of that prince, collegiate establishments called "inns of court" were founded in London, for the study of the laws of England, in opposition to the civil and common law then so much cultivated at the Universities. These corporate bodies were formed chiefly with a view to preserve the knowledge, and promote the re-establishment and maintenance of our old Saxon institutions, in preference to those of Rome, under the Emperors or the Popes, of which the clergy were the great patrons. The inns of court now remaining are the Inner Temple, the Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn, and Gray's Inn. The chambers belonging to these societies are tenanted and used by members of the legal profession as their places of business, and some reside there altogether.

The inns of Chancery are eight in number; they are not, however, now applied to those purposes of legal education for which they were originally designed; but, on the contrary, are used as mere professional chambers by attorneys and solicitors, and in some instances as residences by gentlemen who have no connexion whatever with the profession of the law.

It is usual, but not necessary, that any one intending to become a barrister should graduate at one or other of the Universities. He then enters as a student at one of the four inns of court above-mentioned, where he keeps," as it is called, a certain number of "terms," during which he is presumed to be engaged in professional studies; but the only evidence required of his "keeping" these terms, is the fact of his dining with the society in their hall on certain specified days, in the course of a period that

need not extend beyond three years. The governors of these establishments are called "benchers;" many of them are men of great learning and professional eminence; they demand, however, no proofs of proficiency in legal or in any kind of knowledge from those whom they "call to the bar;" at the same time that few law students seriously engage in the pursuit of this arduous profession, without becoming the pupils of special pleaders or barristers of some eminence but unlike other professional men, they undergo no series of examinations as tests of professional fitness, neither is a University education indispensable; but its advantages are too obvious not to be generally acknowledged. Anciently the inns of court much more closely resembled academical institutions than they do at present, there being in modern times no moral restraint imposed, nor any species of intellectual culture required or promoted by the authorities. Nevertheless, the members of the bar, both in common law and equity, are confessedly a most learned branch of the profession; and the public do not require to be protected from quacks and pretenders amongst them, as in the cases of other professions; for the selection of counsel is usually left by clients to the attorney, solicitor, proctor, or writer, who conducts their suits. A judge in any court may silence a barrister who misconducts himself, and doubtless that would be followed by the inn of court to which he belonged disbarring him.

In the profession of the law as it now exists, the distinction between barrister and serjeant is not so wide as in ancient times; the duties which both at present discharge are not materially different; ori

ginally, however, the barrister was only regarded as a species of apprentice to the profession, and the serjeant was considered as the true and matured professor he still enjoys precedence and pre-audience in the courts, unless the barrister be a Queen's Counsel. But some of the most distinguished members of the profession, for generations past, have been men who were not advanced to the degree of a serjeant.

Having now stated those particulars, regarding the profession at large, which might be found conducive to a clear understanding of the nature of the office more immediately under consideration, the necessary details may be summed up in a very few words. A Queen's Counsel is appointed by the Crown; he sits within the bar; he wears a robe of silk, whereas all other barristers wear stuff; he enjoys precedence and pre-audience over members of the bar who do not hold this office; his fees are usually of higher amount. These constitute the principal rights and advantages which the office confers upon its holders over the junior members of the profession, or "the outer barristers," as they are called.

On the other hand, this office places the Queen's Counsel in the situation of a set of advocates permanently retained for a particular client. They can never appear against the Crown; nor can they defend persons accused of any offence without a licence, which of course is never refused, but which in each instance costs their clients £9.

The earliest appointment to this office of any one under the degree of a serjeant, was in the case of Sir Francis Bacon, in 1604.

The average number of serjeants-at-law is about twenty-five; of Queen's Counsel about seventy.

LEGAL FUNCTIONARIES IN SCOTLAND.

"I don't see, after all, why you should not have your lawsuits too, and your feuds in the Court of Session, as well as your forefathers had their manslaughters and fire-raisings."

“Very natural, to be sure, Sir. We wad just take the auld gate as readily, if it werena for the law. And as the law binds us, the law should loose us. Besides, a man's aye the better thought o' in our country for having been afore the Feifteen."

Guy Mannering, chap. xxxviii.

THE administration of justice in Scotland preserves, in every portion of its machinery, marks of a separate and distinct origin, unchanged by the union of the kingdom with England, and little modified by any innovations from British courts. From its most trifling technicalities, to the constitution of its highest judicial tribunals, it possesses signs of a distinct individuality; and the study of the legal profession in Scotland would be almost as foreign to the previous pursuits of an English barrister, as if he sought to qualify himself for the duties of a physician or a divine. Any detailed examination of Scottish law would, however, in this place, be equally distasteful and uncalled for. But some outline of the system of Scottish judicature, and of the official titles to which it gives rise, is even more requisite for the completion of the purposes of this volume, than the series of articles which have already been presented respect

ing the legal functionaries in England; the more especially, when it is remembered that the Scottish judges have, for the last three centuries, enjoyed a titular distinction, which bears many of the external characters of a peerage, and is frequently mistaken for hereditary nobility.

The COURT OF SESSION is the supreme civil court of Scotland, and received its name and constitution under a statute of James V., passed in 1532. The duties now performed by this tribunal were executed by parliamentary committees previous to the year 1532; but even till the period of the Revolution, the condition of this court was extremely defective, and its decisions liable to many external influences. The number of judges was formerly fifteen, but is now only thirteen. They are styled LORDS OF SESSION; and immediately on their appointment are in the habit of assuming a title derived either from their own surnames or their estates; the latter is the most general practice thus we have Alexander Maconochie, Lord Meadowbank, John Hay Forbes, Lord Medwyn, &c. This title, being universally used by, and conceded to, the judges of the Court of Session, has frequently given rise to misconception among Englishmen who were unacquainted with the practice, and who mistook for a peerage this official distinction. It is, however, purely official in its character, though it is also used in the intercourse of ordinary society; its foundation solely rests on courtesy and ancient usage, and it is considered to cease with the tenure of the office from which it originated. Like all other judges, they hold