The
four Inns of Court - Middle
Temple, Inner
Temple, Gray's
Inn and Lincoln's
Inn - are traditionally the bastions of the legal
establishment in England. They date from late medieval
times, and provided accommodation and education for students
of law as well as members of the legal profession. Benchers
(masters of the Bench) govern each Inn, and they have
the power to call students to the Bar* (that is, to admit
those who have fulfilled the qualifications for Barristers-at-Law
and who could then practice as advocates within the English
courts). During the eighteenth century the educational
aspect of the Inns of Court went into a decline, but revived
again in the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century
the Inns are more like clubs than hostels or schools,
although they still control admission to the Bar.
The
Inns of Chancery were related to the Inns of Court, involved
in the education of legal students, but they were lesser
establishments than the Inns of Court as they had no right
to call students to the Bar. There importance declined
during the eighteenth century, and all but two vanished
completely during the nineteenth century. The Inns of
Chancery were:
Barnard's
Inn, originally known as Mackworth's Inn.
Clement's
Inn. Named from the nearby St Clement Dane, Clement's
Inn sat on the north side of the Strand. The buildings
had all been demolished by 1891.
Clifford's
Inn.
Furnival's
Inn. Dating from medieval times, this Inn of Chancery
was run by Lincoln's Inn until 1817 when it declined
to renew the lease and Furnival's Inn was dissolved.
The ancient building was subsequently torn down and
the new building erected on the spot took the name Furnival's
Inn although it retained no association with the Inns
of Chancery or of court.
Lyon's
Inn.
New
Inn. This inn which sat on an area of land now partly
covered by Australia House was originally a tavern called
the Inn of Our Lady. It was converted into an Inn of
chancery by students from an St George's Inn (an Inn
of chancery) which had fallen into much disrepair. In
the early seventeenth century Middle Temple acquired
the freehold, which was then compulsorily acquired by
London City Council for its Kingsway Improvement Scheme
in 1899.
Staple
Inn. This inn still survives, hidden behind a facade
of shops on the south side of Holborn. Originally a
wool house - thus the name Staple - it became an Inn
of Chancery in 1378. it went into decline during the
nineteenth century and was sold between 1884-1886.
Strand
Inn. Situated on the south side of the Strand opposite
St Mary-le-Strand and formerly known as Chester Inn
as the land had once belonged to the Bishop of Chester.
It was demolished in 1549 to make was for Somerset
House.
Thavies
Inn. Named after a fourteenth-century armourer called
John Thavies, the inn became attached to Lincoln's Inn
some time before 1422. Lincoln's Inn subsequently purchased
the freehold, but failed to renew the lease in the 1760s
and Thavies Inn was subsequently dissolved.
There
were also other 'inns', literally accommodation for lawyers,
although informal teaching and tutoring almost certainly
would have been done within them. One example is Serjeant's
Inn, Chancery Lane, another .
*Originally
the bar was the railing that enclosed the judge in a court.
Legal practitioners had to argue their case 'before the
bar', that is, before the judge. The term "the bar"
came to mean all those qualified and authorised to conduct
the trial of legal cases in court.