Woolsack

The seat of the lord -chancellor of England in the house of lords, being a large square bag of wool, without back or arms, covered with red cloth. Webster. The judges, king's counsel-at-law, and masters in chancery sit also on woolsacks.,The custom arose from wool being a staple of Great Britain from early times. Enc. Am.

The seat of the lord chancellor in the house of lords, without back or arms, with a large cushion of wool covered with red cloth. The custom arose from wool being a staple of Great Britain from early times. Encyc. Amer.

The seat of the Lord Chancellor in the House of Lords; so called from its being a bag of wool.

If the lord chancellor "be a peer, he ought regularly to be placed at the top of the dukes' bench, on the left of the throne; and if a commoner, upon the uppermost sack in the Parliament chamber, called the lord chancellor's woolsack." "For convenience, here he generally sits, though a peer, and here he puts the question, and acts as prolocutor; but this place is not considered within the House, and when he is to join in debate as a peer he stands in front of his proper seat, at the top of the dukes' bench." "There are woolsacks for the judges and other assessors, as well as for the lord chancellor. They are said to have been introduced into the House of Lords as a compliment to the staple manufacture of the realm; but I believe that in the rude simplicity of early times a sack of wool was frequently used as a sofa."

The seat of the lord lor Js may not speak from that part of the chamber. May Pari. Prac.