The Inns of Court, in London, are the professional associations to one of which every English barrister (and those judges who were formerly barristers) must belong. They have supervisory and disciplinary functions over their members. They also provide libraries, dining facilities and professional accommodation. Each one also has a church or chapel attached to it. Each Inn of Court is a self contained precinct within London, where barristers train and traditionally practice, although growth in the profession caused many barristers' chambers to move outside the precincts of the Inns of Court in the late 20th century.

History and composition

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Several centuries ago the Inns of Court were any of a fair number of buildings or precincts where barristers traditionally lodged, trained and carried on their profession.

Over the centuries the number of active Inns of Court reduced to four, which are: Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple.

They are located near the western border of the City of London, surrounding the Royal Courts of Justice. Each inn is a substantial complex with a great hall, chapel, libraries, sets of chambers for many hundreds of barristers, and gardens; and covers several acres. The layout is similar to that of an Oxbridge college. The "chambers" were originally used as residences as well as business premises by many of the barristers, but nowadays, with a small number of exceptions, they serve as offices only.

Membership and Governance

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The Inns of Court have three grades of membership: students, barristers, and Masters of the Bench or "benchers". The benchers constitute the governing body and are self-electing i.e. existing benchers co-opt new benchers from amongst the membership of the Inn. The senior bencher of each Inn is the Treasurer, a position which is held for one year only before passing to the next senior bencher in terms of years of office (but there is a maximum age, and those who exceed the maximum age before their turn as Treasurer is reached will never serve).

The Inns of Court have long ago delegated their former practical functions of training, examining and disciplining their own members, but they still retain the sole right to call qualified students to the bar, which will be recognised by all Courts (since all superior judges were until recently themselves members of an Inn). They will also formally pronounce the sentence determined in disciplinary proceedings, including the ultimate sanction of disbarment.

Location

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Middle Temple and Inner Temple are liberties of the City of London, which means they are within the historic boundaries of the City but are not subject to its jurisdiction. They operate as their own local authorities. The closest tube station is Temple.

Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn are in the London Borough of Camden (formerly in the Borough of Holborn), just by the border with the City of London. They have no such status as local authorities. The nearest tube station is Chancery Lane.

Other Inns

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Another important inn, Serjeants' Inn, was dissolved in 1877 and its assets were, controversially, distributed amongst the existing members. The membership of the Inn had consisted of a small class of senior barristers called Serjeants-at-law, who were selected from the members of the other four inns and had exclusive rights of audience in certain Courts. Their pre-eminence was affected by the new rank of Queen's Counsel which was granted to barristers who were not serjeants. The serjeant's privileges were withdrawn by the government in the 19th century, no more serjeants were appointed, and they eventually died out. The area now known as Serjeants' Inn (which is one of two sites formerly occupied by the Serjeants, the other being in Chancery Lane) was purchased by the Inner Temple in 2002.

It was formerly the custom for senior judges to join Serjeants' Inn, thereby leaving the Inn in which they had practised as barristers. This meant that the Masters of the Bench of the four barristers' Inns of Court were mostly themselves barristers. Now, however, there being no Serjeants' Inn, judges remain in the Inns which they joined as students and belonged to as barristers. This has had the effect of making the majority of the Masters of the Bench senior judges, either because they become benchers when appointed as judges, or because they become judges after being appointed as benchers.

There were also minor Inns of Chancery, including Furnival's Inn and Thavie's Inn (attached to Lincoln's Inn), and Staple Inn and Barnard's Inn (attached to Gray's Inn). There was also a Clement's Inn.

Legal buildings in London | English law

אכסניות המשפט | Inns of Court | Inns of Court

External Links

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• The Temple