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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Inns of Court
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Collegiate institutions in London, surviving from the Middle Ages, to which all *barristers belong. The inns are believed to derive from hostels for those studying the common law, a subject not taught in the universities. The early rule that a student must reside for a number of terms was gradually replaced by a requirement that a given number of dinners must be eaten; three dinners were judged to equal one term. It is usual today for 24 meals to be consumed – normally over a two-year period, but by 'double dining' the task can be completed in one.
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There are four inns, all occupying grounds to the west of the old walled *City of London. They are first mentioned in documents of the 15C, but certainly existed in the previous century. Lincoln's Inn is believed to derive its name from premises rented in the 14C from Thomas de Lincoln. Gray's Inn was associated from the same period with an eminent legal family, the de Greys. The Inner Temple and the Middle Temple together occupy a site which belonged to the *Knights Templar until the suppression of the order in 1312. They share responsibility for an architectural treasure inherited from their predecessors – the Temple Church, one of the few round Norman churches in England, built in the late 12C in a transitional style between the *Romanesque and the *Gothic. The equivalent of the inns of court in Scotland is the Faculty of *Advocates.
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