. 23.
- ↑ Ff. 11. 6. 1.
