Bar

Bar, in Law. This word has several legal meanings; thus, it is the term used to signify an inclosure or fixed place in a court of justice where lawyers may plead. In the superior courts, Queen's Counsel are admitted within the bar; other members of the bar sit or stand outside. A railed-off space within the Houses of Lords and Commons is in like manner called the bar of the House. The dock, or inclosed space where persons accused of felonies and other offences stand or sit during their trial, is also called the bar; hence the expression, 'prisoner at the bar.' It has also a general meaning in legal procedure, signifying something by way of stoppage or prevention. There is also a trial at bar—that is, a trial before the judges of a particular court, who sit together for that purpose in Banc (q.v.). See ADVOCATE, BARRISTER, DOWER, FELONY, PLEA, TOLL, TREASON.