Molly Hayden, age 16, of Monroe, La., for her question:

HOW DID THE PHRASE 'ADMITTED TO THE BAR' ORIGINATE?

"Admitted to the bar" is a phrase that had its origin in the Inns of Court in London, England. By long custom, only the four legal societies that make up the Inns of Court can admit a barrister to practice his profession before the courts of England.

When a student became a full fledged lawyer, he was finally allowed to leave his seat in the outer court and present a case at the wooden rail, or bar. The judges and approved lawyers sat on the other side of the bar.

In the Middle Ages, young men wishing to study law gathered around a famous master or professor to learn from him. At first, these students lived in the teacher's home, but the number of students became so large that they had to live in inns, rather than private homes.

Inns of Court came to mean not only the buildings, but also the legal societies that owned and used them: The Inner Temple, The Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn and Gray's Inn. They date back to the 1200s. In the early days, this is where lawyers lived, studied, taught and held court.