| has gloss | eng: Serjeant-at-law (postnominal SL ) was an order of barristers at the English or Irish bar. Serjeants-at-law (servientes ad legem), or Sergeants Counters, were the highest order of counsel. For the 600 years prior to 1873 the judges of the Kings Bench, Court of Common Pleas, and Exchequer were always serjeants. "Only serjeants were sent out on circuit and associated as equals with the justices of the Queens Bench and Common Pleas at Serjeant's Inn, where the serjeants as a class formed a professional collegiate society distinct from the Inns of Court and the lesser ranks of the legal profession". All who held the office of Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, were serjeants. Serjeants-at-Law had a valuable monopoly in the Court of Common Pleas until 1846, though they lost their monopoly in other courts in earlier years. |
