Bar (law)

Legal profession as an institution

1 min read

Why this is trending

Interest in “Bar (law)” spiked on Wikipedia on 2026-02-25.

Categorised under History, this article fits a familiar pattern. History articles often trend on anniversaries of notable events, when historical parallels are drawn in the news, or following popular media portrayals.

At GlyphSignal we surface these trending signals every day—transforming Wikipedia’s vast pageview data into actionable insights about global curiosity.

2026-01-27Peak: 2402026-02-25

30-day total: 5,438

Key Takeaways

In law, the bar is the legal profession as an institution.
In the United Kingdom, the term "the bar" refers only to the professional organization for barristers (referred to in Scotland as advocates); the other type of UK lawyer, solicitors, have their own body, the Law Society.
Courtroom division The origin of the term bar is from the barring furniture dividing a medieval European courtroom, which defined the areas restricted to lawyers and court personnel from which the general public was excluded.
, Europe and many other countries, the bar continues to be represented by a physical partition, such as a railing or barrier.
This restriction is enforced in nearly all courts.

In law, the bar is the legal profession as an institution. The term is a metonym for the line (or "bar") that separates the parts of a courtroom reserved for spectators and those reserved for participants in a trial such as lawyers.

In the United Kingdom, the term "the bar" refers only to the professional organization for barristers (referred to in Scotland as advocates); the other type of UK lawyer, solicitors, have their own body, the Law Society. Correspondingly, being "called to the bar" refers to admission to the profession of barristers, not solicitors.

Courtroom division

The origin of the term bar is from the barring furniture dividing a medieval European courtroom, which defined the areas restricted to lawyers and court personnel from which the general public was excluded. Within most modern courts of the U.S., Europe and many other countries, the bar continues to be represented by a physical partition, such as a railing or barrier. The area behind the bar is open to the public. This restriction is enforced in nearly all courts.