Generally, the term advocate is applied to a lawyer authorized to plead the cause of his clients before a court of law. It is only in Scotland that this word seems to denote a distinct class belonging to the legal profession, the advocates of Scotland being the pleaders before the supreme courts, and corresponding to the barristers of England and Ireland. These advocates all belong to the Faculty of Advocates, Edinburgh, to whom the oral pleadings in the Court of Session is for the most part limited, while they are also competent to plead in all the inferior Scottish courts and in the House of Lords in cases of appeal from the Court of Session. The supreme judges in Scotland, as well as the sheriffs of the various counties, are always selected from among them. Candidates for admission must undergo two separate examinations, one in general scholarship and the other in law.
The Lord Advocate, called also the King's or Queen's Advocate, is the principal law officer of the crown in Scotland. He is the public prosecutor of crimes in the Supreme Court, and senior counsel for the crown in civil causes. Being appointed by the crown, he goes out of office with the administration to which he belongs. As public prosecutor he is assisted by the solicitor-general and by four junior counsel called advocates-depute. The lord-advocate and the solicitor-general, in addition to their official duties, accept of ordinary bar practice. Research Advocate
An andiron (fire-dog) is a metal utensil consisting of two upright and generally ornamental pillars set at some distance from each other with a horizontal bar connecting them. They were originally designed to prop up the extremities of logs of wood while they were being burnt. Later they were used to support the ends of a spit. Research Andiron
A bar was a British baker's unit of measurement equivalent to 196 lbs.
In law, a bar is the railing that encloses the place which council occupy in courts of justice; hence the phrase, at the bar of the court, that is, in open court. Hence also persons duly admitted as pleaders or advocates before the courts of England are denominated barristers , and the whole body of such barristers or advocates are called the bar. The enclosed place or dock in which persons accused of crimes stand in court is also called the bar. Near the door of both houses of Parliament there is also a bar, beyond which none but the members and clerks are admitted, and at which counsel, witnesses, offenders against privilege, etc, are heard.
Bar Mitzvah are Jewish celebrations connected with reaching the age of maturity and of legal and religious responsibility. A boy celebrates his
Bar Mitzvah when he is thirteen years and one day old, a girl (in non- orthodox communities) when she is twelve years and one day. The celebration involves the child reading a passage from the Torah or the Prophets in the synagogue on the Sabbath, and is then considered a full member of the congregation. Research Bar Mitzvah
Bilboes are an apparatus for confining the feet of offenders, especially on board ships where they were used to confine mutineers, consisting of a long bar of iron with shackles sliding on it and a lock at one end to stop them from sliding off. From the use of bilboes evolved the term 'put in irons'. Bilboes are so named after the town in Spain, Bilbao, where they were first made. Research Bilboes
Breaking on the wheel was a form of torturous execution employed for criminals until the 18th century in Europe. The victim was laid on his back, spread-eagle, and fastened to the spokes. The executioner then smashed each limb in turn with a sledge-hammer or iron bar before finally delivering the death blow to the stomach. Earlier forms of breaking on the wheel during the Middle Ages involved the victim being tied to a large wheel like a cylinder, which was then rolled down a hill or over iron spikes. Research Breaking on the Wheel
Camwood is a red dye-wood imported from tropical West Africa, and obtained from the Baphia nifida, a leguminous tree, of the suborder Caesalpinieae. This wood is of a very fine colour, and is used in turnery for making knife handles and other similar articles. The dye obtained from it is brilliant, but not permanent. It is called sometimes Bar-wood, though this name belongs also to another tree. Research Camwood
The Council of Basel was a celebrated oecumenical council of the church convoked by Pope Martin V and his successor Eugenius IV. It was opened on the 14th of December 1431, under the presidency of the Cardinal Legate Juliano Cesarini of St Angelo. The objects of its deliberations were to extirpate heresies (that of the Hussites in particular), to unite all Christian nations under the Catholic church, to put a stop to wars between Christian princes, and to reform the church. But its first steps towards a peaceable reconciliation with the Hussites were displeasing to the pope, who authorized the cardinal legate to dissolve the council. That body opposed the pretensions of the pope, and, notwithstanding his repeated orders to remove to Italy, continued its deliberations under the protection of the emperor Sigismund, of the Overman princes, and of France. On the pope continuing to issue bulls for its dissolution the council commenced a formal process against him, and cited him to appear at its bar. On his refusal to comply with this demand the council declared him guilty of contumacy, and, after Eugenius had opened a counter-synod at Ferrara, decreed his suspension from the papal chair on January the 24th, 1438.
The removal of Eugenius, however, seemed so impracticable, that some prelates, who until then had been the boldest and most influential speakers in the council, including the Cardinal Legate Juliano, left Basel, and went over to the party of Eugenius. The Archbishop of Aries, Cardinal Louis Allemand, was now made first president of the council, and directed its proceedings with much vigour. In May, 1439, it declared Eugenius, on account of his disobedience of its decrees, a heretic, and formally deposed him. Excommunicated by Eugenius, they proceeded, in a regular conclave, to elect the dukeAmadeus of Savoy to the papal chair. Felix V - the name he adopted - was acknowledged by only a few princes, cities, and universities. After this the moral power of the council declined; its last formal session was held on May the 16th, 1443, though it was not technically dissolved until May the 7th, 1449, when it gave in its adhesion to Nicholas V, the successor of Eugenius. The decrees of the Council of Basel are admitted into none of the Roman collections, and are considered of no authority by the Roman lawyers. They are regarded, however, as of authority in points of canon law in France and Germany, as their regulations for the reformation of the church have been adopted in the pragmatic sanctions of both countries, and, as far as they regard clerical discipline, have been actually enforced. Research Council of Basel
The Free Church of Scotland is a Presbyterian church organized as a separate body from the Established Church in May, 1843. The Queen Anne Act of 1712, which restored patronage in Scotland, was for long the chronic cause of schism and discontent in the Scottish church, unwelcome clergymen often being appointed to church livings.
In 1834 the General Assembly passed a veto act, which declared that no minister should be intruded into a parishchurch against the will of the people, and that a majority of male heads of families, full members of the church, should be able to bar an obnoxious presentee. This act before long created litigation, and the ecclesiastical and civil powers came into conflict. The struggle was brought to an issue by the judgment of the House of Lords in 1842, affirming a decree of the Court of Session, which required the presbytery of Auchterarder to induct the presentee to Auchterarderparish without regard to the dissent of the parishioners. In May, 1843, the members of the General Assembly had been elected and were convened at Edinburgh, when the Reverend Dr. David Welsh, who had been moderator of the last Assembly, instead of constituting the meeting in the ordinary manner, rose and read a protest, pointing out that the civil courts had undue powers of interference with the Established Church, and concluding by asserting the right of the protesters, in the circumstances, to withdraw to a separate place of meeting for the purpose of taking steps on behalf of themselves and their adherents for separating in an orderly way from the Establishment, but still maintaining the Confession of Faith and Standards of the Church of Scotland as heretofore understood.
After reading this document the moderator and other members of Assembly, together with those adhering to them, withdrew to another place of meeting (the Tanfield Hall, Canonmills), and constituted themselves the Free Church of Scotland. They elected Dr. Chalmers as their moderator, and proceeded with the business before them. Although thus denuded of the temporal benefits of an establishment, they declared themselves to be the true national church of the Reformation, and did not object to the endowment and establishment of religion by the state. In later years, however, a decided majority of the Free Churchclergy gave up the doctrine of the lawfulness of the establishment of the church by the state, and became converts to the 'voluntary principle'. The deed of demission, or resignation of livings, was signed by 474 ministers and professors. A sustentation fund was instituted for the maintenance of the ministers, to be supplied by the voluntary offerings of the people. In the first year after the disruption the sum of 366,719 pounds sterling was contributed for the erection of churches, between 700 and 800 of which had to be provided for congregations which left the Establishment with their ministers. Colleges for the theological training of the ministry were subsequently erected in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, Schools were added to the churches in town and country, and normal schools for the training of teachers were instituted. In 1900 the Free Church joined the United Presbyterian Church (established in 1847 on the voluntary principle), to form the United Free Church of Scotland. A small minority of Free Church ministers and members refused to accept the union and claimed to be the true Free Church of Scotland, a claim which the law decided in their favour, the church property passing in accordance with the decision. The inability of the (new) Free Church to make full use of the churches - and other property thus assigned led to legislative interference
to a commission for allocation of property in 1905. Research Free Church of Scotland
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Advocate
