Lincoln's Inn

The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these inns. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple, and Gray's Inn.

Lincoln's Inn is situated in Holborn, in the London Borough of Camden, just on the border with the City of London and the City of Westminster, and across the road from London School of Economics and Political Science, Royal Courts of Justice and King's College London's Maughan Library. The nearest tube station is Holborn tube station or Chancery Lane.

History

During the 12th and early 13th centuries, the law was taught in the City of London, primarily by the clergy. Two events ended this form of legal education: firstly, a papal bull in 1218 prohibited the clergy from teaching the common law, rather than canon law; and secondly, a decree by Henry III of England on 2 December 1234 that no institutes of legal education could exist in the City of London. The secular lawyers migrated to the hamlet of Holborn, near to the law courts at Westminster Hall and outside the City.

As with the other Inns of Court, the precise date of founding of Lincoln's Inn is unknown. The Inn can claim the oldest records – its "black books" documenting the minutes of the governing council go back to 1422, and the earliest entries show that the inn was at that point an organised and disciplined body. Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln had encouraged lawyers to move to Holborn, and they moved to Thavie's Inn, one of the Inns of Chancery, later expanding into Furnival's Inn as well. It is felt that Lincoln's Inn became a formally organised inn of court soon after the earl's death in 1310.

At some point before 1422, the greater part of "Lincoln's Inn", as they had become known, after the earl, moved to the estate of Ralph Neville, the Bishop of Chichester, near Chancery Lane to a Bencher named William Suliard, and his son sold the land to Lincoln's Inn in 1580. The Inn became formally organised as a place of legal education thanks to a decree in 1464, which required a Reader to give lectures to the law students there.

During the 15th century, the Inn was not a particularly prosperous one, and the Benchers, particularly John Fortescue, are credited with fixing this situation.

In 1920, Lincoln's Inn added its first female member: Marjorie Powell.

Structure and governance

Lincoln's Inn had no constitution or fundamental form of governance, and legislation was divided into two types; statutes, passed by the Governors (see below) and ordinances issued by the Society (all the Fellows of the Inn). A third method used was to have individual Fellows promise to fulfil a certain duty; the first known example is from 1435, and starts "Here folowen certaynes covenantes and promyses made to the felloweshippe of Lyncoll' Yne". The increase of the size of the Inn led to a loss of its partially democratic nature, first in 1494 when it was decided that only Benchers and Governors should have a voice in calling people to the Bar and, by the end of the sixteenth century, Benchers were almost entirely in control.

Admissions were recorded in the black books and divided into two categories: Clerks (''Clerici'') who were admitted to Clerks' Commons; and Fellows (''Socii'') who were admitted to Fellows' Commons. All entrants swore the same oath regardless of category, and some Fellows were permitted to dine in Clerks' Commons as it cost less, making it difficult for academics to sometimes distinguish between the two – Walker, the editor of the Black Books, maintains that the two categories were one and the same. During the 15th century, the Fellows began to be called Masters, and the gap between Masters and Clerks gradually grew, with an order in 1505 that no Master was to be found in Clerks' Commons unless studying a point of law there. By 1466, the Fellows were divided into Benchers, those " at the Bar" (''ad barram'', also known as "utter barristers" or simply "barristers"), and those "not at the Bar" (''extra barram''). By 1502, the ''extra barram'' Fellows were being referred to as "inner barristers", in contrast to the "utter" or "outer" barristers.

In Lord Mansfield's time, there was no formal legal education, and the only requirement for a person to be called to the Bar was for him to have eaten five dinners a term at Lincoln's Inn, and to have read the first sentence of a paper prepared for him by the steward.Lord Mansfield: A Biography of William Murray 1st Earl of Mansfield 1705–1793 Lord Chief Justice for 32 years. Heward, Edmund (1979), Chichester: Barry Rose (publishers) Ltd., , p. 13

Benchers

A Bencher, Benchsitter or (formally) Master of the Bench is a member of the Council, the governing body of the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn. The term originally referred to one who sat on the benches in the main hall of the Inn, which were used for dining and during moots, and the term originally had no significance. In Lincoln's Inn, the idea of a Bencher was believed to have begun far earlier than elsewhere; there are records of four Benchers being sworn in 1440.

William Holdsworth and the editor of the Black Books both concluded that Benchers were, from the earliest times, the governors of the Inn, unlike other Inns who started with Readers. A. W. B. Simpson, writing at a later date, decided based on the Black Books that the Benchers were not the original governing body, and that the Inn was instead ruled by Governors (or ''gubernatores''), sometimes called Rulers, who led the Inn. The Governors were elected to serve a year-long term, with between four and six sitting at any one time.

The first record of Benchers comes from 1478, when John Glynne was expelled from the Society for using "presumptious and unsuitable words" in front of the governors and "other fellows of the Bench", and a piece of legislation passed in 1489 was "ordained by the governors and other the worshipfuls of the Bench". By the late 15th century, the ruling group were the Governors (who were always Benchers) with assistance and advice from the other "masters of the Bench", and occasional votes from the entire Society. The Benchers were still subordinate to the Governors, however; a note from 1505 shows the admission of two Benchers "to aid and advice for the good governing of the Inn, but not to vote". The practice of using Governors died out in 1572 and, from 1584, the term was applied to Benchers, with the power of a Governor and a new Bencher being synonymous.

There are approximately 296 Benchers as of November 2013, with the body consisting of those members of the Inn elected to high judicial office, those who have sat as King's Counsel for six or seven years and some of the more distinguished "junior" barristers (those barristers who are not King's Counsel). There are also "additional benchers"—members of the Inn who have been successful in a profession other than the law, who have the rights of a normal bencher except that they cannot hold an office, such as Treasurer. In addition there are "honorary benchers", who hold all the rights of a Bencher except the right to vote and the right to hold an office. These are people of "sufficient distinction" who have been elected by the Inn, and includes people such as Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

In common with the other Inns, Lincoln's Inn also has a "Royal Bencher"—a member or members of the Royal Family who have been elected Benchers. The present Royal Bencher is Duke of Kent who was elected after the death of the previous incumbent Princess Margaret. In 1943, when she was elected as Royal Bencher, Queen Mary became the first female Bencher in any Inn. His Royal Highness Prince Andrew Duke of York was elected a Royal Bencher in December 2012.

Buildings and architectural points of note

Lincoln’s Inn’s estate comprises collegiate buildings, barristers’ chambers, commercial premises and residential apartments. The Inn is situated between Chancery Lane

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