The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, a person must belong to one of these inns. The inn is both a professional body and a provider of office accommodation for many barristers. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the inn grew steadily with great prestige.
About Gray’s Inn in brief
The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, a person must belong to one of these inns. The inn is both a professional body and a provider of office accommodation for many barristers. It is ruled by a governing council made up of the masters of the bench, and led by the Treasurer, who is elected to serve a one-year term. The Inn is known for its gardens, or walks, which have existed since at least 1597. It dates from at least 1370, and takes its name from Baron Grey of Wilton, as the Inn was originally Wilton’s family townhouse within the Manor of Portpoole. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the inn grew steadily with great prestige, reaching its pinnacle during the reign of Elizabeth I. William Shakespeare is believed to have first performed The Comedy of Errors there. The outbreak of the First English Civil War in 1642 during the Reign of Charles I disrupted the systems of legal education and governance at the Inns. Fortunes continued to decline after the English Restoration, which saw the end of the traditional method of legal Education. Although now more prosperous, Gray’s Inns is today the smallest of the Four Inns, with Lincoln’s Inn having the earliest surviving records. It remains a collegiate self-governing, unincorporated association of its members, providing within its precincts library, dining, residential and office accommodation, along with a chapel.
Members of the Bar from other Inns may use these facilities to some extent. The records of Gray’s Inn itself are lost until 1569, and the precise date of founding cannot therefore be verified. The Inn was previously a disciplinary and teaching body, but these functions are now shared between the Bar Standards Board acting as a disciplinary body and the InNS of Court and Bar Educational Trust providing education. The Inns are the only bodies legally allowed to call a barristers to the Bar, allowing him or her to practise in England and Wales. The early records of all four inns of court have been lost, and it is not known precisely when each was founded. The earliest surviving record of the Inn of Court is from 1381, with records dating from 1370. A few months later, a group of a group including Thomas Bryan signed deeds granting the property to Thomas Bryan, the owner of the land. From 1437 to 1456, records show that Gray’s inn’s was occupied by members of a society, or members of the governing body of the society, including Sir Robert Bruden. In 1456 Reginal de Gray sold the land to Sir Robert de Gray, the Owner of the Manor, for £1,500. The next year, he transferred ownership to the group including Sir Thomas Bryan. From this date, the Inn’s main hall was used by practising lawyers as both residential and working apprentices as the most convenient arrangement for the members.
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This page is based on the article Gray’s Inn published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 16, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
