Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a barrister.

1815

W.H. Ireland Scribbleomania 260: As a limb of the Bar, I with honour renown ’em .

a lawyer, spec. a second-rate attorney or any legal functionary, incl. the police.

1733		Newcastle Courant 24 Mar. 4/1: [advert for Gentleman’s Mag.] On Dryden’s Monument; two tainted Limbs of the Law.
1762		Smollett Sir Launcelot Greaves I 248: ‘True!’ (exclaimed the other limb of the law) ‘and, for contempt of the law, attachment may be had against justices of peace in Banco Regis.’.
1770		Foote Lame Lover in Works (1799) II 92: Well said, my young limb of the law.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Limb of the law, an inferior, or pettyfogging attorney.
1787		Harris’s List of Covent-Garden Ladies 65: She either keeps, or is kept by a certain limb of the law.
1793		Sporting Mag. Jan. I 226/2: This honest limb of the law is married.
1809		B.H. Malkin (trans.) Adventures of Gil Blas (1822) I 312: Do you take us for ribs of the limbs of the law? for attorney’s wives?
1821		Egan Boxiana III 210: Jack and his pal, a limb of the law, were screwed up the whole of the darkey in the compter.
1832		Ely’s Hawk & Buzzard (NY) Sept. 1 n.p.: A very ridiculous scene that occurred between a limb of the law and a Delancey-street land holder.
1838		‘The Gentleman in Black’ Bentley’s Misc. IV 620: Seeing you dressed all in black, I of course mistook you for a limb of the law.
1841		Punch 24 July I 22: ‘Set by Holloway’s Ointment’ — ‘a limb of the law’.
1856		Bell’s Life in Sydney 22 Mar. 3/3: It was suggested by a facetious ‘limb of the law’ [...] that the summons was wrong altogether.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1864		Soldiers’ Jrnl (VA) 5 Oct. 4/3: Suppose a soldier be a ‘limb of the law’ and gets killed or wounded [etc.] .
1866		Letters by an Odd Boy 162: A lawyer [is] ‘a limb-of-the-law,’ a surgeon, ‘a saw bones;’ a fiddler, ‘a catgut-scraper; ‘and a cheap concert, ‘a ha’porth of liveliness.’.
1871		Wkly Arizona (Tucson, AZ) 25 Feb. 3/1: The briefless ‘limb of the law’ [...] pricked up his ears and started westward.
1871		Sportsman (London) ‘Notes on News’ 26 Aug. 4/1: Some of the these ‘limbs of the law’ are capital specimens of muscular Christianity.
1882		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 14 Jan. 11/4: A well directed blow under the chin [...] sent the limb of the law in a heap among the scattered law papers .
1883		Sporting Gaz. (London) 8 Sept. 1097/2: Occasionally a member of this disreputable clientele [i.e. racecourse swindlers] oversteps the bounds of prudence, and is roughly treated by the limbs of the law.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 20 June 6/3: Four or five years ago, Mr. Edward Nesbitt was a promising young limb of the law in Adelaide. He was sworn in as solicitor, and began to make fame and money.
1889		Dead Bird (Sydney) 9 Nov. 2/3: [of a policeman] Not a little disappointed the limb of the law scribbled on a piece of paper in a feminine hand.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 1 Apr. 1/4: A novel point was raised by a limb of the law who was defending a man charged with drunkenness.
1896		Regiment 27 June 203/2: The ‘Devil’s Own,’ which once consisted of the limbs of the law, is a very crack corps.
1899		Austin’s Hawaiian Wkly (HI) 17 June 11/2: A limb of the law who was engaged on the case.
1907		D. Stewart Shadows of the Night in Illus. Police News 29 June 12/2: ‘I know you are a crafty, unscrupulous limb of the law’.
1915		Day Book (Chicago) 8 Apr. n.p.: ‘Big case, Merton,’ briskly announced the wizened old limb of the law.
1920		Ade Hand-made Fables 188: Him and the Limb of the Law went out to Lunch at a Club where some of the Lockers were still doing Business.
1926		Wood & Goddard Dict. Amer. Sl.
1928		Derby Dly Teleg. 6 Oct. 8/1: Of course the limbs of the law are pretty nippy blighters.
1948		J. Archibald ‘Klump a la Carte’ Popular Det. July 🌐 The decided blonde put up quite a fuss before consenting to accompany the limbs of the law.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).