90 



INNS OF COl'RT. 



power, which was natural and necessary in the de- 

 velopment of European civilization. If he had not 

 ubdurd the monarchy they would have crushed the 

 papal power. In 1215, he held a council of more 

 than 1300 nirhbishops, bishops, prelates, and ambas- 

 sador* of European princes, by which transut>stanlia- 

 ti.m in Uie Lord's supper and auricular confession 

 were established as dogmas, Frederic 1 1. was acknow- 

 ledged as German emperor, and (he Franciscan and 

 Dominican orders were confirmed. Innocent died 

 soon alter, on the IGtli of July, 1216. Some of his 

 works on legal and theological subjects were pub- 

 liJied in Cologne, 1575, folio. The best edition of 

 liis letters, important for the history of the time 

 (eleven books), is that of Baluze (Paris, 1682). The 

 Stabat Mater and f'eni Sancte Spiritus, and other 

 sacred hymns, are said to have been written by him. 

 Honorius III succeeded him. 



Innocent XL (Benedict Odescalchi) was born at 

 Como, in 1611, served, in his youth, as a soldier, in 

 Germany and Poland, took orders, at a later period, 

 and rose through many important posts, until he was 

 elected pope in 1676, on the death of Clement X. 

 He was eminent for his probity and austerity ; he 

 zealously opposed nepotism (q. v.) and simony, 

 restrained luxury and excess, and even prohibited 

 women from learning music. Though hostile to the 

 Jesuits, whose doctrine of probabilities he publicly 

 disapproved, and attacked sixty-five of their opinions 

 in the decree Super quibutdam axiomat. moral thus, 

 yet he was obliged to condemn Molinus and the 

 Quietists. He determined to abolish the privileged 

 quarters (the ground for a considerable distance 

 iii-omul the palaces of certain ambassadors in Rome, 

 which was considered as foreign territory, in which 

 criminals were out of reach of the autiiorities) ; but 

 Louis XIV., the vainest of monarchs, would not yield 

 to so just a claim, occupied Avignon, and imprisoned 

 the papal nuncio in France; in consequence of which, 

 the authority, and particularly the acknowledgment 

 of the infallibility of the pope, received a severe 

 blow, by the IV. Propositiones Cleri Gallicani, in 

 1682. (See Infallibility and Galilean Church.) These 

 disputes were highly favourable to the, English revo- 

 lution, as it induced the pope, in I ns.), to unite with 

 the allies against James II., in order to lower the in- 

 fluence of Louis XIV. His conduct in this respect 

 has led many Catholics to assert that lie sacrificed 

 the Catholic religion to his personal resentment ; and 

 it was pointedly said, that " to put an end to the 

 troubles of Europe, it was only necessary for James 

 II. to become a Protestant, and the pope a Catholic." 

 Bayle, however, judiciously observes, that the ex- 

 treme predominance of any great Catholic sovereign is 

 injurious to the interests of the papacy, and mentions 

 the similar conduct of Sixtus V., another able pope, 

 in relation to Philip II. of Spain and Queen Elizabeth 

 of England. Innocent died August 12, 1689, at the 

 age of seventy-eight, leaving behind him the charac- 

 ter of an able and economical pontiff, and of an 

 honest and moral man. Had he not died, an open 

 rupture with France might have ensued. Alexander 

 VIII. succeeded him. 



INNS OF COURT. The colleges of the English 

 professors and students of common law are called 

 iinu, the old English word for the houses of noble- 

 men, bishops, and others of extraordinary note, being 

 of the same signification as the French h6tel. It is 

 not possible to determine precisely the antiquity of 

 the establishment of inns of court. The received 

 opinion is, that societies of lawyers, which, before 

 the conquest, held their chief abodes for study in 

 ecclesiastical houses, began to be collected into per- 

 manent residences, soon after the court of common 

 plea* was directed to be held in a fixed place,- a 



stipulation which occurs in the great charters both of 

 king John find Henry III. In these houses exercises 

 were performed, lectures read, and degrees conferred; 

 that of barristers, or, as they were first styled, ap- 

 prentices (from apprendre, to learn), answering to 

 bachelors ; that of sergeants (servientes ad legem) to 

 doctors. The inns of court were much celebrated 

 for the magnificence of their revels. The last of 

 these took place in 1733, in the Inner Temple, in 

 honour of Mr Talbot, when he took leave of that 

 house, of which he was a bencher, on having the 

 great seal delivered to him. Fortescue, lord chancel- 

 lor of England in the reign of Henry VI., says in his 

 treatise l)e Laudibiis Legum j4ngli<e, that in his time, 

 there were about 2000 students in the inns of court 

 and chancery, all of whom were gentlemen born. In 

 the reign of queen Elizabeth, Sir Edward Coke did 

 not reckon above a thousand students, and the num- 

 ber at present is very considerably less. The inns of 

 court are governed by masters, principals, benchers, 

 stewards, and other officers, and have public halls for 

 exercises, readings, &c., which the students are 

 obliged to attend and perform for a certain number 

 of years, before they can be admitted to plead at the 

 bar. These societies have not any judicial authority 

 over their members ; but, instead of this, they have 

 certain orders among themselves, which have, by 

 consent, the force of Taws. For light offences, per- 

 sons are only excommoned, or put out of commons ; 

 for greater, they lose their chambers, and are ex- 

 pelled the college ; and, when once expelled from 

 one society, they are never received into any of the 

 others. The gentlemen in these societies may be 

 divided into benchers, outer barristers, inner barris- 

 ters, and students. The four principal inns of court 

 are the Inner Temple and Middle Temple (for- 

 merly the dwelling of the knights Templars, and 

 purchased by some professors of the common law, 

 more than three centuries since) ; Lincoln's Inn and 

 Gray's Inn (anciently belonging to the earls of Lin- 

 coln and Gray). The other inns are the two Ser- 

 geants' Inns. 



Inns of Chancery were prolwlily so called because 

 anciently inhabited by such clerks as chiefly studied 

 the forming of writs, which regularly belonged to the 

 cursitors, who are officers of chancery. These are 

 Thavie's Inn, the New Inn, Symond's Inn, Clement's 

 Inn, Clifford's Inn (formerly the mansion of lord Clif- 

 ford), Staple's Inn (which belonged to the merchants 

 of the staple), Lion's Inn (anciently a common inn, 

 with the sign of the lion), Furnival's Inn/and Ber- 

 nard's Inn. These were formerly preparatory col- 

 leges for younger students, and many were entered 

 here before they were admitted into the inns of court: 

 now they are mostly taken up by attorneys, solicitors, 

 &c. At the present day, previously to being called 

 to the bar, it is necessary to be admitted a member 

 of one of the inns of court. The regulations of 

 Lincoln's Inn, to which those of the other inns bear 

 a strong resemblance, are alone given in the follow- 

 ing account : The applicant for admission need not 

 be present, but the application may be made through 

 the medium of a third person ; the applicant must 

 be recommended to the society by one of its mem- 

 bei-s, or by two housekeepers, who are required to 

 certify that they know the applicant to be a pro- 

 per person for admission. A bond must also be 

 entered into by the applicant himself and the recom- 

 mending member, or housekeepers, in the sum of 

 .100, conditioned for the. due payment of his fees to 

 the society. The fees are generally more than .6 

 and less than 8 a year ; the expense of admission, 

 in the year 1827, amounted to 31, 16s. Before the 

 student commences keeping his terms for the English 

 law, he must deposit with the society the sum of 



