ry qualification for nearly all offices
of a judicial character, and a very usual qualification for other important
appointments. Not only the judgeships in the superior courts of law and
equity in England and in her colonies, but nearly all the magistracies of
minor rank--recorderships, county court judgeships, &c.--are restricted to
the bar. The result is a unique feature in the English system of justice,
viz. the perfect harmony of opinion and interest between the bar as a
profession and all degrees of the judicial bench. Barristers have the rank
of esquires, and are privileged from arrest whilst in attendance on the
superior courts and on circuit, and also from serving on juries whilst in
active practice.

_Revising Barristers_ are counsel of not less than seven years' standing
appointed to revise the lists of parliamentary voters.

Barristers cannot maintain an action for their fees, which are regarded as
gratuities, nor can they, by the usage of the profession, undertake a case
without the intervention of a solicitor, except in criminal cases, where a
barrister may be engaged directly, by having a fee given him in open court,
nor is it competent for them to enter into any contract for payment by
their clients with respect to litigation.

See J. R. V. Marchant, _Barrister-at-law: an Essay on the legal position of
Counsel in England_ (1905).

[1] A king's counsel is appointed by letters patent to be "one of His
Majesty's counsel learned in the law." The appointment rests with the lord
chancellor, to whom the barrister desiring a silk gown makes application.
There is no definite time required to elapse between "call" and application
for a seat within the bar, but it is generally understood that a barrister
must be of at least ten years' standing before he is appointed a king's
counsel. The first king's counsel was Sir Francis Bacon, who was appointed
by Queen Elizabeth "queen's counsel extraordinary," and received a payment,
by way of "pledge and fee," of L40 a year, payable half-yearly. Succeeding
king's counsel received a similar payment, until its abolition in 1831.
There was not another appointment of a king's counsel until 1668, when Lord
Chancellor Francis North was so honoured. From 1775 king's counsel may be
said to have become a regular order. Their number was very small so late as
the middle of the 19th century (20 in 1789; 30 in 1810; 28 in 1850), but at
the beginning of the 20 century there were over 25