Subject to the above, practising solicitors of not less
than five years' standing may be called to the bar without keeping any
terms, upon passing the necessary examinations, and, _per contra_, a
barrister of the same standing may, without any period of apprenticeship,
become a solicitor upon passing the final examination for solicitors. Irish
barristers of three years' standing may be called to the English bar
without passing any examination upon keeping three terms, and so also may
barristers of those colonies where the professions of barrister and
solicitor are still kept distinct. No one can become a barrister till he is
twenty-one years old.

The benchers of the different Inns of Court have the right of rejecting any
applicant for membership with or without cause assigned; and for sufficient
reasons, subject to an appeal to the common-law judges as visitors of the
Inns, they may refuse to call a student to the bar, or may expel from their
society or from the profession ("dis-bar" or "dis-bench") even barristers
or benchers. The benchers appear to take cognizance of any kind of
misconduct, whether professional or not, which they may deem unworthy of
the rank of barrister. The grade of barrister comprehends the
attorney-general and solicitor-general (appointed by and holding office
solely at the will of the government of the day), who rank as the heads of
the profession, king's counsel and ordinary practitioners, sometimes
technically known as "utter barristers."

The peculiar business of barristers is the advocacy of causes in open
court, but in England a great deal of other business falls into their
hands. They are the chief conveyancers, and the _pleadings_ (_i.e._ the
counter statements of parties previous to joining issue) are in all but the
simplest cases drafted by them. There was formerly, indeed, a separate
class of conveyancers and special pleaders, being persons who kept the
necessary number of terms qualifying for a call but who, instead of being
called, took out licences, granted for one year only, but renewable, to
practise under the bar, but now conveyancing and special pleading form part
of the ordinary work of a junior barrister. The higher rank among
barristers is that of king's or queen's counsel. They lead in court, and
give opinions on cases submitted to them, but they do not accept
conveyancing or pleading, nor do they admit pupils to their chambers.
Precedence among king's counsel, as well as