Gray's Inn
It is ruled by a governing council called "Pension", made up of the Masters of the Bench (or "benchers") and led by the Treasurer, who is elected to serve a one-year term.
The Inn remains a collegiate self-governing, unincorporated association of its members, providing within its precincts library, dining, residential and office accommodation (barristers' chambers), along with a chapel.
[17] This can be traced to the actions of Nicholas Bacon, William Cecil and Gilbert Gerard, all prominent members of the Inn and confidantes of Elizabeth.
Students performed masques and plays in court weddings, in front of Queen Elizabeth herself, and hosted regular festivals and banquets at Candlemas, All Hallows Eve and Easter.
[21] At Christmas the students ruled the Inn for the day, appointing a Lord of Misrule called the Prince of Purpoole,[22] and organising a masque entirely on their own, with the Benchers and other senior members away for the holiday.
In the early days of the Inn, the quality of legal education had been poor—readings were given infrequently, and the standards for call to the Bar were weak and varied.
During the Elizabethan age readings were given regularly, moots took place daily and barristers who were called to the Bar were expected to play a part in teaching students, resulting in skilled and knowledgeable graduates from the Inn.
[31] Before 1685 the Inn counted as members five dukes, three marquises, twenty-nine earls, five viscounts and thirty-nine barons, and during that period "none can exhibit a more illustrious list of great men".
[34] From 1640 onwards no readings were held, and barristers such as Sir Edward Coke remarked at the time that the quality of education at the Inns of Court had decreased.
[34] The outbreak of the First English Civil War led to a complete suspension of legal education, and from November 1642 until July 1644 no Pension meetings were held.
[43] Although there were many notable members of the Inn, both legal (Sir Dudley Digges, Thomas Bedingfield and Francis Bacon, for example) and non-legal (including William Juxon, the Archbishop of Canterbury), the list could not compare to that of the Elizabethan period.
[45] This fall in numbers was partly because the landed gentry were no longer sending sons who had no intention of becoming barristers to study at the Inn.
[46] Over a 50-year period, the Civil War and high taxation under William III economically crippled many members of the gentry, meaning that they could not afford to allow their sons to study at the Inns.
[53] An attempt was made to increase the quality of legal education at Gray's Inn; in 1753 a barrister, Danby Pickering, was employed to lecture there, although this agreement ended in 1761 when he was called to the Bar.
Mary Selina Share Jones (1874–1954) was admitted on 27 Jan 1920 following a law degree from the University of Liverpool but was not called, going on to qualify as a medical doctor instead.
[59] During World War II the Inn was badly damaged during the Blitz in 1941, with the Hall, the chapel, the Library and many other buildings hit and almost destroyed.
[61] Gray's Inn's internal records date from 1569, at which point there were four types of member; those who had not yet been called to the Bar, Utter Barristers, Ancients and Readers.
Thorne published a list dating from 1430, but this is entirely conjectural and not based on any official records, only reports of "readings" that took place at Gray's Inn.
[66] A Bencher, Benchsitter or (formally) Master of the Bench[61] is a member of Pension, the governing body of the Honourable Society of Gray's Inn.
[67] The next was Nicholas Bacon in 1550, then Edward Stanhope in 1580, who was afforded the privilege because, although a skilled attorney, an illness meant he could never fulfil the duties of a Reader.
[66] The outbreak of the First English Civil War in 1642 marked the end of legal education at the Inns, although Parliament attempted to persuade Readers to continue by threatening them with fines.
[73] The Inn's motto, the date of adoption of which is unknown, is Integra Lex Aequi Custos Rectique Magistra Non Habet Affectus Sed Causas Gubernat, which is Latin for 'Impartial justice, guardian of equity, mistress of the law, without fear or favour rules men's causes aright'.
It started as a single manor house with a hall and chapel, although an additional wing had been added by the date of the "Woodcut" map of London, drawn probably in the early 1560s.
[47] From 1672 to 1674 additional buildings were constructed in the Red Lyon Fields by Nicholas Barebone, and members of the Inn attempted to sue him to prevent this.
The Treasurers' Arms and paintings had been moved to a place of safety and were not damaged; during the rebuilding after the War they were put back in the Hall, where they remain.
[96] After Crooke's death in 1598 Roger Fenton served as preacher, until his replacement by Richard Sibbes, later Master of Catherine Hall, Cambridge, in 1616.
[96] Gray's Inn still employs a Preacher; Michael Doe, former Bishop of Swindon and more recently General Secretary of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, was appointed in 2011.
[99] Prior to this the area (known as Green Court) was used as a place to dump waste and rubble, since at the time the Inn was open to any Londoner.
[114]The building did not last very long—damage to the Inn during the Blitz completely destroyed the Library and a large part of its collection, although the rare manuscripts, which had been moved elsewhere, survived.
Outside the Bar and judiciary of England and Wales, members have included the clergy (including five Archbishops of Canterbury),[117] industrialists like John Wynne, astronomers such as John Lee, media figures, like Huw Thomas,[118] and members of the Bar, judiciary and Government of other nations, such as Sir Ti-liang Yang (former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong), B. R. Ambedkar (principal architect of the Constitution of India),[119][120] Leslie Goonewardene (founder of Sri Lanka's first political party, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party), former presidents of Cyprus Spyros Kyprianou, Tassos Papadopoulos, and Glafcos Clerides,[121] and Prime Minister-designate of Trinidad and Tobago Stuart Young.
