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BAR, THE

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 379 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BAR, THE . This See also:term, as See also:equivalent to the profession of See also:barrister (q.v.), originated in the See also:partition or bar dividing the See also:English See also:law-courts into two parts, for the purpose of separating the members and officials of the See also:court from the prisoners or suitors, their See also:advocates and the See also:general public. Theoretically, this See also:division of the court is still maintained in See also:England, those who are entitled to sit within the bar including See also:king's counsel, barristers with See also:patents of See also:precedence, serjeants (till the See also:order died out) and solicitors, while the other members of the bar and the general public remain without. Parties in See also:civil suits who appear in See also:person are allowed to stand on the See also:floor within the bar instead of, as formerly, appearing at the bar itself. In criminal trials the accused still stands forward at the bar. There is also a " bar " in See also:parliament. In the See also:House of See also:Commons it remains literally a bar—a See also:long See also:brass See also:rod hidden in a See also:tube from which it is pulled out when required to See also:mark the technical boundary of the House. Before it appear those who are charged with having violated the privileges of the House; below it also sit those members who have been returned at bye-elections, to await their introduction to the House and the taking of the See also:oath of See also:allegiance. In the House of Lords the See also:place where Mr See also:Speaker and the members of the House of Commons stand when summoned by See also:Black Rod is called " the bar." The " See also:call to the bar " in England, by which a law student at one of the Inns of Court is converted into a barrister, is dealt with under INNS of COURT. The exclusive See also:privilege of calling to the bar belongs to those bodies, which also exercise disciplinary See also:power over their members; but it was widely See also:felt by members of the bar in See also:recent years that the benchers or governing See also:body with their self-elected members did not keep a sufficiently watchful See also:eye on the minutiae of the profession. Consequently, in 1883, a bar See also:committee was formed for the purpose of dealing with all matters See also:relating to the profession, such as the criticizing of proposed legal reforms, and the expression of opinions on matters of professional See also:etiquette, conduct aril practice. In 1894 the committee was dissolved, and succeeded by the general See also:council of the bar, elected on a somewhat wider basis.

It is composed of a due proportion of king's counsel and See also:

outer barristers elected by voting-papers sent to all barristers having an address in the Law See also:List within the See also:United See also:Kingdom. Its expenses are paid by contributions from the four Inns of Court. Its See also:powers are not disciplinary, but it would draw the See also:attention of the benchers to any See also:gross violation of the professional etiquette of the bar. Each See also:state in See also:America has its own bar, consisting of all attorneys-at-law residing within it who have been admitted to practice in its courts. Generally attorneys are admitted in one court to practice in all courts. Each of the United States courts has a bar of its own. An See also:attorney of a state cannot practise in a court of the United States unless he has been admitted to it, or to one of the same class in another See also:district or See also:circuit. He cannot appear in the Supreme Court of the United States unless specially admitted and sworn as an attorney of that court, which is done on See also:motion in See also:case of any one who has practised for three years in the highest courts of his state and is in See also:good See also:standing at its bar. In most of the states there is a state bar association, and in some cities and counties See also:local bar associations. These consist of such members of its bar as See also:desire thus to See also:associate, the See also:object being to guard and advance the See also:standards of the profession. Some own valuable See also:libraries. These associations have no See also:official recognition, but their See also:influence is considerable in recommending and shaping legislation respecting the judicial See also:establishment and See also:procedure.

They also serve a useful purpose in instituting or promoting proceedings to discipline or expel unworthy attorneys from the bar. There is an See also:

American Bar Association, founded in 1878, composed of over 3500 members of different states of like See also:character and position. Some of these associations publish annually a See also:volume of transactions. The rights, duties and liabilities of counsellor-at-law are stated under ATTORNEY. As members of the bar of the state in which they practise they are subject to its See also:laws regulating such practice, e.g. in some states they are forbidden to advertise for See also:divorce cases (New See also:York Penal See also:Code [1902] § 148a) (1905, See also:People v. See also:Taylor [See also:Colorado], 75 Pac. See also:Rep. 914). It is See also:common throughout the United States for lawyers to make contracts for " contingent fees," i.e. for a percentage of the amount recovered. Such contracts are not champertous and are upheld by the courts, but will be set aside if an unconscionable bargain be made with the client (Deering v. Scheyer [N.Y.], 58 App. D.

322). So also by the U.S. Supreme Court (See also:

Wright v. Tebbets, 91 U.S. 252; Taylor v. Benis, 110 U.S. 42). The See also:reason for upholding such contracts is. that otherwise poor persons would often fail of securing or protecting their See also:property or rights. In fact such contracts are seldom set aside, though no doubt the practice is capable of abuse.

End of Article: BAR, THE

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