ATTORNEY, in English Law, signifies, in its widest sense, any substitute or agent appointed to act in “the turn, stead, or place of another.” The term is now commonly confined to a class of qualified agents who undertake the conduct of legal proceedings for their clients. By the common law the actual presence of the parties to a suit was considered indispensable, but the privflege of appearing by attorney was conceded in certain cases by special dispensation, until the statute of Merton and subsequent enactments made it competent for both parties in all judicial proceedings to appear by attorney. Solicitors appear to have been at first distinguished from attorneys, as not having the attorney’s power to bind their principals, but latterly the distinction has been between attorneys as the agents formally appointed in actions at law, and solicitors who take care of proceedings in Parliament, Chancery, Privy Council, &c. In practice, however, and in ordinary language, the terms are synonymous. Regulations regarding the qualification of attorneys are found as far back as the 20 Edward I., which required the judges to select in each county the most learned and able attorneys and apprentices to do service in the courts. By the 6 and 7 Vict. c. 73, and other statutes, the qualifications necessary for admission on the rolls of attorneys and solicitors are :—1st, The due execution of a proper contract in writing with some practising attorney or solicitor for the term of five years, or of three years if the clerk be a graduate of the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin, London, or Durham, or of the Queen’s University, Ireland, or if he have been a member of the bar, a writer to the signet, a solicitor before the supreme courts in Scotland, or for ten years bona ...

ATTORNEY-GENERAL, the chief law officer appointed to manage all the legal affairs and suits in which the Crown is interested. He is appointed by patent, authorising him to hold office during the Queen’s pleasure. He is ex officio the leader of the bar, and only counsel of the highest eminence are appointed to the office. The royal mandate of 14th December 1814 gives him precedence in all the courts, and it is now settled that in the House of Lords he has precedence of the Lord Advocate, even in Scotch appeals. He is a necessary party to all proceedings affecting the Crown, and has extensive powers of control in matters relating to charities, lunatics’ estates, criminal prosecutions, &c. His assistant, also appointed by patent, is the Solicitor-General, who has full power to act in the absence of his principal, and by almost invariable usage, succeeds Jo his office when it becomes vacant. The income attached to these offices has hitherto been derived in great part from fees on patents for inventions, but by a recent arrangement the Attorney-General and Solicitor-General receive a salary of £7000 and £6000 respectively, exclusive of such fees as they may receive for any litigious business they may conduct on behalf of the Crown.