Inns of Court was the name given during the early Middle Ages to four groups of buildings in London where lawyers lived, studied, taught, and held court. They are the Inner Temple, the Middle Temple, Lincoln’s Inn, and Gray’s Inn. All date back to the 1200’s. They stand near the Courts of Justice.
In the Middle Ages, young people wishing to study law gathered around famous masters or professors to learn from them. At first, these students lived in the teacher’s home. But the number of students became so large that they had to live in inns, rather than in homes. Inns of Court came to mean not only the buildings, but also the legal societies that owned and used them.
The four legal societies have great importance today. By long custom, only they can admit barristers to practice their profession before the courts of England. The phrase admitted to the bar had its origin in the Inns of Court. Students became full-fledged barristers when they were finally allowed to leave their seat in the outer court and present a case at the wooden rail (bar). The judges and approved lawyers sat on the other side of the bar.
