Queen’s Serjeants, Queen’s Counsel, and Serjeants-at-Law
To remove certain doubts of very recent growth (cast upon a matter previously deemed plain enough), the following statement is the result of a very careful inquiry:—Queen’s serjeants are sworn to “serve and counsel the Queen and duly to minister the Queen’s affairs, and sue the Queen’s process after the course of the law and after their cunning, and they are to take no fee of any one against the Queen.” Queen’s counsel, as distinguished from Queen’s Serjeants, are appointed by Letters Patent under the Great Seal, giving them precedence “in our courts as elsewhere.” The oath administered to Queen’s counsel is precisely the same as the oath administered to Queen’s serjeants. Next after Queen’s counsel come serjeants-at-law, who, on taking their degree, swear that they shall “serve the Queen’s people and truly counsel them that retain them, after their cunning.” Sometimes a serjeant-at-law applies for a “Patent of Precedence,” which gives him precedence next after the last of the Queen’s counsel previously appointed. No oath is administered on the grant of a patent of precedence, as it implies no special service or duty to the Crown.