From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Bench can be a metonymy, served from the sitting bench (furniture), not unlike some uses of chair and seat, for certain groups of people metonymically associated with certain seatings.

• The bench (law) is the location where judges sit while in court, often specified after the type of court, e.g. county bench (in both UK and US), or one of several bodies of magistrates (elsewhere known by other terms, e.g. a chamber, division or senate) assigned to certain types of litigation, e.g. Kings Bench Division
• The location where members of Parliament sit while in session. More specific types of benches are also metonymic:

• The front bench comprises senior Government ministers and opposition spokespeople, while junior Members sit on the back benches.
• Members from the political party or parties which make up the Government sit on the government benches, to the Speaker's right; these are sometimes called the ministerial or treasury benches. These are faced by the opposition benches.

• The location where athletes sit when not in a game.

See also

• Backbencher
• Bench (law)
• Bench trial
• Bench warrant
• Frontbencher

Sources and references

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. passim