The subject of this book requires a word of explanation. Essentially, it is a study of the early modern antecedents of that group of English lawyers known today as the solicitors. Unlike the legal profession of the United States, and, indeed, that of many other countries which have been influenced by the common law tradition, English lawyers are divided into two branches which are characterized by different forms of training and regulation and by some very general differences in function. One branch of the profession, the bar, enjoys a monopoly right of audience before the superior courts. The other, the solicitors, provides a wide range of legal services to the community which include conveyancing and advocacy before inferior tribunals such as Magistrates' and County courts. Moreover, since there is a firmly established convention that litigants should not consult directly with barristers without the intervention of a solicitor, the latter also instruct members of the bar in cases which come before the higher courts.

In its modern form, the solicitors' branch of the legal profession is the product of a series of measures passed by Parliament in the 1870s and 1880s which authorized the Law Society to act as the largely self-regulating governing body of the profession. These statutes also greatly simplified its identity. After 1873, a solicitor could be defined easily as anyone who was authorized by the Law Society to practise.