untries, offer cheap handles to easy wit at
the expense of the members of this judicial order, all these unite to
lend them an interest, of various kinds, as a class somewhat apart.
Their intelligent, shrewd, generally unimaginative heads, under their
cylindrical black caps, offer endless studies to the physiognomists and
the caricaturists. Their services are indispensable for all those who
seek the aid of the law. At Paris, the avocats alone have the right to
plead for litigants, before all the Cours d'Appel and the Tribunaux
Civils. They can also plead before the military, commercial, and
administrative tribunals and the Conseils de Prud'hommes. The only
exceptions are the Conseil d'Etat and the Cour de Cassation.

The Ordre des Avocats, with its monopoly of this privilege, claims to
date back to the year 518 A.D., and to have had for sponsor an uncle of
the Emperor Justinian. It was restored by Charlemagne and continued
under various names: _Causidici_, _Avantparliers_, _Plaidoux_, and
_Chevaliers de la loi_, and was constituted the Ordre des Avocats in the
time of Saint-Louis to distinguish it from the various confraternities
of artisans which were then being organized. A decree of the Assemblee
Constituante dated September 2, 1790, announced that "the men of the
law, formerly called _avocats_, shall not form any order or corporation,
nor shall they wear any peculiar costume in the exercise of their
functions." This eclipse, however, was not of long duration. The former
avocats had drawn up a list of the recognized members of their
profession in good standing, this list became the official one, and the
roll of the Ordre des Avocats was reconstituted by the law of the 22d
Ventose, year XII, reorganizing the law schools, the Ecoles de Droit.

By the word _avocat_ is designated those lawyers who, after having
obtained the title of Licencie en Droit, have taken the professional
oath before a Cour d'Appel. But, in order to be able to plead, they are
required, in addition, to be admitted to the bar of the tribunal or the
court. The Avocats-Consultants are those who, not having been
admitted to the bar, cannot plead in the courts, but give legal
consultations in their offices. The _Avoues_, attorneys, are appointed
by the court or tribunal to represent the litigants before it. They
cannot be avocats, and are obliged to be residents of Paris.

[Illustration: PUPILS OF THE ECOLE SPECIALS MILITAIRE DE SAINT-CYR.
Engraved, f