WRITER TO THE SIGNET

In Scotch law. An officer nearly corresponding to an attorney at law, in English and American practice. “Writers to the signet” called also “clerks to the signet” derive their name from the circumstance that they were anciently clerks in the office of the secretary of state, by whom writs were prepared and issued under the royal signet or seal; and when the signet became employed In judicial proceedings, they obtained a monopoly of the privileges of acting as agents or attorneys before the court of session. Brande, voc. “Signet.”