Serjeant-at-Law

Serjeant-at-Law used to be the highest degree of barrister in the common law of England. The degree is of great antiquity, and formerly a barrister could only be appointed after being of sixteen years' standing. Formerly, also, they had exclusive audience in the Court of Common Pleas. The proper forensic dress of serjeants was a violet-coloured robe with a scarlet hood, and a black coif, represented in modern times by a patch of silk at the top of the wig. A serjeant was appointed by a writ or patent of the crown. The Chief-justice of the Common Pleas recommended the barrister to the Lord Chancellor, who advised the crown. The degree of serjeant was entirely honorary, and merely gave precedence over barristers; and when he was appointed he was rung out of the Inn of Court to which he belonged, and thereafter joined the brotherhood of Serjeants, who formed a separate community. By ancient custom the common-law judges were always admitted to the order of serjeants before sitting as judges, but this practice was abolished in 1874. The society of Serjeants' Inn was dissolved not long after, and the order is now extinct; a few surviving serjeants retain the title. See the article COIF; Pulling's Order of the Coif (1884); and Worbyde's Eminent Serjeants-at-Law (1869).