ADVOCATE

(Lat advocatns, he vrho is called in to plead in a court of late the cause of another.) The original pleaders of causes at Home were the patricians, who defended gratuitously their clients; but even before the downfall of the republic, the cla had degenerated into a profe ion, its members receiving rewards for their services, although still among the most, honorable of employments. But from the original gratuitous character of advocates, arose the peculiar custom by which, among ourselves,the.fees of barristers are still regarded as honorary, and cannot be recovered at law. In the later ages of the empire the advocati appear to have formed a distinct cla from the jurisconsulli, or chamber-counsel, and to have much declined in reputation. In France the avocats, or counsel, form a separate order, of which each member is hea to a particular local court. The lord advocate, in Scotland, is a public officer, who prosecutes crimes before the court of justiciary. [s. 30]