Gray's Inn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London, England to which barristers belong and where they are called to the bar. The others are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Lincoln's Inn. All the Inns are in close proximity to each other and have mediaeval origins. The Victorian Royal Courts of Justice were constructed nearby in the 19th century.
Gray's Inn is located at the intersection of High Holborn and Gray's Inn Road, in the London Borough of Camden, to the south of Theobald's Road. The nearest tube station is Chancery Lane.
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[edit] Overview
The four Inns of Court retain the exclusive right to call students to the Bar. In order to qualify as a barrister, a student has to join one of the Inns. The student must take and pass the Bar Vocational Course and complete 12 of the Inn's qualifying sessions. The Inns are institutions with mediaeval origins and, until the 19th century, there were more of them. Their origins were probably as lodging houses, developing into educational institutions. Originally a student qualified solely by eating dinners in his Inn, being supposed to gain his legal learning by contact with others.
[edit] History
The first building on or close to the site of the present hall was the manor house of the ancient Manor of Portpool. It was the property of Reginald de Grey, 1st Baron Grey de Wilton[1], Chief Justice of Chester, Constable and Sheriff of Nottingham, who died in 1308. The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn believes the date of its foundation to be about 1388, but its earliest records date from 1569.
In 1370 the Manor House is described for the first time as "hospitium" (a hostel). That change of description suggests a gathering of lodgers by then and it seems probable that the "hospitium" was a learned society of lawyers who boarded and worked there, making it rather like a college.
The current badge (sometimes misnamed a crest or a coat of arms) was the de Grey arms, changed to reflect the arms of Richard Aungier both in recognition of his achievements at the inn and also because it looked more impressive.[2] The motto is "Integra Lex Aequi Custos Rectique Magistra Non Habet Affectus Sed Causas Gubernat" (Impartial justice, guardian of equity, mistress of the law, without fear or favour rules men's causes aright.[2]
The hall in South Square is a grade I listed building with a hammerbeam roof. It was rebuilt after severe damage in the Blitz. The Inn contains other Grade II or II* listed buildings, including 1 South Square and the statue of Francis Bacon nearby (see picture), numbers 1, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13 and 14 Gray's Inn Square, the pump and the sundial in Gray's Inn Square.
[edit] Eminent Members and Benchers
- James Atkin, Baron Atkin of Aberdovey, British judge
- Robin Auld. English Court of Appeal judge
- Daniel Brennan, Baron Brennan
- Francis Bacon
- Nicholas Bacon
- Michael Beloff
- Thomas Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill
- Alex Carlile, Baron Carlile of Berriew
- Winston Churchill (honorary)
- Sudhi Ranjan Das, Chief Justice of India
- Geoffrey Dear (honorary)
- Gurusaday Dutt, ICS, Local Self Government and Public Health Secretary
- HRH The Duke of Gloucester (honourary)
- Leonard Hoffmann, Baron Hoffmann
- Emlyn Hooson, Baron Hooson
- Billy Hughes (honorary)
- Michael Mansfield
- Bob Marshall-Andrews
- Robert Menzies (honorary)
- David Pannick, Baron Pannick
- Franklin D. Roosevelt (honorary)
- Ashoke Kumar Sen, Law Minister of India
- Shridath Ramphal (honorary)
- Philip Sidney
- Choor Singh, former judge of the Supreme Court of Singapore
- Gordon Slynn, Baron Slynn of Hadley
- F. E. Smith, 1st Viscount Birkenhead
- H. S. Suhrawardy, Prime Minister of Pakistan
- Margaret Thatcher (honorary)
- Clarence Thomas (honorary)
- Alan Ward (judge)
- Terence Etherton
- David Ibbetson
- HRH The Prince of Wales (honorary)
- Sir Yang Ti-liang, last Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong
- Aitzaz Ahsan, President of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan
[edit] Gallery
 Combined coat of arms of the four Inns of Court. Gray's Inn's badge is at the bottom-right |
 Side entrance to Gray's Inn |
[edit] References
- ^ English spelling did not start to become standardised until the time of Caxton's press, and even after then it took many hundreds of years to become a nationwide system, with the effort culminating in Dr. Johnson's dictionary of 1755. This may explain the apparent discrepancy between 'Grey' and 'Gray', which are homophones
- ^ a b "Gray's Inn - History". Gray's Inn. http://www.graysinn.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=1&id=1&Itemid=661. Retrieved on 2008-09-17.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gray's Inn |
[edit] See also
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Coordinates: 51°31′11.10″N 00°06′46.39″W / 51.51975°N 0.1128861°W
