The Pretoria Society of Advocates, commonly known as the Pretoria Bar, is a voluntary association of advocates affiliated with a number of other Bars in the General Council of the Bar of South Africa (www.sabar.co.za). Such an association of practising advocates is traditionally referred to as a Bar. Apparently this tradition started in the United Kingdom when the newspapers of Fleet Street referred to barristers (the English equivalent of an advocate), then starting to appear in criminal courts in defence of an accused, as “the Gentlemen at the Bar”. This “bar” was a reference to the copper bar or railing in front of the accused in the dock, next to which his or her defender stood, and not a reference to a place serving beverages.