serjeant-at-law

A member of an elite order of barristers practising in the English and Irish common-law courts. Serjeants-at-law held a position of particular authority from the sixteenth century, but their exclusive privileges declined during the nineteenth century as Queen’s Counsel became increasingly prominent. The Judicature Act 1873 ended their remaining exclusive jurisdiction, and no new Serjeants-at-law were appointed after 1875. The order subsequently disappeared.