Excerpt from A History of the French Bar: Ancient and Modern; Comprising a Notice of the French Courts, Their Officers, Practitioners, and of the System of Legal Education in France Now it is well known to all those who have visited the Palace of Justice in Paris, that there is a large Hall or Chamber in which some of the Courts are situate, answering in some respects to our Westminster Hall, and called in French La Salle des Pas perdus. It will perhaps have been observed by attentive visitors, that there is a certain number of black boxes or desks distributed here and throughout this Hall, behind each of which a man is seated, with an extra chair or two by his side for the accommodation of the public.