advocatus

Advocatus is a Latin term meaning “one called to help” or simply “advocate.” It denotes a person who speaks or acts on behalf of another, with particular use in legal and ecclesiastical contexts. In classical Latin, advocates were individuals authorized to plead a client’s case before a court and to advise on legal matters, functioning as professional pleaders within the Roman legal system. The term later came to denote a general concept of a licensed practitioner who represents clients in legal proceedings.

In medieval and early modern Europe, advocates could also serve as secular protectors of ecclesiastical property and rights. In the Holy Roman Empire the advocatus (Vogt in German) represented monasteries or bishoprics in legal matters, sometimes administering revenues and exercising political influence; the position was typically held by a noble or other layperson rather than a cleric, though practices varied by region.

In contemporary usage, the term remains a source of legal vocabulary across languages and has influenced the English word advocate. In German, the modern lawyer is called Advokat; in Dutch, Advocaat or Advocaat is used; Romance languages retain forms such as avocat (French), avvocato (Italian), abogado (Spanish), and advogado/advogado (Portuguese) reflecting the same root. In Scotland, advocates are senior lawyers who plead in the High Court and Supreme Courts; in England and Wales, the equivalent roles are typically described as solicitor or barrister rather than advocate in a formal sense. The phrase advocatus diaboli, or devil’s advocate, refers to a person who argues against a position to test its merits, a practice that originated in canon law and later extended to secular settings.