Cleveland State Law Review Volume 1 Issue 2 Article 6 1952 The Inns of Court in London Charles E. Cook Follow this and additional works at: https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/clevstlrev Part of the European Law Commons, and the Legal Profession Commons How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! Recommended Citation Charles E. Cook, The Inns of Court in London, 1(2) Clev.-Marshall L. Rev. 39 (1952) This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at EngagedScholarship@CSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Cleveland State Law Review by an authorized editor of EngagedScholarship@CSU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Inns of Court of London by Charles E. Cook* Introduction T IS A GENERALLY KNOWN FACT that most of our American law was adopted from the English Common Law. Therefore, it should be interesting to learn how the English lawyers are educated. The Inns of Court: Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, Inner Temple, and Middle Temple are the four principal Inns which gave rise to the English law schools. Although there is some doubt as to the exact date of their beginning, most scholars agree that the Inns were in existence many years before the signing of the Magna Carta (Charta) in 1215 A. D. For reasons later men- tioned the four great Inns are located within the boundaries of the city of London. This location has been referred to by some writers as The Legal Site of London, and by others as The Legal Square of London. The Inns are still in existence, although some of the buildings suffered severely during the air-raids on London in the Second World War. Gradually they are being rebuilt. The Origin of the Inns of Court It is a curious fact that all of the Inns of Court are within the boundaries of the city of London, or within a few yards of the boundaries. They are, in fact, all either within or just beyond the borders of one city ward, that of Farringdon Without.' The principal reason for this particular location was because of the warlike atmosphere that existed in the year of 1115 and after the Roman Conquest. Men crowded into the city for mutual protection. Those who lived without the city defenses did so at the risk of having their houses plundered.2 In the more settled times of 1315, a great noble such as Lord Gray was not afraid * Mr. Cook holds a B. B. A. degree from Fenn College and is an alumnus of Cleveland-Marshall Law School. A combat veteran of World War II, he is now on the staff of the Cleveland office of the U. S. Department of Justice. His article is an example of an impressionistic approach to a subject which at first inspection would seem to be unsusceptible of any but a detached, objective treatment. 'W. J. Loftie, The Inns of Court and Chancery (London, 1908), p. 1. 'Id., p. 29. Published by EngagedScholarship@CSU, 1952 1 CLEVELAND-MARSHALL LAW REVIEW to build his house outside the city boundaries, and by the time of Henry VII even the unwarlike students of the law could live there securely. But why the lawyers selected this particular region for their settlements, rather than the King's courts at 3 Westminster, is difficult to say. The mists of a remote period hang densely about the founda- tion of the Inns of Court. The legal antiquary cannot fix upon the exact time of origin of these Inns, but it can be nearly ap- proximated. They carry the mind back to the depths of the Middle Ages. They antedate the discovery and settlement of America; they existed long before Columbus lifted the veil from the New World; they were in existence before the signing of the Magna Charta in 1215 A. D. King John lodged at the New Temple prior to signing the Charta, and pending the negotiations with his barons, which, in 1215 had their glorious issue at Runny- 4 mede. The Knights Templars were one of the numerous bands of Crusaders who in the eleventh century set forth to wrest Jeru- salem from the infidel. In order to keep up a supply of recruits, they opened agencies in all the countries of Europe, everywhere rivalling in zeal the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, whose order was founded about the same time. The Templars' first house in London was in Holborn, but they soon became wealthy enough to acquire a better site by the river's side. The site owned by the Templars eventually came into the control of the lawyers and was later known as Middle Temple and Inner Temple.5 Modern usage associates the Saxon word "inne" as well as the French word "hotel" with houses of public entertainment. But at the time when the Inns of Court were established, the Norman French was much in use, and in that language they were called "hostels," a word signifying, as thus used, not a public place of entertainment but the private city or town man- sion of a person of rank or wealth. The word "inn" is the equiva- lent of the word "hotel"; and when the "hostel" of the Earl of Lincoln was let to the lawyers and students of law, it acquired the name of Lincoln's Inn. 6 4' Ibid. John F. Dillon, The Laws and Jurisprudence of England and America (Boston, 1895), p. 39. 'Loftie, The Inns of Court and Chancery, p. 32. 'Dillon, The Laws and Jurisprudence of England and America, p. 36. https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/clevstlrev/vol1/iss2/6 2 THE INNS OF COURT OF LONDON PUMP COURT LOCATED IN MIDDLE TEMPLE, LONDON. Published by EngagedScholarship@CSU, 1952 3 CLEVELAND-MARSHALL LAW REVIEW https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/clevstlrev/vol1/iss2/6 4 THE INNS OF COURT OF LONDON STATUE IN HONOR OF CHARLES LAMB IN THE GARDENS OF INNER TEMPLE, LONDON. Published by EngagedScholarship@CSU, 1952 5 CLEVELAND-MARSHALL LAW REVIEW LINCOLN'S INN GATEHOUSE, LONDON. https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/clevstlrev/vol1/iss2/6 6 THE INNS OF COURT OF LONDON THE CHAPEL AND HALL OF LINCOLN'S INN, LONDON. Published by EngagedScholarship@CSU, 1952 7 CLEVELAND-MARSHALL LAW REVIEW https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/clevstlrev/vol1/iss2/6 8 THE INNS OF COURT OF LONDON "THE WIG MAKER" Published by EngagedScholarship@CSU, 1952 9 https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/clevstlrev/vol1/iss2/6 10 THE INNS OF COURT OF LONDON The site of Gray's Inn formed part of the manor of Portpoole, which became the property of Richard de Chygwell in 1280. This site passed in 1294 to the Dean of St. Paul, who leased it to Reginald De Grey, chief justice of Chester and first Lord Grey Wilton. There is little doubt that the judge lived there with of 7 his clerks and other officers of his court, and his law students. The Inns of Court seated in London, Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, Middle Temple, and Inner Temple, are voluntary societies, unchartered, unincorporated and unendowed. It is quite clear, however, that they were the successors, if not the direct descend- ants of the early law schools which flourished in the city in the 12th and 13th centuries.8 The Inns and Westminster Hall, where the great courts were held for so many centuries until their removal in 1882 into the new Royal Courts of Justice Building, are the visible well- springs and fountains of English and derivatively of American law.9 The General Plan of the Inns The four great Inns are the Inner Temple, the Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn, and Gray's Inn. With these there have been connected about ten smaller Inns known as Inns of Chancery, most of which were subordinate to one or another of the Inns of Court. But these Inns of Chancery have ceased to exist.10 The Inns of Court have been defined as colleges or cor- porate societies in London to which all barristers, sergeants-at- law, and all aspirants to these dignities must belong. This defini- tion also includes the buildings belonging to these societies in which the members of the Inns dine together and the barristers have their chambers. It is also said of the Inns that they are associations of lawyers which have about them a good deal of the club, something of the college, and something of the trade unions. They acquired the Inns or Hospices-that is the town houses-which had belonged to great noblemen such as the Earl of Lincoln, Lord Grey, and the Knights Templar." 'Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. 12 (Chicago, 1929), Inns of Court, p. 375. 'Id., p. 374. 9 Dillon, The Laws and Jurisprudence of England and America, p. 34. "Id., p. 35. "H. B. Traill, Social England, Vol. II (New York, 1903), p. 650. Published by EngagedScholarship@CSU, 1952 11 CLEVELAND-MARSHALL LAW REVIEW The Inn officials consist of the annual Treasurer and his permanent deputy, and a Bench, constituted by the Masters of the Bench, or briefly, Benchers. There are other officers but among the most important is the Reader, who usually becomes Treasurer in the following year. Formerly it was the Reader's business to give a reading or lecture during the dinner in hall, but the practice has long died out. As in other professions now, examinations are given, and the student finds that it is no longer 12 enough merely to assimilate knowledge during dinner. Professors of the common law, who had the exclusive priv- ilege of practising in the Court of Common Pleas, were known as serjeants-at-law.