Subsellium

In the Ancient Rome, the subsellium (a "low bench") was a bench (Latin: scamnum) or sometimes a seat of other kind. The word was used to describe seating arranged for groups of people in Roman theaters, senators' seats in the curia, seats for tribunes of the plebs (subsellia). The latter meaning of a "judge's seat" transferred to mean the court or tribunal and is replicated in the modern en banc (from Law French "in bench" designating the central royal court at Westminster).

In the medieval churches the term was used for the misericord, a wooden ledge on the underside of a choir stall seat. When the hinged seat was put upright, the subsellium provided a modicum of support for the occupant who was otherwise supposed to be standing (thus the "mercy-seat" designation).