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Bench in legal contexts means simply the location in a courtroom where a judge sits. The historical roots of that meaning come from the fact that judges formerly sat on long seats or benches (freestanding or against a wall) when presiding over a court.[1] In modern courtrooms, the bench is usually an elevated desk area that allows a judge to view the entire courtroom (see photo at right).
But the word also has a broader meaning in the law – the term "bench" is a metonym used to describe members of the judiciary collectively, or the judges of a particular court, such as the Queen's Bench or the Common Bench in England and Wales, or the federal bench in the United States.[1] The term is also used when all the judges of a certain court sit together to decide a case, as in the phrase "before the full bench" (also called "en banc").[2] Additionally, the term is used to differentiate judges ("the bench") from attorneys or barristers ("the bar"). The phrase "bench and bar" denotes all judges and lawyers collectively.[1]
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